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Composers

Harold Jones, Flutist
Let Us Break Bread Together

Bios for 20th century composers only. Others can be found in any standard reference or online.

Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (1932-2004) enjoyed an extremely versatile career as a composer and conductor. His ballet scores include works for the Dance Theatre of Harlem, Alvin Ailey, and the Eleo Pomare Dance Company. Perkinson composed and conducted scores for numerous award-winning theatrical, television, and documentary films such as Montgomery to Memphis (Martin Luther King), Bearden on Bearden (Romare Bearden), A Woman Called Moses (Cecily Tyson), and A Warm December (Sidney Poitier). He served as composer-in-residence for the Negro Ensemble Company and composed a number of solo, chamber, and vocal works.

Lloyd McNeill (b.1935) teaches visual arts at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. He has had numerous exhibitions in the art world, and has published poems, drawings, and photographs. Some of his musical works can be heard on the Baobab and Ashy labels. McNeill, whose mentor in the study of music composition is Hale Smith, studied flute with Harold Jones and several other teachers. A native of Washington D.C., McNeill is a graduate of Morehouse College and Howard University.

Bernard Rogers (1893-1968) taught at the Eastman School of Music for many years, becoming chairman of the composition department. Early in his career, he was a member of the editorial staff of Musical America. His first ambition was to become an artist, and he continued to paint as a hobby throughout his life. His interest in art, especially in Japanese prints, continued to influence his music.

Michel Colombier's (1939 -2004) credits include more than fifty film and television scores, symphonic and chamber music works, opera, and compositions for ballet for Mikhail Baryshnikov, Wile Tharp, Maurice Bejart, and others. His first solo album, Wings, (which uses an orchestra, a full choir, solo vocalists, a jazz-rock orchestra, an oboe soloist, and an electrified string trio) marked the first time that pop music was integrated into a symphonic work. Released in 1971, it was nominated for three Grammy Awards and went on to win numerous international awards. Colombier's film credits include New Jack City, Against All Odds, White Nights, Ruthless People, Purple Rain, The Golden Child, and Manon. Colombier, a native of France, lives in Los Angeles. Emmanuel was written as a memorial to Colombier's son, who died at age five.

Daniel Paget's (b.1943) theatre scores include music for mime director Moni Yakim's New York Pantomime Theatre, presented on national tour; music for Lewis Gardner's Soup for One; scores for the APA-Phoenix and other companies; and two full-length musical scores that were produced at Columbia University. Paget has also composed chamber, electronic, vocal, television, and film scores. As a pianist he toured the Far East under State Department auspices, playing ragtime. Paget is Choral Director at the Manhattan School of Music and John Jay College (CUNY) in New York City.

Howard Hanson (1896-1981) was director of the Eastman School of Music from 1924 to 1964. He founded the Institute of American Music of the Eastman School for the publication and dissemination of American music as well as research in the history of 20th-century musical styles. A neo-romantic composer, Hanson wrote many works for large forces in addition to chamber and solo works.


 

 

 

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