COMPOSERS
malcolm arnold
Sir Malcolm Arnold was one of the leading British composers of the second half of the 20th century. Malcolm Henry Arnold was born on 21st October 1921, in Northampton.
The Great-Grandson of William Hawes, the head of all music for the Chapels Royal and St Paul’s. In 1937 Sir Malcolm was awarded a scholarship at the Royal College of Music in London, where he studied the trumpet with Ernest Hall and composition with Gordon Jacob.
After a successful career as the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s first trumpet, he became a full-time composer in 1948. Amongst his early successes were the overture “Beckus the Dandipratt”, the two sets of “English Dances”, the overture “Tam O’Shanter”, the ballet “Homage to the Queen”, and his first two symphonies.
By the late 50s, he achieved fame in other circles. He became one of the main contributors to the Hoffnung concerts (“Grand, Grand Overture”, “Grand Concerto Gastronomique”, and “Carnival of Animals” ).
He also made himself a name as a composer of film scores, including the hugely successful “Bridge on the River Kwai” directed by David Lean, for which Sir Malcolm won an Oscar.
He continued his concert hall successes with works such as the “Four Scottish Dances”, the Double Violin Concerto, the Guitar Concerto, several ballets, the “Four Cornish Dances”, the famous “Peterloo Overture” and four more symphonies. He became one of the most sought-after composers alongside Benjamin Britten and William Walton.
At the end of the 1960s, he had distanced himself somewhat from the British music scene by moving to Ireland. Works produced during that period included Symphonies 7 and 8, the Philharmonic Concerto, the “John Field Fantasy” for piano and orchestra, the Second String Quartet and his jazzy Clarinet Concerto No.2 (dedicated to and first performed by Benny Goodman).
Arnold suffered from severe health problems in the late 70s and early 80s and stopped composing for some years. However, he resumed his career in the mid-80s and created works such as the “Four Irish Dances”, a Cello Concerto and Symphony No 9. He retired from composing in 1991.
During his life, Sir Malcolm was awarded many fellowships and honours and was knighted for services to music in 1993. (See list below). Sir Malcolm died on 23rd September 2006.
The Malcolm Arnold Society was founded in 1991, and since 2006 the town of Northampton has celebrated the composer with an annual Malcolm Arnold Festival.
Frank Ticheli
Frank Ticheli's music has been described as being “optimistic and thoughtful" (Los Angeles Times), “lean and muscular" (New York Times), “brilliantly effective" (Miami Herald) and “powerful, deeply felt crafted with impressive flair and an ear for striking instrumental colors" (South Florida Sun-Sentinel). Ticheli (b. 1958) joined the faculty of the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music in 1991, where he is Professor of Composition. From 1991 to 1998, Ticheli was Composer in Residence of the Pacific Symphony.
Frank Ticheli's orchestral works have received considerable recognition in the U.S. and Europe. Orchestral performances have come from the Philadelphia Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Dallas Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, the radio orchestras of Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Saarbruecken, and Austria, and the orchestras of Austin, Bridgeport, Charlotte, Colorado, Haddonfield, Harrisburg, Hong Kong, Jacksonville, Lansing, Long Island, Louisville, Lubbock, Memphis, Nashville, Omaha, Phoenix, Portland, Richmond, San Antonio, San Jose, Wichita Falls, and others. His clarinet concerto was recently recorded by the Nashville Symphony on the Naxos label with soloist James Zimmermann.
Ticheli is well known for his works for concert band, many of which have become standards in the repertoire. In addition to composing, he has appeared as guest conductor of his music at Carnegie Hall, at many American universities and music festivals, and in cities throughout the world, including Schladming (Austria), Beijing and Shanghai, London and Manchester, Singapore, Rome, Sydney, and numerous cities in Japan.
Frank Ticheli is the recipient of a 2012 “Arts and Letters Award" from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, his third award from that prestigious organization. His Symphony No. 2 was named winner of the 2006 NBA/William D. Revelli Memorial Band Composition Contest. Other awards include the Walter Beeler Memorial Prize and First Prize awards in the Texas Sesquicentennial Orchestral Composition Competition, Britten-on-the-Bay Choral Composition Contest, and Virginia CBDNA Symposium for New Band Music.
In 2018, Ticheli received the University of Michigan Alumni Society’s highest honor, the Hall of Fame Award, in recognition for his career as a composer. He was also awarded national honorary membership to Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, "bestowed to individuals who have significantly contributed to the cause of music in America," and the A. Austin Harding Award by the American School Band Directors Association, “given to individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the school band movement in America." At USC, he has received the Virginia Ramo Award for excellence in teaching, and the Dean's Award for Professional Achievement.
