One passage calls for the pianist to sing excerpts from a speech by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

"I am making a political statement with this piece," Hoffman says. "The current American political situation has moved me, as it has many others, to speak out in protest of a national foreign policy that is, in my opinion, substantially misguided."

In the speech, Rumsfeld seemed to be saying "that the United States would initiate the invasion of Iraq regardless of world opinion," Hoffman says. "And if there were objections. ... they should be considered 'isolated pockets of international hyperventilation.' "

The Ohio Music Teachers Association selected Hoffman as 2004 Composer of the Year and commissioned the piece, although Hoffman points out that its politically inspired topic was his own idea.

He will premiere At What Price? on Nov. 6 at the organization's statewide convention in Dayton.

Janelle Gelfand