William Thomas McKinley
William Thomas McKinley (born December 9, 1938 in New Kensington , Pennsylvania ; also Tom McKinley ; † February 3, 2015 in Reading , Massachusetts ) was an American composer and jazz pianist who worked as a university teacher.
Live and act
As a child, McKinley first had drums and then piano lessons from the age of six. While in high school, he worked as a resident pianist in a Pittsburgh restaurant and took improvisation lessons from jazz pianist Carolyn Shankovich . At the Carnegie Institute of Technology he first studied piano with Leonard Eisner , later composition with Nikolai Lopatnikoff . In 1962 he received the BMI Student Composer Awards . From 1963 he attended the summer courses in Tanglewood, where, under the guidance of Aaron Copland , Lukas Foss and Gunther Schuller, he got to know serial music , which later became the main compositional principle for him. From 1966 to 1969 he studied at Yale University with Mel Powell . Here he met the saxophonist Les Thimmig and the clarinetist Richard Stoltzman , who later became important interpreters of his works. During this time he taught opera history at SUNY Albany for a semester .
From 1969 to 1973 McKinley taught at the University of Chicago . During this time he received a commission from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for his Triple Concerto and played Ralph Shapey's Rituals as the pianist . In 1973 he moved to the New England Conservatory of Music , where he was professor of composition and jazz music for twenty years. From 1975 he received eight NEA prizes , and in 1976 he was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize . The following year he was awarded the Minnesota Orchestra 75th Anniversary Prize for his Symphony No. 1 , and in 1977 he received a prize from the Massachusetts Arts and Humanities Foundation . In 1978 he began working with the Boston Musica Viva ensemble for new music under the direction of Richard Pittman .
Numerous commissions for compositions and performances of his works by American and foreign orchestras followed, such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra under John Williams , the Seattle Symphony under Gerard Schwarz , the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble under David Stock , the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the Pasadena Symphony Orchestra under Jorge Mester , the American Symphony under Robert Black , the Richmond Symphony Orchestra under George Manahan , the Rheinische Philharmonie under James Lockhart and the Queensland Youth Orchestra under John Curro . For the city of Emsdetten he composed the Emsdetten dance of death .
In addition to Richard Stoltzman and Les Thimmig, soloists such as Gary Burton , Walter Trampler , Sol Greitzer , Deborah Greitzer , Jeff Silberschlag , Colin Carr , Glenn Dicterow , Karen Dreyfus , Bernard Goldberg , Dave Samuels and Stan Getz performed works by McKinley. With the Master Musicians Collective , of which McKinley is the founder and director, he has premiered numerous works by contemporary composers. As a jazz musician he worked a. a. with Dexter Gordon , Stan Getz, Tom Harrell , Shlomi Goldberg, Miroslav Vitouš , Roy Haynes and Billy Hart .
Mc Kinley died in his sleep at his Reading, Massachusetts home on February 3, 2015, at the age of 76.
Works (selection)
- Concerts
- Concerto Fantasy for Viola and Orchestra (1978)
- Against the Distant Bells (1981)
- Concerto No. 1 for Viola and Orchestra (1984)
- American Blues (1986)
- Tenor Rhapsody for Solo Tenor Sax and Orchestra (1988)
- Ancient Memories , Chamber Concerto for Viola and Chamber Ensemble (1989)
- Concerto for Clarinet and Jazz Orchestra (1990)
- Concert Variations for Violin, Viola and Orchestra (1993)
- Chamber music
- Trio for 2 Violins and Viola (1971)
- Little Sonata for Viola, Clarinet and Piano (1973)
- Portraits for Viola Solo (1973)
- Waves , Study for Viola Solo (1973)
- Goodbye for Clarinet and Piano (1981)
- Trio Appassionato for Clarinet, Viola and Piano (1982)
- Samba for Viola and Piano (1984)
- Sonata No. 1 for Viola and Piano (1984)
- Sonata for Clarinet and Piano
Discographic notes
- William Thomas McKinley RAP / Marimba Concerto / 13 Dances for Orchestra ( Boston Modern Orchestra Project under the direction of Gil Rose with the soloists Richard Stoltzman and Nancy Zeltsman)
- as a classical pianist
- Ralph Shapey Rituals, for Symphony Orchestra; String Quartet No. 6 (with the London Sinfonietta under Shapeys; 1972)
- as a jazz musician
- Life Cycle (with Tom Harrell, Gary Valente , Joe Lovano , Ed Schuller , Billy Hart; 1982)
- Charles Licata: Plain Talk (with George Garzone , Gary Peacock , Alex Deutsch ; 1992)
- Tom McKinley Trio: Alive at Pittsburgh (with Rufus Reid and Billy Hart; 1993)
- Tom McKinley - Miroslav Vitous (with Roger Ryan; 1994)
literature
- Jeffrey S. Sposato: William Thomas McKinley: a bio-bibliography. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1995, ISBN 0-313-28923-9 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Margalit Fox: William Thomas McKinley, Jazz-Loving Composer, Dies at 76. In: The New York Times of February 28, 2015 (English, accessed March 1, 2015).
personal data | |
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SURNAME | McKinley, William Thomas |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | McKinley, Tom |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American composer and jazz pianist |
DATE OF BIRTH | December 9, 1938 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | New Kensington , Pennsylvania |
DATE OF DEATH | 3rd February 2015 |
Place of death | Reading , Massachusetts |