Hoover received both his bachelor鈥檚 and master鈥檚 degrees in music from UofL. Before retiring to Florida in 2004, he was an active musician in the Louisville community. He taught instrumental music at Atherton, Seneca and Ballard high schools and also at several middle and elementary schools in the Louisville and Jefferson County school systems.
Hoover also served as UofL鈥檚 director of bands and for several years and played French horn in the Louisville Orchestra. He was bandmaster of the National Guard鈥檚 202nd Army Band and conductor of the River Cities Concert Band.
The award鈥檚 namesake, Robert B. Griffith, was a UofL professor and division head in music education from 1961 to 1978. Before that he had been band and orchestra director at Manual High School in Louisville from 1945 to 1961.
Griffith composed the official school song, 鈥淔ight UofL,鈥 and had more than 75 published marches, including 鈥淭he Courier Journal March,鈥 which he wrote in 1972. The arrangement of 鈥淢y Old Kentucky Home鈥 that the UofL Marching Band plays each year at the Kentucky Derby also is his.
The Wind Ensemble concert will feature Hoover as guest conductor for 鈥淭he Courier Journal March.鈥 The program also will include: 鈥淨uodling鈥檚 Delight,鈥 by Kenneth Hesketh; 鈥淪wing Low,鈥 by Steve Rouse; the world premiere of 鈥淭orn Canvases,鈥 by Matthew Tommasini; Symphony No. 3, by Vittorio Giannini; and the 鈥淔inale from the Pineapple Poll,鈥 by Arthur Sullivan.
