as published in PAN PIPES, Volume 95, Number 2

Samuel Magrill***

SAI National Arts Associate Samuel Magrill is Professor of Music and Composer-in-Residence in the School of Music at the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO) in Edmond.  In summer 2002, he received his 15th consecutive ASCAP Award, a UCO Faculty Merit Credit Award, and a UCO faculty research grant for his work in composition.  In April 2002, the UCO gave him a Faculty Enhancement Center Award of Excellence for Teaching (2001-02).  He currently is completing his term as President of The College Music Society (CMS) South Central Chapter.

Premieres

Island of the Dew of God (2001), for violin and piano, was played first by violinist Hong Zhu and Magrill at the UCO, October 31, 2001; on a UCO Faculty Recital, November 19, 2002; and at the Amadeus Piano Festival at the University of Tulsa, June 16, 2002.  In 2002, the 2002 version of Cello Rag Rag (2000-02, text by Magrill, German translation by Tess Remy-Schumacher, Hebrew by Idit Shner, Italian by Ronald Manning, and a new Japanese translation by Hiromi Hood), for cello ensemble and soprano, written for the UCO Cello Ensemble, Remy-Schumacher, Director, premiered with the ensemble and Pamela Richman at the UCO, January 23, and at the University of Texas, in Austin, January 26.  The first performances of Sacred Suite (2001, Hebrew liturgical texts), based on Bach's Solo Violoncello Suite in G Major, for soprano and cello, occurred in 2002, with Richman and Remy-Schumacher at the UCO (broadcast on radio KCSC, March 10, 2002, on Community Curtain Call), January 31; at the University of Texas, January 26; at Oklahoma Christian University, February 17; at the CMS South Central Regional Conference, held at Oklahoma Christian University, March 8; and with cellist Hermann Heinrich at the UCO, March 26.  In 2002, Remy-Schumacher and Magrill presented Remy 2002 (2001), for cello and piano, written for Remy-Schumacher, at the UCO (broadcast on radio KCSC March 10, 2002, on Community Curtain Call),  January 31; at Mays' Landing, in Malibu, CA, April 7; and at the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles, April 7.  Fanfare for Peace II (2001), for six trumpets, written for James L. Klages, director of the UCO Trumpet Ensemble, was introduced by the ensemble in 2002, at the CMS South Central Regional Conference, March 9; at the UCO, March 13; and at the Bridges Across the World Student Symposium, held at the UCO, April 17.   As part of a UCO faculty recital, Totally Solo (2001) for solo bassoon, was heard first with Lori Wooden, April 3, 2002.

Performances

Richman and Remy-Schumacher presented Song of Shalom (2001, Hebrew liturgical texts), for soprano and cello, at the UCO, September 19, 2001; on a concert at Christ the King Church in Oklahoma City, September 30, 2001; on an Edmond Chamber Players concert at the Simmons Center, January 10, 2002; and on an Edmond Chamber Players concert at the Goddard Center Theater, in Ardmore, OK, January 11, 2002.  Remy-Schumacher played "Tess" Variations (1998), for solo cello, November 17, 2001, at the CMS 2001 Annual Meeting, at the New Mexico Museum of Fine Arts, in Santa Fe; and April 2, 2002, on a concert at the University of Texas at Austin.  In 2002, a scene from the opera Circe's Palace (2000, based on the Odyssey as told by Nathaniel Hawthorne in his Tanglewood Tales) was staged with Jason Kiepert as U1ysses, Sheena Smith as Circe, Sara Janzen, Aery Choi, and Ashley Wood as nymphs, accompanied by Magrill, on the Bridges Across the World Student Symposium at the UCO, April 17, and  on the Oklahoma Opera Festival at Southeastern Oklahoma State University, in Durant, April 20.  Heard at the UCO in 2002 were Odyssey (2001), for two flutes and wind ensemble, with Zuback, Mira Magrill, and the UCO Symphonic Band, Martin Marks, conductor, May 2; and a program titled, "Songs and Interludes: Five Compositions by Magrill," including Three Poems of Wallace Stevens (1971), Reflections (1986), and Vignettes (1991, poems of Donald E. Hines), all for soprano and piano, with Richman and the composer; Suite for Piano (1971), with Magrill; and Island of the Dew of God (2001), for violin and piano, with Zhu and Magrill, July 19.

Recordings

Circe's Palace; Spectrum.

***Sigma Alpha Iota National Arts Associate

Further Information

• 2000-2001 American Composers Update
• 1999-2000 American Composers Update
• 1998-1999 American Composers Update
• 1997-1998 American Composers Update
• 1996-1997 American Composers Update
• SAI's Composers Bureau Online