Annual American Composers Update
Donald Reid Womack
SAI Friend of the Arts Donald Reid
Womack lives in Honolulu, HI, working as Assistant Professor
of Composition and Theory at the University of Hawaii.
He received a 1997 Individual Artist Fellowship from
the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts,
the organization's highest award for artistic merit.
In the 1997 Tampa Bay Composers' Forum Composition Competition,
Once the Sky Unfolds, for viola and piano, won
second prize. The premiere of On Fields of Frozen
Fire was featured in an article in the June 1998
Islands: An International Magazine. Heard over the air
were Three Psalms, on the Argentine Public Radio
program "Fronteras del Silencio," (May 1998) and on
Hawaii Public Radio's "Great Songs," (Jan. 1997); and
Winter Solstice, on KBPS, in Portland, OR (Mar.
1997).
Premieres
On Feb. 16, 1998, the Pittsburgh (PA)
New Music Ensemble, conducted by David Stock, presented
the marimba concerto Out of the Blues. Heard
first at the University of Hawaii in 1997 were 23
Chinese Proverbs, with soprano Zuo Xin Wang, violist
Anna Stewart Womack, and pianist Bichuan Li (Mar. 17);
Ode to My Socks, with mezzo-soprano Louise South
and violist Anna Stewart Womack (Sept. 22); and Jump
Start, music for dance with percussionists Jenny
Shiroma, Leigh Saaito, and the composer (Mar. 13-22).
Other Honolulu premieres included To Lie Silent and
Weep, with the Galliard String Quartet, Sept. 28
and Oct. 3, 1998; On Fields of Frozen Fire, with
the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra, under Samuel Wong,
Jan. 4 and 6, 1998; O Magnum Mysterium, with
the Hawai'i Vocal Arts Ensemble, led by Timothy Carney,
Dec. 20-21, 1997; Pearl, with the Pearl City
High School Band, May 28, 1997; and A Quiet Blue,
with Robert Larm, clarinet, and Christine Suehisa, piano,
June 20, 1998. All works were commissioned by the performers.
Performances
In 1997, Three Psalms, for soprano
and piano, had performances with Amy Conn and Soo Lee,
broadcast on Honolulu radio station KHPR's "Great Songs"
program (Jan. 15); and with Teresa and Douglas Bomberger,
in Honolulu (Aug. 15-16 and Sept. 13). In Honolulu,
the Kamehameha School Orchestra, under Robert Hamilton,
and the Iolani School Orchestra, under Joan Kellner
Wehrman, played Goulash, May 4, 1997 and May
25, 1997, respectively. Also in Honolulu, Teresa Bomberger,
soprano; Anna Stewart Womack, viola; and Bomerger, piano,
presented 23 Chinese Proverbs, Aug. 15-16, 1997.
1997 performances of Winter Solstice occurred
with the Hawaii Youth Symphony, conducted by Henry Miyamura,
in Kahului (Maui), HI (Feb. 23), and in Honolulu (Apr.
13 and May 3); and with the Portland (OR) Youth Philharmonic,
conducted by Huw Edwards, in Portland (Mar. 8, 1997)
and Corvallis, OR (Mar. 16).
Further Information
