Michael Kevin Daugherty (born April 28, 1954) is an American composer, pianist, an teacher. Influenced by Popular culture, Romanticism, and Postmodernism, Daugherty is one of the most colorful and widely performed American concert music composers of his generation. Daugherty's notable works include his Superman comic book-inspired Metropolis Symphony for Orchestra (1988-1993), Dead Elvis for Solo Bassoon and Chamber Ensemble (1993), the opera Jackie O (1997), Niagara Falls for Symphonic Band (1997), "UFO" for Solo Percussion and Orchestra or Symphonic Band (1999), "Fire and Blood" for Solo Violin and Orchestra (2003) inspired by Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, and "Deus Ex Machina" for Piano and Orchestra (2007). Daugherty has been hailed by The Times (London) as “a master icon maker” with a “maverick imagination, fearless structural sense and meticulous ear.”