American composer and creative writer Michael Boo died.

Photo: Michael Boo

Michael Boo was a composer, creative writer and church choir director (vocals and hand bells) from Chesterton, Indiana. He received his Bachelor of Music Education degree from VanderCook College of Music in Chicago and a Master of Music in Composition and Theory from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois.

As a percussionist, he was given the task of “Staff Writer” for DCI (Drum Corps International) and wrote extensively for other organizations, including BOA (Bands of America) and WGI (Winter Guard International). His contributions to these various activities have earned him the nickname “The Pen of Pageantry”.

Over the years he was also offered the position of Assistant Director of the Valparaiso University/Community Concert Band and he was percussionist in this band and additionally percussionist in the professional concert band “Windiana”. In this position he coordinated the annual “Duneland Community Advent Festival”, a major fundraising effort founded by the “Community Food Bank”. He also performed in a community folklore ensemble, “Save the Tunes”, and had made an effort to learn the violin in this group.

His compositions for the concert band were taken over by TRN Music Publisher, Inc. Four of his works were premiered by Windiana in China in June 2006, and he was asked by the Chinese hosts to write some works based on Chinese folk songs.

On 18 November 2020, Michael Boo died in poor health, probably due to the after-effects of Covid-19.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top