Frank Ticheli received his doctoral and masters degrees in composition from The University of Michigan. His works are published by Manhattan Beach, Southern, Hinshaw, and Encore Music, and are recorded on the labels of Albany, Chandos, Clarion, Equilibrium, Klavier, Koch International, Mark, Naxos, and Reference.
Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Puccini (December 22, 1858 – November 29, 1924) was an Italian opera composer. He is considered one of the most important composers of Italian opera after Giuseppe Verdi. His operas are known for their beautiful melodies, their clever use of humor, and their dramatic intensity. Puccini's music had a profound influence on the development of opera, and he is considered one of the greatest opera composers of all time.
Puccini was born in Lucca, Italy, into a family of musicians. His father, Michele Puccini, was a maestro di cappella at the Cathedral of San Martino in Lucca. Puccini began studying music at a young age, and he showed great talent for music. He studied at the Milan Conservatory, where he was a student of the composer Amilcare Ponchielli.
Puccini's first opera, Le Villi, was performed in Milan in 1884. The opera was a success, and it launched Puccini's career as a composer. Over the next 20 years, Puccini wrote a string of successful operas, including La Bohème (1896), Tosca (1900), Madama Butterfly (1904), and Turandot (left incomplete).
Puccini's operas are some of the most popular and frequently performed operas in the world. La Bohème is set in the Latin Quarter of Paris and tells the story of four young artists struggling to make ends meet. Tosca is set in Rome and tells the story of a diva who is torn between her love for a painter and her fear of a corrupt police chief. Madama Butterfly is set in Japan and tells the story of a young geisha who is betrayed by her American lover. Turandot is set in China and tells the story of a cruel princess who can only be won by a man who can solve three riddles.
Puccini died in Brussels, Belgium, in 1924. He was only 65 years old. Despite his short life, Puccini had a profound impact on the world of music. He was one of the most important composers of Italian opera, and his operas continue to be performed and enjoyed by audiences around the world.
Merlin PAtterson
Acclaimed as “one of the finest transcribers of all time” (James Keene, University of Illinois-retired) and “without peer as a band arranger” (Eddie Green, University of Houston-retired), the wind transcriptions of Merlin Patterson have set new standards in attaining “the highest possible current degree of attention to color and imagination” (Jerry Junkin, University of Texas and Dallas Wind Symphony). Merlin Patterson received his formal musical training at Sam Houston State University where his principal teachers were Newton Strandberg, Fisher Tull, and Ralph Mills. Additional study has been done under Eddie Green of the University of Houston.
Mr. Patterson’s compositional catalogue includes works for band, orchestra, solo instruments, and a wide variety of chamber ensembles. Among his transcriptions are Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring and The Firebird Suite (1919), Debussy's The Engulfed Cathedral, Janacek's Sinfonietta, Holst's The Planets (complete),Wagner's Procession to the Cathedral, Elgar's Enigma Variations (complete), Rimsky Korsakov’s Scheherazade, Respighi’s Feste Romane, and Javelin by American composer Michael Torke, who lauded Patterson's transcription as "brilliant" and further remarked "I didn't realize that a band transcription could come out so well." Mr. Patterson has specialized in the works of Aaron Copland, having written band transcriptions of Appalachian Spring, Letter from Home, and Down a Country Lane, the latter receiving praise from the composer as "a careful, sensitive, and most satisfying extension of the mood and content of the original."
His transcriptions have received critical acclaim in numerous music journals including The Instrumentalist and The American Record Guide which stated, “Patterson does with Debussy’s The Engulfed Cathedral what Ravel did with Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition…Debussy’s piano piece is magical, and so is Patterson’s setting for band.” His works have been performed by leading professional organizations, including the United States Marine Band, the United States Air Force Band, and the Dallas Wind Symphony, as well as by major university ensembles across the United States and around the world.
Recordings of his transcriptions are available on the Mark, DBP Audio, Albany, Naxos, Altissimo, Metier and GIA record labels. His works are published by TRN, Manhattan Beach Music, and Boosey & Hawkes. Most of Patterson’s transcriptions are available through Merlin Patterson Music.
