The Lone Star Wind Orchestra (LSWO) is actively engaged in the support of living composers through residencies and commissions. Each season, the LSWO features composers though its Distinguished Visiting Composer Series as well as its Commissioning Project. The LSWO also supports composers through premiering new works for wind band.
Distinguished Visiting Composer Series • 2011-12 – Carter Pann LSWO Commissioning Project • 2011-12 – Christopher Tucker, TBD Premieres • November 21, 2010 – Cindy McTee’s Double Play • November 21, 2010 – [Youth Winds] Donald Grantham’s Spangled Heavens (complete) • September 26, 2010 – Michael Sweeney's trans. of Bernstein's Symphonic Suite from "On the Waterfront" • July 26, 2010 – Frank Ticheli’s San Antonio Dances • July 28, 2008 – Christopher Tucker’s Gabrieli’s Trumpet • May 20, 2008 – Donald Grantham’s Lone Star Twister • October 9, 2007 – Frank Ticheli’s Wild Nights! • October 9, 2007 – Joseph Willcox Jenkins’ Concerto Breve “The Wondrous Valley” • March 6, 2007 – Steven Bryant’s Radiant Joy • December 19, 2006 – Joseph Spaniola’s Is there a Santa Claus? • September 27, 2006 – Christopher Tucker’s Fanfare Español Composer-in-Residence The composer-in-residence of the Lone Star Wind Orchestra is charged with coordinating seminars and masterclasses with visiting composers as well as maintaining relationships with contemporary composers - establishing new opportunities for future collaborations. The composer-in-residence fulfills at least one commission for the Lone Star Wind Orchestra in addition to performances of his or her compositions. Composer Bios Composer Donald Grantham is the recipient of numerous awards and prizes in composition, including the Prix Lili Boulanger, the Nissim/ASCAP Orchestral Composition Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, three grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, three First Prizes in the NBA/William Revelli Competition, two First Prizes in the ABA/Ostwald Competition, and First Prize in the National Opera Association's Biennial Composition Competition. His music has been praised for its "elegance, sensitivity, lucidity of thought, clarity of expression and fine lyricism" in a Citation awarded by the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. The composer resides in Austin, Texas and is Professor of Composition at the University of Texas at Austin. With Kent Kennan he is coauthor of The Technique of Orchestration (Prentice-Hall).
John Mackey, born October 1, 1973, in New Philadelphia, Ohio, holds a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with John Corigliano and Donald Erb, respectively. His works have been performed at the Sydney Opera House; the Brooklyn Academy of Music; Carnegie Hall; the Kennedy Center; Italy's Spoleto Festival; Alice Tully Hall; and throughout Italy, Chile, Japan, Austria, Brazil, Germany, England, Australia, and the United States. Recent commissions include works for the concert bands of the SEC Athletic Conference, the American Bandmasters Association, and the Dallas Wind Symphony.
Hailed by critics as a composer whose music reflects a "charging, churning celebration of the musical and cultural energy of modern-day America," Cindy McTee “brings to the world of concert music a fresh and imaginative voice.” McTee has received numerous awards for her music, most significantly: the Detroit Symphony Orchestra's third annual Elaine Lebenbom Memorial Award; a Music Alive Award from Meet The Composer and the League of American Orchestras; two awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; a Guggenheim Fellowship; a Fulbright Fellowship; a Composers Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts; and a BMI Student Composers Award. She was also winner of the 2001 Louisville Orchestra Composition Competition.
In the last fifteen years Carter Pann’s music has become known for its blend of crafty, popular-sounding idioms, subtle and unabashed humor, and haunted melodic writing. His music has been performed around the world by such ensembles and soloists as the London Symphony, National Symphony of Ireland, Richard Stoltzman, the Ying Quartet and pianists Barry Snyder, among others. Honors in composition include the K. Serocki Competition for his First Piano Concerto (premiered by the Polish Radio Symphony in Lutoslawski Hall, Warsaw 1998), the Charles Ives Scholarship from the Academy of Arts and Letters, and five ASCAP composer awards. His Piano Concerto was nominated for a GRAMMY as “Best Classical Composition of the Year” 2001.
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). Dr. Ticheli 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 is well known for his works for concert band, many of which have become standards in the repertoire. Ticheli was the winner of the 2006 NBA/William D. Revelli Memorial Band Composition Contest for his Symphony No. 2.
Christopher Tucker's music has been heralded as having wonderful maturity, musical imagination, and sensitivity. Mr. Tucker has begun to amass numerous awards in composition and conducting from organizations including the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA), Phi Beta Mu, the National Band Association, WASBE and ASCAP. He has also received praise for his radio broadcast production and personality work while at WRR Classical 101.1 FM in Dallas, Texas, winning a Communicator Award and being a finalist for a coveted Silver Microphone Award. Thomas Dvorak writes, "Christopher Tucker is achieving a new seriousness for the medium...the elements of sensitivity and lush sonorities coupled with interesting and musical harmonic growth and rhythmic vitality makes his music special.” |
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Commissions & Premieres
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Donald Grantham
John Mackey
Cindy McTee
Carter Pann
Frank Ticheli
Christopher Tucker