John Mackey (composer)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Mackey (born October 1, 1973 in New Philadelphia, Ohio ) is an American composer of contemporary orchestral music, especially for concert band . For a few years his focus was also on ballet and contemporary dance .

Life

John Mackey grew up in Westerville, Ohio and attended high school there. His parents, musicians themselves, did not allow him formal music lessons, so he did not learn an instrument; his grandfather, however, taught him notation and made him familiar with music notation programs with which he created his first compositions. Mackey studied from 1991 to 1995 at the Cleveland Institute of Music with Donald Erb and from 1995 to 1997 at the Juilliard School with John Corigliano . He supports the attitude of these institutions not to oblige budding composers to audition on an instrument and says: “There are obviously ways to compose music without playing a formal instrument” (“It is obviously possible to compose music without being formal playing a musical instrument ”).

From 1995 to 2005 Mackey lived in New York , where he worked with choreographers such as David Parsons, Robert Battle and Igal Perry; He moved to Los Angeles in 2005 and Austin, Texas in 2008 as his professional focus had shifted there and much of his commissioned work came from this region. In May 2011, Mackey announced that he would be moving to Cambridge, Massachusetts ; he currently lives there.

Personal

Mackey writes a blog on the website of his self-founded publishing house Osti Music in which he records his travels and gives insights into his artistic creation process. In addition, he is an avid photographer, he says of himself that “he uses it to keep himself from work during composition commissions”.

Works

Symphony orchestra

  • 1993: Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
  • 2000: Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra
  • 2003: Redline Tango
  • 2003: Antiphonal Dances
  • 2004: Under the Rug

Wind band

  • 2005: Redline Tango
  • 2005: Sasparilla
  • 2006: turbine
  • 2006: Strange Humors
  • 2006: Turning
  • 2007: Kingfishers Catch Fire
  • 2007: Concerto for Soprano Sax & Wind Ensemble
  • 2008: Clocking
  • 2008: Undertow
  • 2009: Asphalt Cocktail
  • 2009: Aurora Awakes
  • 2009: Harvest , Concerto for Trombone
  • 2010: Xerxes
  • 2010: Hymn to a Blue Hour
  • 2011: Foundry
  • 2011: Drum Music , Concerto for Percussion & Wind Ensemble
  • 2012: Sheltering Sky
  • 2012: High Wire
  • 2013: The Frozen Cathedral
  • 2013: The Soul has Many Motions
  • 2013: Night on Fire
  • 2013: (Redacted)
  • 2014: Wine-Dark Sea , Symphony for Band
  • 2015: Lightning Field
  • 2016: Liminal
  • 2017: Antique Violences , Concerto for Trumpet & Band
  • 2017: The Night Garden
  • 2017: This Cruel Moon
  • 2018: The Rumor of a Secret King
  • 2018: Snarl
  • 2019: Places we can no longer go for soprano and wind ensemble
  • 2019: Under the Scars
  • 2019: Sacred Spaces
  • 2020: Let Me Be Frank With You
  • 2020: Sheltering Sky

Chamber music

  • 1989–1991: Elegy and Fantasy for violin and piano
  • 1996: Mood Indigo for piano and drum set
  • 1998: Strange Humors for string quartet and djembe
  • 1998: Damn for amplified clarinet and four percussionists (used by the US synchronized swimming team at the 2004 Olympic Games)
  • 1999: Voices and Echoes for string quartet
  • 1999–2000: Rush Hour for clarinet, string quartet and drum set
  • 2000: Breakdown Tango for clarinet, violin, violoncello and piano
  • 2003: Juba for amplified string quartet and percussion
  • 2004: Wrong-Mountain Stomp for violin, viola and violoncello
  • 2004: Measure for percussion ensemble
  • 2008: Strange Humors for saxophone quartet and djembe
  • 2009: Sultana for saxophone and piano
  • 2012: Strange Humors for clarinet quartet and djembe
  • 2012: Unquiet Spirits for saxophone quartet
  • 2012: Hymn to a Blue Hour for trombone ensemble
  • 2015: Songs from the End of the World for soprano and chamber ensemble

Musical theater

  • 2001: Twelfth Night for accordion, mandolin, violin and guitar (production of Shakespeare's Was ihr wollt , Dallas Theater Center)

Choir

  • 2017: The Rumor of a Secret King

Awards

  • 2004: Walter Beeler Memorial Composition Prize of the Ithaca College School of Music (Redline Tango)
  • 2005: Sousa / ABA / Ostwald Award from the American Bandmasters Association (Redline Tango)
  • 2009: Sousa / ABA / Ostwald Award from the American Bandmasters Association (Aurora Awakes)
  • 2009: William D. Revelli Composition Award from the National Band Association (Aurora Awakes)
  • 2015: William D. Revelli Composition Award from the National Band Association (Wine-Dark Sea)

literature

  • Rebecca L. Phillips: John Mackey: the composer, his compositional style and a condctor's analysis of Redline Tango and Turbine . Louisiana State University, 2007 ( digitized version , PDF (1.6 MB)).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Phillips 2007, pp. 21-23.
  2. ^ Whitney Hale: Meet the Composer: John Mackey with UK Bands. University of Kentucky News, October 16, 2009, accessed March 22, 2017 .
  3. ↑ Phillips 2007, p. 28 f.
  4. ↑ Phillips 2007, p. 12 f.
  5. ↑ Austin 78704. John Mackey's blog on ostimusic.com , April 25, 2008, accessed March 22, 2017 .
  6. ↑ NSFW workspace. John Mackey's blog on ostimusic.com , May 8, 2011, accessed March 22, 2017 .
  7. ↑ Bio. John Mackey website ostimusic.com , accessed March 23, 2017 .
  8. ^ Molly Sheridan: Composer John Mackey makes Olympic splash. New Music Box, August 23, 2004, accessed March 22, 2017 .
  9. ↑ Antares. Saint Paul Sunday on American Public Media , accessed March 22, 2017 .
  10. ^ Beeler Memorial Composition Prize. Ithaca College, accessed March 22, 2017 .
  11. ↑ a b ABA Awards. The American Bandmasters Association, accessed October 29, 2017 .
  12. ^ A b William D. Revelli Composition Contest. National Band Association, accessed March 22, 2017 .

Remarks

  1. ↑ Transcription of the version for symphony orchestra, transcribed by the composer.
  2. ↑ Transcription of the version for chamber music, transcribed by the composer.
  3. ↑ A version with piano accompaniment has also been available since 2013.
  4. ↑ 2nd movement of The Soul Has Many Motions ; is published separately under this title.
  5. ↑ a b Transcription of the version for string quartet and djembe, transcribed by the composer.
  6. ↑ Arrangement of the fourth movement of the saxophone concerto, cf. Sax Concerto piano reduction. John Mackey's blog on ostimusic.com , May 31, 2013, accessed March 23, 2017 .
  7. ↑ Transcription of the version for wind orchestra.
personal data
SURNAME Mackey, John
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American composer
DATE OF BIRTH 1st October 1973
PLACE OF BIRTH New Philadelphia , Ohio