Orchestral Firepower

Jennifer Blahnik Royals, a native of Vero Beach and principal clarinetist for the Space Coast Symphony Orchestra, has been playing the clarinet for over twenty-five years. She holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree and a Master of Arts degree in Clarinet Performance from the University of Central Florida. While an undergraduate student, she was chosen for advanced clarinet studies in France. Ms. Royals has studied privately with Ivan Wansley, Keith Koons, and Nora Lee Garcia. Additionally, she has taken master classes from Stanley Drucker, Robert Spring, Michele Gingras, Alessandro Carbonare, and Charles Neidich.

Ms. Royals has played with various orchestras and ensembles including Treasure Coast Wind Ensemble, the Vero Beach Chamber Orchestra, the Sunshine Clarinet Quartet, Treasure Coast Opera, Central Florida Lyric Opera, Bulgaria's Teatro Lirico D'Europa, Orlando Light Opera, Lakeside Chamber Players, Brevard Symphony Orchestra, Haifa Symphony, Space Coast Pops Orchestra, and the Licorice Sticks Clarinet Orchestra. As a founding member of the Space Coast Symphony, she has been featured in several chamber concerts as well as four solo performances with the orchestra.

Jennifer is a member of the International Clarinet Association and has performed at the 2010 Clarinet Fest in Austin, Texas, the 2013 Clarinet Fest in Assisi, Italy (where she premiered new pieces for clarinet quartet), the 2014 Clarinet Fest in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and will be performing at the 2017 Clarinet Fest in Orlando.

In addition to her active concert schedule, Royals is a sought after clinician who provides private clarinet instruction to middle and high school players in Indian River County. Her students routinely earn top seats in the Florida All-State Bands and Treasure Coast Four-County Honor Bands, as well as superior ratings at solo and ensemble festivals.

R. Michael Daugherty’s catalog of compositions contains roughly 400 works in a wide variety of genres. These include over 40 works for orchestra and band that span his career from 1983 to the present, and over 150 chamber music and solo instrumental works.  His works are widely performed, with performances in the U.S., South America, and Europe. As a prize-winning composer, Dr. Daugherty has won awards in several categories. Morning on Gem Lake won the 1st Annual Washington and Lee Chamber Orchestra Composition Contest, Nothing Bitter Suite won the American Composers Prize by the Heights Chamber Orchestra, Cleveland Heights, Ohio (SCSO performances with Principal Guest Conductor Michael Hull in April 2017 in Vero Beach and Melbourne), and Lux Aeterna won the 2012/13 Ars Nova Composition Competition, Washington, D.C.). Among his solo and chamber works are prizes and awards for Trombone Soup (Second Prize Winner of the 2016 Wright State University Trombone Festival Composition Contest), and “Time by the River” (Third Place Winner in the Boathouse Cello Choir Competition in 2014). The Energies of Adam was commissioned by the North Carolina Music Teachers Association in 1984. He has had numerous other commissions, most notably the Dynamic Duo Grant from the Melbourne International Film Festival and SCSO to compose music for a short film by Daphne Stacey entitled “In a Moment” (premiered by Aaron Collins and SCSO members at The Oaks Ten in Melbourne, Florida, in 2015) and the North Carolina Regional Artist Grant – 2013-2014 for the composition and performance of All I Have to Bring Today, composed for East Carolina Faculty members Jami Rhodes, mezzo-soprano, Douglas Monroe, clarinet and Catherine Garner, piano.

Dr. Daugherty has also won prizes for his vocal and choral works: Fischerweisse - Winner of the 2013 Houston Saengerbund Choral Composition Contest for Mannerchor and Give All to Love -Second Prize Winner in the Ithaca College/Theodore Presser Choral Composition Competition, 1983).  Dr. Daugherty holds a B.A. degree in musical and literary composition from Denison University, studying with Elliot Borishansky and M.M. and D.M.A. degrees in music composition from The Ohio State University studying with Marshall Barnes and David Behrman. He retired after 35 years as a music theory instructor at Coastal Carolina Community College, Jacksonville, North Carolina, in June of 2011 and moved to Vero Beach, Florida, in March of 2015 with his wife Lorraine. They both enjoy both living near the ocean and the cultural activities available along Florida’s Treasure Coast.