the 50 state SYMPHONIC band project presents
THE LIFECYCLE
OF STARS
The 50 State Symphonic Band Project is a consortium that is bringing new music to classrooms and concert halls all over the US in 2024-2026, with ensembles in all 50 states commissioning The Lifecycle of Stars, a new work for band by composer Stephanie Ann Boyd.
Like Stephanie’s previous 50 State consortiums, this project is about helping musicians make connections and memories across state and cultural borders as they work with a living composer to bring a brand new piece of art to life.
ABOUT THE MUSIC
Ensemble Choices: parts have been engineered to sound marvelous whether the piece is performed by large band or smaller wind ensemble complements.
Three Movements:
a serenade movement, a slow movement, a fast movementModular Programming: movements are built so that they also make sense on their own for ease of programming (for example the third movement will make a terrific competition piece!)
Length: ~10 minutes
Difficulty: Grade 3/4
All instrument groups have “the spotlight” several times during the work
Includes optional harp + string bass parts
The second piece in a planned “Anthology” of works for band, the three movements of The Lifecycle of Stars draw their inspiration from the stages of a star’s lifetime, beginning with shimmering clouds of dust all the way through to its eventual supernova (the explosive end of a star's life) and subsequent transition into either a black hole or a neutron star.
Since supernovas become neutron stars or black holes depending on their mass, the piece has two different endings so that your ensemble can choose which ending they’d like their star to have!
PROJECT DETAILS
FEE AND TIMELINE
$550 if registered by August 15th
$750 if registered after August 15th
Ensembles that need help to afford the full consortium fee should inquire about the Margaret Isabel Boyd Memorial Scholarship
Score + parts available immediately
Pdfs and audio mockup made with the marvelous Noteperformer delivered via email
Consortium members have two years of exclusive access (through Autumn 2026) to the piece before it is made commercially available for the general public. You can program it as many times as you’d like during these two years!
why a consortium?
The obvious! It helps the experience of classical music commissioning and working with a living composer become a reality for ensembles while being much easier on budgets than commissioning work on your own. More about how much commissions *really* cost here.
It’s also just a really special experience: the group effort always ends up resonating in beautiful and unexpected ways. And the community that the piece builds during this creation process with the consortium members and again afterwards when the piece goes out into the world on its own is quite the tangible example of how music can truly unite and connect just by being itself.
Consortium members will be listed in the published version of the score in the order they sign on to the project
EXTRA BITS
ALONG WITH THE MUSIC,
CONSORTIUM MEMBERS RECEIVE:
an hour-long zoom clinic with Stephanie, to be scheduled during your rehearsal process. These are tailored to your needs, and can be switched out for one of her existing talks if that would be a better fit!
a page on this website attached to the Lifecycle of Stars project page about you and your program so that your students, your community, and press members/news organizations can learn more about the folks who helped create this piece and project!
press releases sent to your local news organizations about your involvement in the project both after you sign up and again prior to your concert so that your local community can follow along!
Meet Stephanie
And Her
Music
Michigan-born, Manhattan-based American composer Stephanie Ann Boyd (b. 1990) writes melodic music about women’s memoirs and the natural world for symphonic and chamber ensembles. Her work has been performed in nearly all 50 states and has been commissioned by musicians and organizations in 37 countries. Boyd’s five ballets include works choreographed by New York City Ballet principal dancers Lauren Lovette and Ashley Bouder and include a ballet commissioned for the grand opening of the TWA Hotel at JFK Airport. Stephanie’s music has been praised as “a racing, brassy score” (New York Times), “attractive lyricism” (Gramophone), “[with] ethereal dissonances” (Boston Globe), “[music that] didn’t let itself be eclipsed” (Texas Classical Review), and “arrestingly poetic” (BMOP).
Upcoming commissions include the Nautilus clarinet concerto for principal clarinet of the New York Philharmonic Anthony McGill, Lake of Muses for the Akropolis Reed Quintet, Carnival of the Nearly Extinct Animals for a consortium of orchestras, and the second book of Flower Catalog.
Recent commissions and premieres include a work inspired by Betty Friedan entitled Everywoman, with Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter, mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung, and 2022 Indianapolis Competition winner Sirena Huang as soloists and commissioned by the Peoria Symphony Orchestra with George Stelluto; Julia Louisa Esther: a Suffragette Symphony commissioned by the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra with Christopher Dragon, the premiere of which was the subject of a documentary on Wyoming PBS in 2022; Alleluia Olora commissioned by Astral Artists for cellist Tommy Mesa, and others.
Stephanie grew up as a violinist in the Ann Arbor, Michigan string world. One of the last students of renowned pedagogue John Kendall, she was a member of the Pioneer High School Symphony Orchestra, the Michigan Youth Symphony Orchestra, and the Blue Lake International Youth Symphony Orchestra.
Boyd is a member of the Iceberg New Music composers collective. Stephanie intensely adores jazz big band screaming trumpets, the smell of camp fires and old cars, that moment when planes leave the ground during takeoff, and reading contemporary fiction novels next to her cat, Petra. She holds degrees from Roosevelt University and New England Conservatory (with honors).