Annual American Composers Update

Living in Clinton, MS, James Sclater is Professor of Music at Mississippi Coll. Recently commissioned compositions include Beyond the Rainbow (1998) (text by Ovid Vickers), six songs for voice and piano, from East Central Community Coll. to commemorate Vickers's retirement; Fanfare and Dialogue for Two Clarinets, for the wedding of Jean Stott and Robert Lake, June 1998; and A Song of Gladness, for SATB choir, from the Covenant Presbyterian Church, Jackson, MS. Mississippi Coll. honored him as 1998-99 Humanities Professor of the Year.

On Oct. 27, 1998, Beyond the Rainbow was sung first, with tenor Ross Price at East Central Community Coll., in Decatur, MS, and then in Forest, MS, Jan. 11, 1999. In 1999, soprano Chandlet Thompson and the Mississippi Symphony Chamber Orchestra, under Colman Pearce, introduced Remembrance, for voice and chamber orchestra, in Jackson, Jan. 12; in Cleveland, MS, Jan. 14; in Clinton, Jan. 15; and at Jackson's Mississippi Planetarium, May 15. Other works premiered in Jackson in 1998 included Morgana: Music for an Imaginary Town, with the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, under Pearce, Oct. 20; and Mary Had a Son, with Kim Griffing-Porter, soprano; Paul York, cello; Cathy Anderson, harp; and the Fondren Presbyterian Church Choir, led by Angela Willoughby, Dec. 13. Elaine Barber presented Four Etudes for Harp Solo at the AHS National Convention in Baton Rouge, LA, June 12, followed by performances in Jackson, Feb. 11, and in Austin, TX, Feb. 21. Bill Bigham and the composer gave the first performance of Divertimento for Two Clarinets, Jan. 25, 1999 at Huntingdon Coll, in Montgomery, AL. On Apr. 25, 1999, A Song of Gladness was heard first, with the Covenant Presbyterian Church Choir, conducted by the composer.

Sclater, clarinet, and Willoughby, piano, presented Six Folksong Studies, as well as his arrangement, Three Mozart Lieder, in Monroe, LA, Oct. 8, 1998; in Clinton, MS; Oct. 13; in Montgomery, AL, Jan. 25, 1999; and at various Jackson venues, Oct. 18 and 22, 1998 and Jan. 20, 1999. Mississippi Coll. honored him with a recital of songs, Feb. 9, 1999, including Song from Telephone Poles, Shaker Lyrics, Devilish Mary, But Love is not a Simple Song, and Beyond the Rainbow. In 1999, Nell Adams, mezzo-soprano, and Sybil Cheesman, flute, played Kinderscenen at Hinds Community Coll., in Raymond, MS, Jan. 22; at Mississippi Coll., in Clinton, Jan. 25; and at the University of Southern Mississippi, in Hattiesburg, Jan. 25. James Meaders led the Mississippi Coll. Concert Choir in Neath Unwatching Stars, Dec. 1-2, 1998.

Neath Unwatching Stars; A Son is Born (four motets); both for SATB choir by ChoralWeb Pub.

• 1996-1997 American Composers Update