Toru Takemitsu

Toru Takemitsu (1931-1996) was a self-taught Japanese composer who combined elements of Eastern and Western music and philosophy to create a unique sound world. Some of his early influences were the sonorities of Debussy, and Messiaen's use of nature imagery and modal scales. There is a certain influence of Webern in Takemitsu's use of silence, and Cage in his compositional philosophy, but his overall style is uniquely his own. Takemitsu believed in music as a means of ordering or contextualizing everyday sound in order to make it meaningful or comprehensible. His philosophy of "sound as life" lay behind his incorporation of natural sounds, as well as his desire to juxtapose and reconcile opposing elements such as Orient and Occident, sound and silence, and tradition and innovation. From the beginning, Takemitsu wrote highly experimental music involving improvisation, graphic notation, unusual combinations of instruments and recorded sounds. The result is music of great beauty and originality. It is usually slowly paced and quiet, but also capable of great intensity. The variety, quantity and consistency of Takemitsu's output are remarkable considering that he never worked within any kind of conventional framework or genre.  

Joe Hisaishi (b.1950)

Mamoru Fujisawa, known professionally as Joe Hisaishi, is a Japanese composer and musical director known for over 100 film scores and solo albums dating back to 1981. Hisaishi is also known for his piano scores. 

While possessing a stylistically distinct sound, Hisaishi's music has been known to explore and incorporate different genres, including minimalist, experimental electronic, Western classical, and Japanese classical. Lesser known are the other musical roles he plays; he is also a typesetter, author, arranger, and conductor.

He has been associated with animator Hayao Miyazaki since 1984, having composed scores for all but one of his films. He is also recognized for the soundtracks he has provided for filmmaker 'Beat' Takeshi Kitano, including A Scene at the Sea (1991), Sonatine (1993), Kids Return (1996), Hana-bi (1997), Kikujiro (1999), Brother and Dolls (2002), as well as for the video game series Ni no Kuni. He was a student of anime composer Takeo Watanabe.

Florence Price (1887-1953)

Florence Beatrice (Smith) Price became the first black female composer to have a symphony performed by a major American orchestra when Music Director Frederick Stock and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra played the world premiere of her Symphony No. 1 in E minor on June 15, 1933, on one of four concerts presented at The Auditorium Theatre from June 14 through June 17 during Chicago’s Century of Progress Exposition. The historic June 15th concert entitled “The Negro in Music” also included works by Harry T. Burleigh, Roland Hayes, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and John Alden Carpenter performed by Margaret A. Bonds, pianist and tenor Roland Hayes with the orchestra. Florence Price’s symphony had come to the attention of Stock when it won first prize in the prestigious Wanamaker Competition held the previous year. 

​

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912)

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was born in Croydon, England, on August 15, 1875. His father, a doctor from Sierra Leone, was forced to return to his home country around the time of Samuel's birth because he was not permitted to practice medicine in England. In 1899 Coleridge-Taylor first heard American spirituals sung by the Fisk Jubilee singers on one of their tours. He became interested in African-American folk song and began incorporating it into his compositions. Black Americans returned the compliment. In 1902 a group of African-American music lovers formed the Coleridge-Taylor Society to perform and promote his music in America, and eventually brought Coleridge-Taylor over for three successful tours--in 1904, 1906, and 1910. During the first tour, Coleridge-Taylor conducted the Marine Band along with the Coleridge-Taylor Society Chorus. He also met with President Teddy Roosevelt. Subsequent tours took Coleridge-Taylor to more and more cities in the Midwest and the East. 

​

Valerie Capers (b.1935)

Dr. Valerie Capers was born in the Bronx and received her early schooling at the New York Institute for the Education of the Blind. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Juilliard School of Music, the first blind person to do so. For several years she served on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music. She was also a member of the faculty in the Department of Music and Art at Bronx Community College of the City University of New York (CUNY) where she introduced several jazz courses to the music curriculum. From 1987 to 1995 she served as department chair, where she is now professor emerita.

​

Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805-1847)

Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805-1847) was a German pianist and composer, whose 500 compositions range from piano solo, art song, and chamber music to cantatas and oratorios. Her music is often passionate and lyrical, and always inventive with a rich contrapuntal underpinning. Due to the social conventions of her day, Fanny was expected to use music as an ornament to her charms, rather than as a means of economic livelihood; nonetheless, despite these prevailing attitudes she published several sets of piano pieces and songs near the end of her life. Her brother, composer Felix Mendelssohn, highly esteemed her musical judgement and would consult her about his own works as they were being composed. The majority of Fanny’s music is unpublished and exists only in manuscript form, waiting to be brought to light. 

