William Thomas McKinley

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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

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ 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
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