Compositions by Bill McGlaughlin

Conductor and radio commentator Bill McGlaughlin began composing in 1997, whereupon he left his conducting position at the Kansas City Symphony and moved to New York City to concentrate on composing. The outcome of the move was a flurry of creativity, and he has been composing successfully, although more intermittently, since then. Well over half of his works have been commissioned. In 1998 McGlaughlin signed a contract with Subito Music, which now publishes all of his work.

Contents

Selected major works; musical style

McGlaughlin's first major work was Three Dreams and a Question: Choral Songs on e.e. cummings, prompted by the death of a friend — which he debuted with the Kansas City Symphony on April 28, 1998, to an enthusiastic audience and press.[1] It was quickly followed by five more premieres within a ten month span.[2]

For a millennial celebration, McGlaughlin was chosen from a field of 350 composers to write a major new work for Continental Harmony, a nationwide cultural initiative commissioned by the National Endowment for the Arts and the American Composers Forum. The composition, Walt Whitman's Dream, premiered in July 2000, and celebrated the new millennium with a combined chorus of nearly 800 singers from around the world, accompanied by orchestra.[3][4][5]

On December 15, 2005, the national two-hour daily NPR classical music radio program Performance Today announced that out of all of the music aired that week, McGlaughlin's new commissioned composition Remembering Icarus garnered the most, and the most heartfelt, listener response.[6]

McGlaughlin describes his compositional style as more intuitive than intellectual,[7] and says that he does not shun tonality: "I think when composers turn completely away from tonality, they lose a big part of storytelling."[8] Some of his work incorporates or references elements of jazz — for instance Bela's Bounce, an homage to Béla Bartók and Charlie Parker.[8][9]

Compositions

1990s

"o purple finch
please tell me why
this summer world(and you and i
who love so much to live)
must die"
"if i
should tell you anything"
(that eagerly sweet carolling
self answers me)
"i could not sing"

2000–2003

2004–present

Composer-in-residence engagements

McGlaughlin has had three composer-in-residence engagements. There are as follows:

See also

Footnotes

References

External links

Audio

Biographical