Biography
Marvin Lamb (born 1946) received his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in theory and composition from Sam Houston State University and the University of North Texas. He holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in music composition and performance from the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign. He has studied composition with John Butler, William P. Latham and Paul Zonn and electronic music and computer techniques with Herbert Brun and John Melby. Lamb's compositions have been performed widely in Europe (England, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Italy, France, Denmark and Finland); in Japan, Mexico, Argentina and Canada; in New York (Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Cubiculo Theater, Brooklyn Museum, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall); the 1972 World Saxophone Congress; the International Brass Congress; the 1990 Lieksa World Brass Days; the 1984 National Band Association Convention; Electronic Music Plus Festivals; and numerous major American universities and conservatories. He has received commissions from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and the New York Chamber Orchestra. His music has been performed by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra Dimensions Series, New York Chamber Orchestra, Knoxville (Tennessee), Haddonfield (New Jersey) and Winston-Salem (North Carolina) Symphonies, the U.S. Army Band, the Nashville Contemporary Brass Quintet, the Saturday Brass Quintet and has been featured on P.B.S broadcasts in New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas. He was recipient from 1977-1994 of award grants and fellowships from the A.S.C.A.P. Standard Awards Panel, Mellon Foundation, Meet the Composer, Inc., the Texas Composers Forum, the Tennessee Arts Commission, the National Science Foundation, and has twice received composition fellowships to the Charles Ives Center for American Music.
Lamb's vocal, chamber and electronic music is published by Carl Fischer, Crucible Arts Magazine, Dom Publications, Media Press, Medici Press, Shawnee Press, TRN Publishers, Wimbledon Music, Inc., the American Printing House for the Blind, and included in the Fleisher Collection of the Free Library of Philadelphia. His recorded music is represented on The Saxophone Alone by concert artist Neal Ramsay, on Music From the Meadows (Redwood Records, Inc.), The University of New Mexico Brass Quintet (Crystal CD), and on Heavy Metal (Mark Records, Inc.). Additionally, his articles concerning Arts Education Policy, New Music, and New Music Ensembles have appeared in Music Now, the NCMTA Music Teacher, the Guilford Review. Chamber Music Quarterly Corona, the Music Educators Journal, NASM Proceedings, and Design for Arts in Education.
He has served as an arts consultant and in a leadership capacity for educational organizations at the state, regional and national level including music advisory panel membership on the Southern Arts Federation, Meet the Composer/Southeast, the Tennessee Arts Commission and as chair of the Texas Commission on the Arts music panel. He is a member of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools College Consulting Network, a senior evaluator for the National Association of Schools of Music, and has served as president for the Texas Association of Music Schools.
Dr. Lamb is a member of A.S.C.A.P., Pi Kappa Lambda, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, and the American Music Center. He presently holds the position of Dean of the College of Fine Arts and Professor of Music at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma.
Contact Information
816 Landsdowne Dr.
Norman, OK 73072
E-mail: mllamb@ou.edu
Annual Updates
2010
NEWS
The composer was a featured guest composer at both the University of Washington and Pennsylvania State University in 2009. He received an ASCAPlus Award for 2009, and in 2010 he will be the Oklahoma Music Teachers Association’s Commissioned Composer of the Year for the state of Oklahoma. Lamb was a Speaker and Respondent for “Music in a Changing Society” at The College Music Society South Central Region Conference in March 2009. House of Dawn for viola ensemble, was reviewed in the Journal of the American Viola Society, and Lullabye on a Text by George Barker, for soprano, clarinet, oboe, and piano, was cited in Exploring 20th Century Vocal Music by Sharon Mabry (Oxford University Press).
PREMIERES
Incidental Music and Solo Songs for The Dada Play, by Mieko Ouchi, scored for tenor, mezzo-soprano, guitar, piano, and vocal ensemble, was introduced April 15-19, 2009, at the Oklahoma University Lab Theatre. Bop! for theater organ and orchestra, and Concertino for full orchestra and organ soloist, were both introduced April 26 by John Schwandt with the Oklahoma University Symphony Orchestra, led by Jonathan Shames.
PERFORMANCES
Sacred Ground, an orchestral fanfare for brass and percussion, received a performance April 25, 2009, from the Oklahoma University Wind Symphony, under the direction of William Wakefield; it was also performed by the Kennesaw (GA) University Symphony during its February 2010 appearance at the National Orchestra Association Convention, Kennesaw, GA. Joel Durand led members of the University of Washington-Seattle New Music Ensemble in a May 27 performance of Grapelli Dreams, for alto saxophone and viola. Igor Fantasy for symphonic band was heard in Japan in June, while Solowalk for Flute was heard in July at the Los Angeles (CA) Cultural Center as performed by The Los Angeles New Music Ensemble.
2008
Premieres
The Crouse Quartet at Blaise Pascal University, Claremont Ferrano, France, introduced Lamentations for String Quartet March 17, 2007. Bless This House for SATB choir, brass quintet and piano, was first heard October 13 at North Haven Church, Norman, OK.
Performances
The NCE Improv Ensemble presented The Professor March and Rag on April 18, 2007, Norman, OK. Igor Fantasy was heard in an April 23 performance by the University of Oklahoma Symphonic Band, under the direction of Brian Britt. Soloist Paul Barrett and the Honolulu Symphony Bassoon Quartet performed Vision of Basque for solo bassoon on Hawaii Public Radio on June 2. The Stomp Revisited, for brass quintet, was heard August 27 on the KCSC/KBCW PBS Radio Series The Composer Next Door, hosted
by Rob Deemer. Soloist Jeff Ambrosini performed Life Cycle for tenor voice, flute, trumpet, and bassoon, on November 13, University of Oklahoma.
Publications
A Fit Reliquary, brass quintet and percussion orchestra; by OU Percussion Press, Norman, OK.