Donald Reid Womack

Donald Reid Womack (born 1966) is a composer of contemporary classical music. He was born in Virginia, raised in East Tennessee and studied at Furman University and Northwestern University, receiving degrees in philosophy, music theory, and music composition.

He has composed more than 80 works for orchestra, chamber ensembles, solo instruments, and voice. Major works include a concerto for shakuhachi, 21-string koto and orchestra (After), a violin concerto (In questi tempi di Conflitto), a symphony (Southern Portraits), an oratorio for chorus and chamber orchestra (Voices of Kalaupapa), and a triple concerto for shakuhachi, biwa and koto with ensemble of Japanese instruments (Three Trees 三木).

Womack's influences meld a broad range of sources, including the new tonality, post-minimalism, rock, jazz, bluegrass, and especially East Asian instruments. He spent a year in Tokyo, Japan studying Japanese instruments, and time in Seoul, South Korea learning Korean music, and has composed more than 30 works for Japanese, Korean and Chinese instruments in various combinations. Among them are "Walk Across the Surface of the Sun" (ensemble of Japanese instruments), "strung out" (violin and koto), "Bend" (shakuhachi, shamisen and 21-string koto), "Koto Coloring Book" (21-string koto), "소리 Sori" (haegeum, cello and janggu), "Highwire Act" (gayageum), and "五行 Elements" (pipa).

His music has been described as "original, creative and ingenious" (Shimbun Akahata),[1] "powerful and impressively crafted"[2] and "eclectic but also distinctive" (Honolulu Star-Bulletin),[3] "raw energy alternating with a brooding potentiality" (Honolulu Advertiser),[4] "wonderfully mellow and sprightly in its metrical incisiveness" (Buffalo NY Daily News),[5] "capable of providing stimulus for a new century" (Neue Musikzeitung),[6] and as having "the concentration of a haiku." (Classical CD Review)[7]

Womack’s works have been performed throughout the U.S., as well as in many countries in Europe, Asia, Oceania, and South America by such ensembles as the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Louisville Orchestra, Honolulu Symphony, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Contemporary Music Ensemble Korea, AURA-J, Asia Ensemble and the Salzburg Mozarteum String Quartet. He has also collaborated extensively with his wife, violist Anna Womack, with the Japanese new music ensemble AURA-J, with the Honolulu Symphony, and with pipa virtuoso Yang Jing.

Among his awards are a Fulbright Research Fellowship, First Prize in the Sigma Alpha Iota Inter-American Music Awards, two Individual Artist Fellowships from the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, and an Excellence in Research Award from the University of Hawaii. Since 1994 Womack has resided in Honolulu, Hawaii, where he is professor and chair of music composition and theory and member of the Center for Japanese Studies at the University of Hawaii.[8]

References

  1. ↑ Akio Miyazawa, November 18, 2004, Shimbun Akahata
  2. ↑ http://archives.starbulletin.com/2003/03/30/news/index12.html
  3. ↑ http://archives.starbulletin.com/2001/05/24/features/story3.html
  4. ↑ Gregory Shephard, "Pianist's brilliance shines through Rachmaninov Third", January 6, 1998, Honolulu Advertiser
  5. ↑ Thomas Putnam, "June in Buffalo festival takes a traditional turn", Buffalo Daily News, June 6, 1996
  6. ↑ Hans-Theodor Wohlfahrt, "Ein neues Darmstadt für die Neue Welt", Neue Musikzeitung, August/September 1996
  7. ↑ http://www.classicalcdreview.com/1175.html, February 2011
  8. ↑ http://www.hawaii.edu/uhmmusic/faculty/Womack.htm

External links