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Ab Ovo was originally a short work for piano composed by my father, who is a wonderful composer in his own right. After hearing his piece, I thought it would make a terrific band work, so I created this version in 1994 and it was premiered by the Deerfield Community Concert Band in Deerfield, Illinois.

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My dad wrote about his piece: "Ab Ovo is a programmatic piece which was designed to evoke images of the period of history in which dinosaurs and pterodactyls lived. The title of the piece is Latin and means literally "from the egg." The piece is about the beginning of life and the mystery of the creative forces which made such awesome creatures possible. Part of the purpose of writing this piece was to explore the lower end of the keyboard - and, in this arrangement, the lower brass and woodwinds."