​

Hyo-shin Na (b.1959)

“Then came the great revelation of the festival: two coruscating works by Hyo-shin Na. …an  elegant yet unnerving meditation for piano”...The Wire. Hyo-shin Na (b.1959 is a Korean-American female living composer, based in San Francisco, California. She has written for western instruments, and for traditional Korean and Japanese instruments and has written music that combines western and Asian instruments and ways of playing. Her music for traditional Korean instruments is recognized by both composers and performers in Korea (particularly by the younger generation) as being uniquely innovative. Her writing for combinations of western and eastern instruments is unusual in its refusal to compromise the integrity of differing sounds and ideas; she prefers to let them interact, coexist and conflict in the music. Small Noise is written in 2018. While it is true that Hyo-shin Na has written much music for traditional Korean instruments, traditional Korean music has not been her primary source for inspiration. Rather she is stimulated by literature, visual arts, nature, and elements of everyday life. Small Noise includes materials from an earlier work (Koto, Piano II, 2016) and reflect Na's interest in the paintings of Agnes Martin. As in Martin's pantings, Na here uses relatively "ordinary" materials (scales, unaccompanied melodies) and, particularly in Small Noise, avoids chords and "harmonies". This avoidance of harmonies can be found in many sections of her earlier works for piano such as Variations (1990) and in the first half of Rain Study (1999). In addition, in Small Noise, there is an almost complete lack of grace notes. This causes the rhythms to be simpler and more straight-forward.

​

Caroline Shaw (b.1982)

Caroline Shaw is a musician who moves among roles, genres, and mediums, trying to imagine a world of sound that has never been heard before but has always existed. She is the youngest recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in Music for Partita for 8 Voices (Roomful of Teeth), and she works often in collaboration with others, as producer, composer, violinist, and vocalist. Caroline has written over 100 works in the last decade, for Anne Sofie von Otter, Davóne Tines, Yo Yo Ma, Renée Fleming, Dawn Upshaw, LA Phil, Philharmonia Baroque, Seattle Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Aizuri Quartet, The Crossing, Dover Quartet, Calidore Quartet, Brooklyn Rider, Miro Quartet, I Giardini, Ars Nova Copenhagen, Ariadne Greif, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Britt Festival, Vail Dance Festival, and many others. She has produced for Kanye West, Rosalía, Woodkid, and Nas. Her work as vocalist or composer has appeared in several films, tv series, and podcasts including The Humans, Bombshell, Yellowjackets, Maid, Dark, Beyonce’s Homecoming, jeen-yuhs: a Kanye Trilogy, Dolly Parton’s America, and More Perfect. (CS 2022)

​

Antonio Molina (1894-1980)

Antonio J. Molina (26 December 1894 – 29 January 1980) was a Filipino composer, conductor and music administrator. He was named a National Artist of the Philippines for his services to music. He was also known as the Claude Debussy of the Philippines due to his use of impressionism in music.He was a versatile musician, composer, music educator was the last of the musical triumvirate, two of whom were Nicanor Abelardo and Francisco Santiago, who elevated music beyond the realm of folk music. At an early age, he took to playing the violoncello and played it so well it did not take long before he was playing as orchestra soloist for the Manila Grand Opera House. Molina is credited with introducing such innovations as the whole tone scale, pentatonic scale, exuberance of dominant ninths and eleventh cords, and linear counterpoints. 

William Grant Still (1895-1978) 

William Grant Still Jr. (May 11, 1895 – December 3, 1978) was an American composer of nearly 200 works, including five symphonies, four ballets, nine operas, over thirty choral works, plus art songs, chamber music and works for solo instruments. Born in Mississippi, he grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas, attended Wilberforce University and Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and was a student of George Whitefield Chadwick and later, Edgard Varèse. Because of his close association and collaboration with prominent African-American literary and cultural figures, Still is considered to have been part of the Harlem Renaissance.

Miguel del Aguila (b.1957)

Three-time Grammy® nominated American composer Miguel del Aguila was born in Montevideo, Uruguay. In more than 130 works that couple drama and driving rhythm with nostalgic nods to his South American roots, he has established himself among the most distinctive and highly regarded composers of his generation. His music, which enjoys over 200 live performances yearly, has been hailed as “brilliant and witty “(The New York Times), “sonically dazzling” (Los Angeles Times), “with irresistible rhythms..disarmingly genial.” (San Francisco Sentinel), “widely exuberant..exquisitely imaginative..absolutely mesmerizing” (Fanfare), and “expressive and dramatic” (American Record Guide).

His multicultural background gives his works international appeal and presence with worldwide performances by nearly a hundred orchestras, thousands of ensembles and soloists, and 51 CD recordings. “I strive to write music that is sincere and that stirs intense emotions in the performer and the listener. Music that expresses my humanity, my times, my geography and my Latin heritage. Often rhythmically driven and virtuosic, I’m always concerned with its dramatic effectiveness. I don’t think in terms of trends or current styles of composition. The story that my music is telling determines its sound and form (Migueldelaguila.com)”

Written in 1998, Pacific Serenade was commissioned by Pacific Serenades Ensemble who premiered it 1998 in Los Angeles.  The ensemble’s name helped inspire this work as well as its theme:  a romantic serenade, meant to be performed at night under the stars. The main “singer” here is the clarinet. In general the music is extremely quiet, delicate, sensuous and sentimental. The sensuousness is created by the use of South American folkloric idioms, especially the Brazilian “choro”, which is at times combined with Blues melodies and Jazz harmony. Miguel del Aguila: “In an age of boom boxes, media bombardment and an increasingly aggressive pop culture, I felt the need to write just the opposite.”

​