Nathan Daughtrey
Composer and keyboard percussionist Nathan Daughtrey is driven by curiosity, relentlessly seeking ways to meld his lifelong passions. As a performing artist & clinician for Yamaha percussion and Salyers Percussion mallets, his varied career has taken him all over the world, appearing as a keyboard soloist in Australia, Asia, Eastern Europe, and throughout North America. Nathan has released two solo marimba albums – Spiral Passages and The Yuletide Marimba – the latter featuring his original arrangements of popular Christmas carols for the instrument. Additionally, he has appeared on many other albums, including Emma Lou Diemer’s Pacific Ridge, performing as soloist on her Concerto in One Movement for Marimba & Orchestra with the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Nathan first discovered and cultivated his compositional voice through works involving percussion, including solos, duets, and ensembles. After one too many experiences being a bored, young “drummer” in the back of a band room, he made it his mission to compose wind band music across all difficulty levels with engaging, independent percussion parts that add color and drive, making those players indispensable. Perhaps best known for his percussion ensemble pieces, like Mercury Rising and Firefly, Nathan has also amassed an impressive catalog of chamber works combining percussion with woodwinds, brass, strings, and voice. Being a collaborative chamber musician on his own pieces has been the most rewarding means of combining his passions for performing and composing. This is best illustrated on the album Praxis with euphoniumist Brian Meixner, which includes recordings of Nathan’s duet Spitfire and his award-winning Coming Home for solo euphonium & percussion quintet. He maintains a healthy commission schedule, composing works across genres for performers, ensembles, and directors worldwide.
In January 2020, Nathan took over as owner and president of C. Alan Publications after wearing many hats for the company since 1998. To this new role, he brings with him the same curiosity and zeal to curate a catalog of music that is genuine, forward-looking, educational, and inspiring. Nathan lives a charmed life full of running, traveling, cooking, and concert-hopping with his wife Katie and daughter Penelope in Greensboro, NC.
JOHN PHILIP SOUSA
Unequalled by his predecessors, John Philip Sousa is responsible for bringing the United States Marine Band to an unprecedented level of excellence: a standard upheld by every Marine Band Director since. Sousa grew up with the Marine Band, and his intimate knowledge of the band coupled with his great ability provided the ideal medium to showcase the marches which would earn him the title, the "March King."
Sousa was born Nov. 6, 1854, at 636 G Street, SE, Washington, DC, near the Marine Barracks where his father, Antonio, was a musician in the Marine Band. He received his grammar school education in Washington and for several of his school years enrolled in a private conservatory of music operated by John Esputa, Jr. There he studied piano and most of the orchestral instruments, but his first love was the violin. John Philip Sousa gained great proficiency on the violin, and at the age of 13 he was almost persuaded to join a circus band. However, his father intervened and enlisted him as an apprentice musician in the Marine Band. Except for a period of six months, Sousa remained in the band until he was 20.
In addition to his musical training in the Marine Band, he studied music theory and composition with George Felix Benkert, a noted Washington orchestra leader and teacher.
After his discharge from the Marine Corps, Sousa remained in Washington for a time, conducting and playing the violin. He toured with several traveling theater orchestras and moved, in 1876, to Philadelphia. There he worked as a composer, arranger, and proofreader for publishing houses. Sousa was fascinated by the operetta form and toured with a company producing the musical Our Flirtation, for which he wrote the incidental music and the march. While on tour in St. Louis, he received a telegram offering him the leadership of the Marine Band in Washington. He accepted and reported for duty on Oct. 1, 1880, becoming the band’s 17th Leader.
The Marine Band was Sousa’s first experience conducting a military band, and he approached musical matters unlike most of his predecessors. He replaced much of the music in the library with symphonic transcriptions and changed the instrumentation to meet his needs. Rehearsals became exceptionally strict, and he shaped his musicians into the country’s premier military band. Marine Band concerts began to attract discriminating audiences, and the band’s reputation began to spread widely.
Sousa first received acclaim in military band circles with the writing of his march "The Gladiator" in 1886. From that time on he received ever-increasing attention and respect as a composer. In 1888, he wrote "Semper Fidelis." Dedicated to "the officers and men of the Marine Corps," it is traditionally known as the "official" march of the Marine Corps.
In 1889, Sousa wrote the "Washington Post" march to promote an essay contest sponsored by the newspaper; the march was soon adapted and identified with the new dance called the two-step. The "Washington Post" became the most popular tune in America and Europe, and critical response was overwhelming. A British band journalist remarked that since Johann Strauss, Jr., was called the "Waltz King" that American bandmaster Sousa should be called the "March King." With this, Sousa’s regal title was coined and has remained ever since.
Under Sousa the Marine Band also made its first recordings. The phonograph was a relatively new invention, and the Columbia Phonograph Company sought an ensemble to record. The Marine Band was chosen, and 60 cylinders were released in the fall of 1890. By 1897, more than 400 different titles were available for sale, placing Sousa’s marches among the first and most popular pieces ever recorded, and the Marine Band one of the world's first "recording stars."
The immense popularity of the Marine Band made Sousa anxious to take his Marine Band on tour, and in 1891 President Benjamin Harrison gave official sanction for the first Marine Band tour, a tradition which has continued annually since that time, except in times of war.
