Aaron Perrine creates vividly colorful and rhythmically infused layers of music, inspired by the soundscapes and unparalleled allure of the natural world. He is a two-time winner of the American Bandmasters Association Sousa/Ostwald Award for his compositions: Only Light in 2015 and Pale Blue on Deep in 2013. Another one of his compositions—Temperance—won the 2017 CBDNA Young Band Composition Contest. His music for winds has been featured at ABA Conventions, CBNDA National and Regional Conferences, TMEA, The Midwest Clinic, The Western International Band Clinic, and at numerous all-state concerts and state conferences.
Perrine’s works for solo instruments with winds have also garnered much attention in recent years. Drifting, for euphonium and wind ensemble, was awarded the 2023 ITEA Harvey Phillips Award for Excellence in Composition. In 2018, Perrine’s saxophone concerto—It Has to Be Beautiful—was premiered by Kenneth Tse with the Symphonic Wind Orchestra of Croatian Armed Forces at the World Saxophone Congress in Zagreb, Croatia. In 2024, Tse will again perform the concerto at the International Saxophone Symposium with the United States Navy Concert Band, conducted by Captain Kenneth Collins.
Additionally, Perrine is an active conductor and educator. He has conducted a variety of all-state and honor bands, with his most recent appearance being the 2023 South Carolina All-State Junior Band. He also spent several years on the faculty of Cornell College.
Perrine’s education includes a doctorate from the University of Iowa, a master’s degree from the University of Minnesota and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota, Morris. For more information, please visit www.aaronperrine.com.