Peter Boyer’s Horizons is a musical tribute to Patricia “Pat” Joslyn, whose career as an orchestral musician and administrator spanned 50 years. The work was jointly commissioned by the three orchestras at which Pat had worked – the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, the Sarasota Orchestra, and the Brevard Symphony Orchestra – and was premiered in Tucson in May of 2024 to coincide with Pat’s retirement. Pat started playing as a member of the Brevard Symphony Orchestra’s horn section in 1974 while still a high school student. She continued with the orchestra for 25 years, serving as an invaluable member of the organization’s administrative staff while also playing as Principal Horn.

Composer Peter Boyer writes, “As Pat was a horn player, she had only one specific request: that I compose good horn lines in this piece. That musical direction helped shape the first section, Reflection. After an introduction for spaciously-voiced strings with glittering figures in the percussion, harp, and piano, a solo horn plays a prominent line, which is optimistic, even heroic in character. Later the second horn joins, followed by the third and fourth horns, before this theme is taken up and developed by the full orchestra. This theme and section reach a climax which might sound as if the piece is over – but it’s not. High violins sustain, and the percussion softly introduce a fast new rhythm, which builds to the introduction of the second section, Celebration. This is a vigorous, jubilant romp in 7/8 meter for the full orchestra, as we joyfully celebrate a milestone, and look to the horizon, anticipating adventures ahead.”