After the second Marine Band tour in 1892, Sousa was approached by his manager, David Blakely, to organize his own civilian concert band, and on July 30 of that year, John Philip Sousa resigned as Director of the Marine Band. At his farewell concert on the White House lawn Sousa was presented with a handsome engraved baton by members of the Marine Band as a token of their respect and esteem. This baton was returned to the Marine Band by Sousa's daughters, Jane Priscilla Sousa and Helen Sousa Abert, in 1953. The Sousa baton is now traditionally passed to the new Director of the Marine Band during change of command ceremonies.
In his 12 years as Leader of the Marine Band, he served under five Presidents, and the experience he gained with the Marine Band would be applied to his civilian band for the next 39 years. With his own band, Sousa’s fame and reputation would grow to even greater heights.
Sousa’s last appearance before "The President's Own" was on the occasion of the Carabao Wallow of 1932 in Washington. Sousa, as a distinguished guest, rose from the speaker’s table, took the baton from Director Captain Taylor Branson, and led the orchestra through the stirring strains of "Hands Across the Sea ."
John Philip Sousa died on March 6, 1932, at Reading, Pa., where he was scheduled to conduct the Ringgold Band. His body was brought to his native Washington to lie in state in the Band Hall at Marine Barracks. Four days later, two companies of Marines and Sailors, the Marine Band, and honorary pall-bearers from the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps headed the funeral cortege from the Marine Barracks to Congressional Cemetery.
Robert Russell Bennett
Russell Bennett led – for some seven decades – an active professional life, both as orchestrator of others’ music and as composer of a long list of concert works. He is reputed to have orchestrated all or part of some 300 Broadway and London productions between 1920 and 1976, and turned out hundreds of other published arrangements during his lifetime.
Spending the duration of his professional career almost entirely in New York City, Bennett made his acquaintance with those on both “sides” of the music business: Kern and Gershwin on one hand, and Rachmaninoff, Stokowski, and Reiner on the other. The great majority of his pieces were given New York premieres in the hands of prominent conductors, orchestras, and soloists.
Bennett made it clear to Kern and other songwriters that his personal preferences in music lay with the classics; though he was viewed as something of a “snob” by his Broadway associates for this reason, he saw the popular music industry as merely a money-making venture, with popular songs just another commercial commodity. This did not prevent him, however, from establishing a reputation for tastefulness, creativity, and restraint in his commercial scoring; for several decades he was acknowledged as the leading practitioner in his field.
roger nixon
Nixon was born and raised in California's Central Valley towns of Tulare and Modesto. Nixon attended Modesto Junior College from 1938–1940 where he studied clarinet with Frank Mancini, formerly of John Philip Sousa's band. He continued his studies at UC Berkeley, majoring in composition and receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1941. His studies were then interrupted by almost four years of active duty in the Navy during World War II, serving as the commanding officer of an LCMR in the Atlantic.
Following the war Nixon returned to UC Berkeley, first receiving a M.A. degree and later a Ph.D. His primary teacher was Roger Sessions. He also studied with Arthur Bliss, Ernest Bloch, Charles Cushing, and Frederick Jacobi. In the summer of 1948, he studied privately with Arnold Schoenberg.
From 1951 to 1959, Nixon was on the music faculty at Modesto Junior College. He was then appointed to the faculty at San Francisco State College, now San Francisco State University, in 1960 and began a long association with the Symphonic Band, which premiered many of his works. Most of Nixon's works are for band, but he has also composed for orchestra, chamber ensembles, solo piano, choral ensembles, as well as song cycles and an opera. His most popular and most-performed work is Fiesta del Pacifico, a piece for concert band.
Nixon received several awards including a Phelan Award, the Neil A. Kjos Memorial Award, and five grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. He was elected to the American Bandmasters Association in 1973, the same year he won the association's Ostwald Award for his composition Festival Fanfare March. In 1997, Nixon was honored by the Texas Bandmasters Association as a Heritage American Composer. At his death, he was Professor Emeritus of Music at San Francisco State University.
His students at San Francisco State University include Kent Nagano.
Nixon died on October 13, 2009, from complications from leukemia at Mills Peninsula Hospital in Burlingame, California.
Frank S. Perkins
American song composer best known for the song "Stars Fell on Alabama" and "Fandango".
He earned his Ph.B from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island in economics in 1929.
In 1934 he joined Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians and remained with them as arranger until 1938 when he joined Warner Brothers as a composer and conductor, where he remained for many years.
Decca records called upon Perkins to record some of his own light compositions on LP's in the 1950s. Perkins also worked in film music.