 |
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
Composers BureauJohn H. Beck
John H. Beck was a member of the U.S. Marine Band for four years before joining the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra as Principal Percussionist in 1959 and becoming Principal Timpanist in 1962. A recipient of B.M. and M.M. degrees from the Eastman School of Music, he currently heads its Percussion Department and is conductor of the Eastman Percussion Ensemble. Mr. Beck has made solo appearances with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Eastman Wind Ensemble, Syracuse Wind Ensemble, Chautauqua Band, Memphis State Band, Rochester Chamber Orchestra and Filharmonia Pomorska, Poland and has held numerous guest conducting and percussion clinics. From 1965 to 1972 he was the percussion columnist for the NACWPI Journal and served for two years as State Chairman for Percussion for the New York State School Music Association. He was instrumental in bringing the Percussive Arts Society (PAS) to Rochester for their first International Convention at which time he performed Phillip Lambro's Two Pictures. He is a Past President of the Percussive Arts Society having previously served as State Chapter President and 2nd and 1st Vice President of this international organization. Recordings A composer whose works have been published by several leading houses, Mr. Beck can be heard on CRI, Turnabout Records, Mark Records and Heritage Records. He has recorded Bartok's Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion for Heritage Records and Verne Reynolds' Concertare I for Brass Quintet and Percussion for Mark Records. He is conductor on a Turnabout recording of the Lou Harrison Concerto for Violin and Percussion Orchestra with the Eastman Percussion Ensemble and Carroll Glenn, violin soloist. In 1992, he recorded At the Edge for percussion and tape by Allan Schindler for Centaur Records, Inc. Articles Mr. Beck's articles on percussion can be found in most percussion journals. He has contributed an article on the Percussion Ensemble to the Grove Dictionary of American Music and has revised the percussion section of the World Book Encyclopedia. His latest contribution is Encyclopedia of Percussion Instruments published by Garland Publishing, Inc. Other Mr. Beck was the recipient of the Mu Phi Epsilon Musician of the Year award for 1976. In 1977 he toured South America with the Aeolian Consort as percussion soloist. His New York conducting debut was at Abraham Goodman House in 1980 conducting a performance of the Lou Harrison Concerto for Violin and Percussion Orchestra, Carroll Glenn, violin soloist. He also recorded the Henry Cowell Set of Five and the Alan Hovhaness Suite with Carroll Glenn and Eugene List. His latest New York engagement was at Tully Hall performing works of Warren Benson and Sydney Hodkinson with the Eastman Chamber Players. In 1986 he was guest soloist with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra performing Raymond Premru's Celebrations, Overture for Solo Timpani and Orchestra. Mr. Beck served on the faculty of the Grand Teton Orchestral Seminar for four years from 1985 to 1988. In June of 1989 he was the Pops conductor of the Penfield Symphony. For two weeks in the summer of 1989, 1990, and 1991 he was a performer, clinician, teacher and conductor at the III, IV and V International Workshops for Percussion in Bydgoszcz, Poland. In 1989 and 1992 he was the American adjudicator for the International Percussion Competition in Luxembourg. His most recent solo engagement with orchestra was the premier performance of Claude Baker's Three Pieces for 5 Timpani and 5 Roto-toms with David Effron and the Eastman School of Music Philharmonia in 1990. In September of 1990 he toured Russia with 14 percussionists from the Percussive Arts Society and in November served as an adjudicator for the Japan Music Education and Culture Promotion Society in Tokyo, Japan. He was percussionist in residence at the Interlochen Center For the Arts Summer Program in 1993. In 1994 he was percussionist in residence at the Royal Academy of Music in Copenhagen, Denmark, clinician for the International Foundation For Performing Arts Medicine, Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation, West Orange, NJ and clinician, soloist and teacher at the Encontro Latino Americano De Percussao in Santa Maria, Brazil. Mr. Beck received the Eisenhart Award in recognition of distinguished teaching from the Eastman School of Music on May 19, 1997. Further Information
Contact Information Eastman School of Music |
 |
||
|
Last updated
7/25/06 |
||||
|
||||
Biography