Passacaglia was written for the New Hyde Park Memorial Junior High School Band in 1982, an ensemble that I played in as a teenager. The work is dedicated to Shirley M. Homan, who conducted that ensemble for many years, and who gave enormous inspiration to two generations of budding musicians.

The work is suitable for advanced junior high bands through professional ensembles. Shortly after Shirley Homan's premiere, the work received its first professional performance by the Guggenheim Concert Band, conducted by the late Ainslee Cox, at Lincoln Center, New York.

-- R.C.