Annual American Composers Update
Jan Bach
Jan Bach, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus at
the Northern Illinois University School of Music, in DeKalb,
continues to teach orchestration and counterpoint there
through spring 2002. Two recently completed choral works
awaiting premieres next year include
Dear God (based
on the book
Children's Letters to God), recitatives
and choruses for children's choir, piano four-hands, and
percussion, commissioned by the Community Choral Arts
Club Children's Chorus of Palos Park, IL; and
Songs
of the Streetwise (based on poems of people living
on the streets of Chicago), for SATB choir and steel band,
commissioned by conductor Nancy Menk for her South Bend
(IN) Chamber Singers.
Foliations, a set of variations
for brass quintet on
La Folia, is awaiting recording
by the Stockholm Chamber Brass. Bach's recent mini-residencies
have included Dartmouth College, in Hanover, NH; the University
of South Florida, in Tampa; Hobart and William Smith Colleges,
in Geneva, NY; and Door County's Peninsula Music Festival,
in Fish Creek, WI. Recently, he was approved for inclusion
in
Who's Who in the Midwest, along with 15 or so
previous appearances in
Who's Who in America, The Dictionary
of International Biography, Who's Who in Entertainment,
the ASCAP Biographical Dictionary, and
Baker's
Biographical Dictionary. A list of Bach's compositions,
recordings and publications appear on his website,
www.janbach.com,
as well as on his SAI Composers Bureau web page. His concert-band
arrangement,
Praetorius Suite (all six movements),
is recorded on the Jubilee album of the Wind Symphony
of Southern New Jersey, conducted by Robert J. Streckfuss.
Premieres
On June 4, 2000 in DeKalb, Carol Stubbs directed the Northern
Illinois Children's Chorus in the premiere of
The Duel
(text by Eugene Field), for children's choir and piano.
The Cantori of Hobart and William Smith Colleges, conducted
by Robert Cowles, toured New York state with the first
performances of
In the Hands of the Tongue (text
by David Weiss), for a cappella choir, May-June 2000.
Performances
William Pritchard soloed in
Quintet for Tuba and Strings,
May 4, 2000 at the Eastman School of Music, in Rochester,
NY. On a University of Iowa program, tenor James Matthew
Castle sang
Three Songs on Woman (text by John
Keats), for voice and piano, July 20, 2000 in Iowa City.
Stephen Alltop led the Peninsula Festival Orchestra in
Variations on a Theme of Brahms, in Fish Creek,
Aug. 19, 2000. In 2000, Liam Teague and the Chicago Sinfonietta,
under Paul Freeman, performed
Concerto for Steelpan
and Orchestra at the Kennedy Center, in Washington,
DC, Sept. 17; in River Forest, IL, Sept. 25; and at the
Symphony Center in Chicago, Sept. 26.
Publications
There was a Little Woman, Dirge for a Minstrel, A Solemn
Music; all for SATB choir;
With Trumpet and Drum;
SATB choir and piano; all by
Yelton
Rhodes Music.
Recordings
Eisteddfod, for flute, harp, and viola; Debussy
Trio München; Cavalli Records.
Further Information
