Annual American Composers Update
Michael G. Cunningham
Theory/composition professor at the University of Wisconsin
- Eau Claire (UW-EC) Department of Music and Theatre Arts,
Michael G. Cunningham is a resident of Altoona, WI. His
recent compositions include
Impromptus and
Symphonette,
both for chamber orchestra;
Michigania, for middle-school
band;
Three Inventions, for two like saxophones;
High Jinks, for tuba and piano; and
Three Ditties,
for oboe and piano. In addition, he has made concert-band
arrangements of seven earlier works.
Premieres
The following three works were premiered on a special
program of light music staged by Cunningham at UW-EC on
Nov. 22, 1998:
Rondaletto, for euphonium, with
Michael Etheridge and pianist Matthew Bear;
Fandango,
for alto saxophone and guitar, with Matthew Pivec and
Vincent Rose; and
Romantic Lyrics, with soprano
Karen Brookens and pianist Barbara Wimunc-Pearson. Also
heard first at UW-EC were
Nine Muses, with the
Wisconsin Woodwind Quintet, Apr. 19, 1999; and
Snap
Shots, with Robert Baca and the UW-EC Jazz Ensemble
III, Nov. 24, 1998. Bill Simon and the Eau Claire South
Middle School band introduced
Nassau Cabana, Apr.
22, 1999.
Three Inventions, for two like saxophones,
was presented by Larry Gwozdz and Donovan Cox, Sept. 30,
1999 at the University of Southern Mississippi.
Performances
At a regional saxophone conference in Terre Haute, IN,
Triskelion was played by alto saxophonist Thomas
Walsh and pianist Ashley Thoms, Feb. 20, 1999.
In Memoriam
Leonard Bernstein had a performance with clarinettist
Andrea Splittberger-Rosen and pianist Mathew Buchman,
Feb. 20, 1999 at the University of Wisconsin - Stevens
Point. The Milwaukee "Music in our Time" series included
Eurgene Purdue and pianist (octogenarian) Milton Peckarsky
in
Violin Sonata No. 1, Oct. 24 at the University
of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. On its 1999 fall tour, Shell
Shock, the tuba/euphonium quartet attached to the U.S.
Army Ground Forces Band in Atlanta, presented
Chaconne.
In 1998, the children's musical
Aladdin McFaddin
was heard 36 times in ten states and in Melbourne, Australia.
Further Information
