Echoes of the Past

Award-winning 2020 animated film
(18 minutes):

Michael Udow – Producer, Director, Composer
Tal Ormsby, Animator & Robert Rosen, Photography

Click here to view trailer.

Rental links:
Orchestra
Percussion Ensemble
Wind Ensemble

April 23, 2022 – Ancient Echoes for Solo Multiple-Percussion and Orchestra “The Lithophone Concerto” premieres with the Longmont Symphony Orchestra, Elliot Moore, Music Director, with Anthony Di Sanza, soloist.

Snap a photo and click on this QR Code to view the program

DuPage Symphony Orchestra, Barbara Schubert, Music Director performed The Shattered Mirror Suite as part of Michael’s Composer in Residence week  that included a composition seminar and lessons with composition students at Elmhurst University, a percussion clinic at DePaul University, and PowerPoint presentations, Exploring the World and Our Life Potential as Musicians for Chicago area high school orchestra, band, and choir students at Downers Grove North, Neuqua Valley, West Chicago, and Merit School of Music. Michael also presented composition and percussion sessions at the high schools.

Now available: Percussion Pedagogy by Michael Udow.   ERRATA

• Offers an accessible guide to teaching percussion
• A comprehensive companion website provides practice materials for students
• Provides guidance on adapting lessons to accommodate learning styles
• Drumset chapter – Robert Breithaupt
• Marching Percussion – Dennis DeLucia

“Profound, intellectual, insightful, and appropriate for a giant step into the pathways of superior teaching. Udow compares the knowledge of several expert teachers and composers, then confirms it with videos to provide an in-depth look at the subject.” — John H. Beck, Professor Emeritus of Percussion, Eastman School of Music

The University of Texas Wind Ensemble performed Udow composition “Mountain Myths” on Sunday, April 7. A recording of the performance is available here.

Udow composition “Stepping Stones” was premiered by Pius Cheung & Eriko Daimo at the 2018 Percussive Arts Society International Convention (Indianapolis, Indiana). A recording of the performance is available here.

Udow compositions Hoodoo Images and Sandsteps I was premiered by Duo Sá, a percussion duo comprised of Pedro and  Janaína Sá, on October 5, 2017 in Rio de Janeiro.

Udow composition “Mountain Myths” commissioned for Music in the Mountains 2017 festival by Gregory Hustis, Artistic Director, and the Music in the Mountains festival as the opening work for the inaugural 2017 orchestral concert. The work will be conducted by Music Director and conductor Guillermo Figueroa on July 15 at 5:30 p.m. at the Festival Tent, Purgatory, CO. Tickets

University of Texas Band Program Interviews Michael Udow. In this video interview with UT Director of Bands, Jerry F. Junkin, Udow discusses two of his compositions — Apparition (timpani) and Moon Shadows (multiple percussion) in the Wind Ensemble version.

Nana Formosa Performs Stepping on Stars in Taipei. The incredible percussion duo Nana Formosa (Yu-Ying Chang and Ya-Hsin Cheng) with choreographer Naiyu Kuo collaborated in a bravura performance of Michael Udow’s Stepping on Stars in Taipei, Taiwan on February 2, 2016.

Udow composition “Mountain Myths” featured in The Durango Herald. “Programmatically, the work represents the geologic upheaval of the Rocky Mountains, the First Nation peoples who inhabited the land and the glorious beauty of the mountains throughout seasonal changes…It opens with an ascending scale, the idea of rising up through geological time, the first upheaval – violence, beauty and … majesty.” Full article

Junkin Conducts Two Udow Concerti in San Antonio. Two concerti by Michael Udow were performed at the Lila Cockrell Theater in San Antonio, Texas on Friday, November 13 in a concert by the University of Texas Wind Ensemble conducted by Jerry Junkin: Apparition featuring timpanist Daniel Karas and Moon Shadows featuring percussionist Anthony Di Sanza. Apparition begins with four intervals (the first five pitches) based on the principal trumpet’s initial entrance in Dimitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 11 (‘The Year 1905′). The work also pays homage to Johann Sebastian Bach’s contrapunctal genius, quoting four successive intervals from The Art of the Fugue. Moon Shadows, a concerto for a soloist performing on multiple percussion instruments, is based on ten classic Japanese haiku about the moon, which are unveiled throughout the composition. Read more.

Udow’s Four Movements featured in Colorado Symphony Orchestra “Drums of the World” Concerts. The Colorado Symphony Orchestra’s Drums of the World concerts at Denver’s Boettcher Concert Hall and Parker’s PACE Center featured Michael Udow’s Four Movements on November 24 and 25 performed by the virtuoso members of the orchestra. Four Movements is an exploration of percussion gestures including instruments that are shaken, scraped, rubbed, and struck. The ensemble costumed the work, which provided added interest for this always-engaging and sold out family concert series.

University of Illinois Symphony Premieres Music and Video Piece. The University of Illinois Symphony Orchestra premiered two Udow works on Friday, October 9. Symphony orchestra director Donald Schleicher was looking for a multimedia orchestral piece to perform. Udow wrote the music for “Abyss of Time,” a 24-minute film by visual artist Rita Blitt. The film and music represent the concept of geologic time, juxtaposed with the time human beings have existed on Earth.

Reflections: Seven Orchestral Works by Michael Udow Released October 2, 2015. “Reflections” is the synthesis CD recording of seven of Udow’s orchestral compositions divided into two parts.  Four of the works are deeply rooted with his passion for poetry and narrative text, and three works are concerti featuring percussion. To listen to selections from and/or purchase the CD, click here.