UFO (for solo percussion and orchestra (1999), and for solo percussion and symphonic band (2000)) is a composition written by American composer Michael Daugherty for percussionist Evelyn Glennie.
The world of American popular culture inspires much of Daugherty's music – in the present case, the unidentified flying objects that have been an obsession in American popular culture since 1947 (Scott 2003, 35).
[citation needed] It was first performed by Evelyn Glennie and the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin at the Kennedy Center, Washington D.C. on April 10, 1999.
This version was premiered by the Michigan State University Symphony Band conducted by John Whitwell, with solo percussionist Allison Shaw, on October 7, 2000, at Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan (Scott 2003, 41), and by Evelyn Glennie, solo percussion and the North Texas Wind Symphony conducted by Eugene Migliaro Corporon on April 19, 2001 in Denton, Texas.
The symphonic band version is scored for piccolo, 4 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, E♭ clarinet, 4 B♭ clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones, 4 horns, 4 trumpets, 2 trombones, bass trombone, 3 euphoniums, 2 tubas, and contrabass.