THE PURPLE TWILIGHT by ROBERT LONGFIELD – GREATER MIAMI SYMPHONIC BAND

THE PURPLE TWILIGHT by Robert Longfield ©1993 Neil A Kjos Music, California. All copyrighted music in this video is used under license with ASCAP and BMI. Recorded live at Maurice Gusman Concert Hall, on the campus of the University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL., June 6, 2023, with the composer on the podium.

GREATER MIAMI SYMPHONIC BAND is honored to present this moving performance of THE PURPLE TWILIGHT, by American composer Robert Longfield.

GMSB Music Director and Conductor Robert Longfield is well-known as a prolific composer, music arranger and award-winning music educator. Longfield also once aspired to be an astronaut. He was one of 11,000 applicants for the Teacher-in-Space program, an appointment ultimately awarded to Challenger Space Shuttle Astronaut Crista McAuliffe. She and six others were aboard the 1986 Challenger mission that ended in tragedy seventy-three seconds after lift-off.

When the Space Shuttle Challenger roared into the heavens that day, it carried with it the best of us – male, female, Black, White, Japanese-American, Jewish, Catholic, Protestant – American heroes who paid the price of progress with the ultimate sacrifice.

Mr. Longfield wrote THE PURPLE TWILIGHT as a memorial to the crew of Shuttle Mission 51-L, the "Challenger Seven" as they came to be known. Rather than mourn their tragic passing, the piece celebrates the spirit of adventure and romance that led them to reach for the stars.

For more information about GREATER MIAMI SYMPHONIC BAND go to www.GMSB.org, "like" us on FaceBook, follow us on Twitter @GMSB79, and PLEASE SUBSCRIBE to our GMSB YouTube Channel. After you subscribe you will get alerts each time new GMSB music is published.

IMPORTANT NOTE: For best viewing experience - after clicking on image above, move pointer to lower right and click on the GEAR shaped icon. Then choose 1080p60 quality setting (a red colored box with letters "HD" in white will appear on the GEAR icon) for maximum viewing and listening pleasure. Then click on the PLAY button. (Choosing full screen is excellent, as well.)