David A. Yeagley

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Dr. David Anthony Yeagley (b. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, September 5, c. 1958) is an American composer, pianist, conservative commentator, and portrait artist. He has also written poetry and fiction, played the Native American flute, and performed the Gourd Dance. He lives in Oklahoma.

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[edit] Early life

Yeagley was born and grew up in Oklahoma City. He is an enrolled member of the Comanche Nation, based in Lawton, Oklahoma, and claims descent from Bad Eagle (1839-1906), a band headman among the Kwahadi (Antelope) Comanche of West Texas. He was born to a Comanche mother, Norma Juanita Portillo Yeagley (1922-2005)[1][2] (who was Bad Eagle's great-granddaughter), and a white father, Ned Carlton Yeagley.[3]

He began playing the piano at the age of eleven. By age thirteen, he performed the Anton Rubinstein Piano Concerto No. 4 with the Oklahoma Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Guy Fraser Harrison. In his teenage years, Yeagley composed a volume of works ranging from solo piano sonatas to choral and chamber works.

[edit] Education

Yeagley received a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance and Composition from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, a Master of Divinity in Biblical Studies and History from Yale University, a Master of Arts in Literature and History from Emory University (1981), an Artist Diploma in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the Hartt School of Music, and a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Piano Performance and Composition from the University of Arizona (1994). For his senior recital at Oberlin Conservatory, Yeagley performed a program of his own solo piano compositions. This program was aired on radio in Connecticut, California, Michigan, Tennessee and Texas.

During his college career, Yeagley studied piano with Fernando Laires, John Perry, James Mathis, Dadi Mehta, Louis de Moura Castro, Paul Rutman, Nicholas Zumbro, Ruth Slenczynska, Alexander Uninsky, and Frank Mannheimer. He has studied composition with Daniel Asia, Krzysztof Penderecki, Richard Hoffman, and Joseph Wood.

[edit] Teaching career

Yeagley taught humanities (ancient and modern) and psychology courses at Oklahoma State University–Oklahoma City from 1996 to 2001; he taught humanities and literature at the University of Central Oklahoma from 1997 to 1998; and taught a course in humanities at the University of Oklahoma's College of Liberal Studies in 2001.

[edit] Published writings

In 1987 and 1995 Yeagley's musicology articles were published in The Journal of the American Liszt Society. In addition to his musicological research, he has also published in Persian Heritage Magazine (for which he is a member of the editorial board). The magazine published his collection of epic poetry, entitled Jahn-dideh, which is dedicated to the Empress of Iran, Farah Pahlavi. In 1999 Yeagley was a guest lecturer on the topic of American culture and religion at the University of Tehran and Ferdawsi University. In May 2000 he appeared in Washington, D.C., at the Conference on Iranian Studies, to present a paper about Zoroaster and the Jews, which was also published in Persian Heritage Magazine.

[edit] Visual art

"Bad Eagle and his Descendants," an art/lecture program of Comanche history, representing the first genealogy in portraiture of a single American Indian family, beginning 1839, was presented by Yeagley at the following venues: Nation Hall of Fame for Famous American Indians in Anadarko, Oklahoma (1988); Yale University's Peabody Museum in New Haven, Connecticut (1989); the Phillips Academy's Robert S. Peabody Museum in Andover, Massachusetts (1990); President's Church in Boston, Massachusetts in (1990); and University of Arizona Art Museum in Tucson, Arizona (1994). All artworks and lectures were created by Yeagley.

[edit] Compositions

In 1997 Yeagley was commissioned by the New Jersey Chamber Music Society for his duo for oboe and bassoon entitled Three Spirit Dances on the Bark of an Ancient Stump, which premiered in the Jersey City Museum as part of a concert featuring works by American Indian composers. In 1998 this work was performed in Caesarea, Israel as part of a benefit concert, including a guest appearance/lecture by Yeagley himself.

In 1999 he was commissioned by James Pellerite for a new solo sonata for traditional Northern Plains Native American flute, which was premiered at the Annual Native American Symposium at Southeastern Oklahoma State University. This, along with his 10 Etudes for Native American Flute, can be found on his 2004 album Awakenings. He was also commissioned by José Cordero, Founder and President of the Native Sun Symphony Orchestra, to compose that organization's anthem.

Also in 1999, Yeagley was commissioned by the late Jack P. Eisner for the world's first grand opera about the Jewish Holocaust of World War II, entitled Jacek. Eisner was one of the last surviving leaders of the Warsaw Resistance. During a recent visit to Israel, Yeagley was appointed by Eisner to depict his published autobiography, entitled The Survivor of the Holocaust, through the medium of a grand opera. A portion of the opera was released on CD by the Opus One label in 2005.[4]

In October 2006, his music was performed in the Elmer and Mary Louise Rasmuson Theater at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.[5]

[edit] As political commentator

Yeagley, who also writes columns on political subjects, presents himself as "the only voice of conservative American Indian thought."[6] He is a regular contributor to David Horowitz's website FrontPageMag.com and has appeared on The O'Reilly Factor, Hannity & Colmes, and C-SPAN. He has been on the roster of speakers for the Young America's Foundation since 2001.[7] He has been outspoken in his criticism of the movement to eliminate sports mascots derived from Indigenous peoples[8][9] as well as the opponents of Columbus Day.[10]

[edit] Writings

  • Yeagley, David Anthony (1981). "The Use of Death in Hawthorne and Melville." M.A. thesis. Emory University.
  • Yeagley, David. "The Historical Influence of the String Bow on Musical Notation." The Journal of the American Liszt Society, vol. 19 (June 1986).
  • Yeagley, David Anthony (1994). "Franz Liszt's 'Dante Sonata': The Origins, the Criticism, a Selective Musical Analysis, and Commentary." D.M.A. dissertation. The University of Arizona.
  • Yeagley, David. "Liszt's Dante Sonata: Origins and Criticism." The Journal of the American Liszt Society, vol. 37 (June 1995).
  • Yeagley, David. "Alam I Sugrah." Persian Heritage, vol. 2, no. 8 (winter 1997-98), pp. 44-46.

[edit] Published scores

  • Yeagley, David A. (2001). Awakening: Ten Etudes for Solo Native Flute. [Colorado Springs, Colorado]: J-P Productions.

[edit] Discography

  • 2004 - Awakenings: New Music for Native American Flute by David Anthony Yeagley. James Pellerite, Native American flute. Cleveland, Ohio: Azica Records.
  • 2004 - New Music for the Northern Plains Flute. James Pellerite, Native American flute, with the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, David Oberg, conductor.
  • 2005 - HaNitzol; Jacek. Performed by the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, David Oberg, conductor. Opus One.
  • 2006 - Masterworks of the New Era, Vol. 8. 2 CDs. ERM Media. Contains Ha Nitzol by David Anthony Yeagley. Performed by the Kiev Philharmonic, Robert Ian Winstin, conductor.

[edit] External links

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