William MacSems
William "Bill" MacSems (* 1930 in New York City ) is an American composer, conductor and music teacher.
MacSems served as a musician in the US Air Force from 1950 to 1953. In 1959 he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from California State University, Los Angeles , and in 1967 a master’s degree from San Francisco State University , where he was a student of Roger Nixon . He then worked as a teacher at various schools in California and New Jersey and as an orchestra and choir conductor until 1998. He was also the founder and director of the Pacific Opera Theater . 1970–71 he studied with Gottfried von Eine at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna .
In 1962 he was commissioned to compose the music show for the 200th anniversary of California. In 1972 the San Mateo Arts Council awarded him a scholarship to support the production of his opera The Outcasts of Poker Flat . The Townsend Opera of Modesto commissioned him in 1995 with a composition as a tribute to the Great Central Valley .
Works
- Suite for band
- Elegy
- Divergence for wind orchestra
- Highlights from Never Come, Never Go
- Rodeo Rondo
- Out of Cuba
- The Rose Piano Concerto in Eb minor
- Four pieces for Elementry Piano
- Hymn of the Valley for narrator, soloist, mixed choir and orchestra
- Songs of Love , cantata for soloists, mixed choir and orchestra
- The Key for narrator, mixed choir and orchestra, text by Martin Luther King
- The Outcasts of Poker Flat , Bret Harte's opera
- Mardi Gras , opera, libretto by Gale Hoffman
- The Gift , opera based on O. Henry
- Pandora's Box after Edgar Allan Poe
- Infidel , libretto by Michael Hall
- Everybody Likes Christmas , Musical
- Never Come Never Go , musical, libretto by Robert M. Wyckoff
- Air for Flute & Guitar
- Great Scott for percussion ensemble, bass clarinet and piccolo
- Turkanschantz Park for violin or cello, clarinet and piano
- Sonata for clarinet, cello and piano
- Testimony for string orchestra
- Toot Suite for wind quintet
- Stopping by the Woodside after Robert Frost for mixed choir and piano
- Humility for mixed choir a cappella
- Gold at Coloma after Stan Halls for mixed choir and piano
- Let There be Peace for mixed choir a cappella
- Three Poems By Emily Dickinson for three-part mixed choir
- No Man Is An Island (text by John Donne )
- Lay Me Down Midst
- Birds of Frost: three poems by Robert Frost
swell
- American Music Center - William MacSems
- William MacSems Composer of instrumental and vocal music, opera and theater music
- Society of Composers - William MacSems
personal data | |
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SURNAME | MacSems, William |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | MacSems, Bill |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American composer, conductor and music educator |
DATE OF BIRTH | 1930 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | New York City |