The University of Montana School of Fine Arts Department of Music presents The 2005 Society of Composers, Inc. Region VIII Conference I Society of Composers, Inc. October 27--29 Music Recital Hall The University of Montana Missoula A Welcoming Message From Your Host... It is, indeed, a pleasure to welcome you to the 2005 Society of Composers, Inc. Region VIII Conference. The University of Montana Department of Music takes great delight in hosting this assemblage of composers from across the country. For me, during the organization of the conference, simple, but central questions continually presented themselves: "Why do we, supposedly rational human beings, regularly repair to our personal, secluded space in search of our music, stare at a blank piece of real or imaginary manuscript paper for hours at a time, scratch at it a bit, and try it again the next day, and the next, until we decide it's finished?" "How do we start?" "How do we end?" "Who really cares?" Edward Elgar, in a half-hearted response to a question regarding inspiration, said, "Music is in the air all around us. You just have to reach out and take as much as you want." (Would that it were so simple a proposition!) In our time, musical sound is such an every-minute-of-every-day experience that, for some, even a live concert is not unlike watching television, or going to the cinema (Where's the popcorn?); for some it has become Satie's "wallpaper music." But, who are we, and what is it we, as contemporary composers, wish to share with each other and the listening public? What is it in the 21 ''Century? I, along with my colleagues, Christopher Hahn, Charles Nichols, and James Randall, invite one and all to the search. Patrick C. Williams, host SCI Region VIII Conference Patrick Williams Patrick C. Williams, a member of the music faculty at The University of Montana­ Missoula since 1975, teaches composition, theory, aural perception, and 16th- and 18th-century counterpoint. He is composer-in-residence and coordinator of the theory/composition area. He received his education at Eastern Michigan University and Eastman School of Music. His teachers have included Samuel Adler, Eugene Kurtz and Anthony Iannaccone. For 18 years, Professor Williams maintained an active teaching and performing schedule as bass-baritone on the voice faculty, singing regularly as soloist in numerous works for chamber ensembles, and oratorios with regional orchestras. Two sets of songs were written for and dedicated to him by American composer and publisher, William Presser. In 1977 he founded the UM Renaissance Ensemble, a choral group specializing in music from the 16th Century, and in 2001, he created the UM Women's Chorus, an ensemble performing music from a full range of musical periods and styles. He received the 1991 Distinguished Faculty Award for the School of Fine Arts. Professor Williams' catalogue of compositions includes numerous works for vocalists, instrumentalists, choirs of every kind, chamber ensembles, wind ensemble, string orchestra and full orchestra. His most recent work includes: A Welshman's Fancy, fore-flat trumpet and strings; two works for wind ensemble: Diversion, and The Pooka; A Celtic Crossing, for Intermediate and Junior High School bands; and Songs and Dances from the Mountain, for solo guitar. As a sidelight to his work in contemporary composition, the composer takes great delight in writing 16th- and 18th-century-style motets, anthems, inventions and fugues as both teaching and performance pieces. A member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, and the Society of Composers, Incorporated, Professor Williams serves on the SCI National Council, and regularly adjudicates state and national composition contests. He has publications with Colla Voce and Warner/Chappell Music, Inc. Jesse Wright-FitzGerald Active as a composer, performer, and educator, Jesse Wright-FitzGerald has had his music performed throughout the United States. Mr. Wright-FitzGerald recently received his master's degree in composition from Syracuse University, where he studied with Daniel S. Godfrey, and Andrew Waggoner. He is currently pursuing his Doctorate in composition at the University of Southern California, Thornton school of music. Mr. Wright-FitzGerald has received numerous awards, including the New York Federation of Music's 2004 Brian M. Israel Prize, and the 2004 "music in the schools" commission from the Syracuse Society for New Music. He attended both the 2004 Bowdoin International Music Festival and the Aspen Music Festival and School, where he studied with George Crumb and Syd Hodkinson respectively. His works have been performed by numerous groups and individuals, including the Cassatt and Degas string quartets, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Syracuse Society for New Music, and the Syracuse University New Music Ensemble. University of Southern California (BM), with William Albright, Samuel Adler, William Bolcom, Morten Lauridsen, and Joseph Schwantner, among others. At present, he is co-chair of the Society of Composers Incorporated, Region IV. His compositions have been featured throughout the United States and internationally, including in France, Czech, Ukraine, Canada, Japan, and Taiwan. He has received honors from ASCAP, BMI, DownBeat Magazine, NACUSA, the National Federation of Music Clubs and such awards as the Brian M. Israel Prize, England's Kathryn Thomas Flute Competition, the Lee Ettelson Composer's Award, and the Music From China International Competition. Recently, he was nominated for the American Academy of Arts and Letters composition award. His music will appear on recordings released by Albany/Capstone, CRS, NACUSA, and ERM, and have been published by World­ Wide-Music. He has had two works recorded by the Kiev Philharmonic and another by the Chinese National Film Orchestra. His recent projects include several different orchestral commissions, works for wind ensemble and percussion ensemble, music for a Chinese mini-series, and Taiwanese TV jingles. Kevin Waters Kevin Waters S.J. holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in classics, philosophy, music, and theology. He was awarded a doctorate in music composition from the University of Washington in 1969; he studied composition with John Verrall, Roy Harris and Bruno Bartolozzi. Currently he is Dean Emeritus of the College of Arts and Sciences, Gonzaga University, and is professor of both Philosophy and Music at that university. He served for some time as West Coast music critic for the New York journal, America. He has composed two operas, four works for orchestra, a number of pieces for small ensemble, as well as several choral settings in large form. The Seattle Symphony, Kronos Quartet, Emerald City Brass Quintet, and Colorado State University Orchestra have performed some of these works and others have been premiered in San Francisco, Guadalajara and Rome. His opera Dear Ignatius, Dear Isabel, commissioned by Loyola College of Maryland and produced in Baltimore for the school's one hundred and twenty fifth anniversary, was later produced in Seattle and New Orleans. KSPS-TV, Spokane, telecast the opera in 1989 during its fourth production. In 2002, the celebrated Nevsky String Quartet of St. Petersburg, Russia, made a recording of String Quartet (1969), which was premiered several years ago in Seattle by the Kronos Quartet. Edith Stein, a second opera, is currently under consideration for performances in Poland by Cracow Opera. In Dulci Jubilo, a set of variations for concert band, received its premiere by Gonzaga University's Wind Ensemble and has been published by Pocono Mountain Music Publishing. Pocono also publishes Under a Soft Rain, a fantasy for Brass Quintet. An organ concerto, Waumandee Township, was premiered in Spokane during the Regional Convention of the American Guild of Organists in July, 1999. His Ave Verum was part of a program of Northwest Composers performed last June during the Regional Convention of the American Guild of Organists in Billings. Kevin Waters has been a member of the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus Qesuits) since August, 1951. composition with Samuel Adler and Aaron Jay Kernis. He enjoys teaching music, and spent the summer of 2005 teaching guitar and coaching rock bands at Camp Ballibay, a fine and performing arts camp for teenagers in Pennsylvania. He hopes to teach composition professionally while continuing to pursue performances of his music. Charles Nichols Composer, violinist, and computer music researcher, Charles Nichols is an Assistant Professor at the University of Montana. While studying at the Eastman School of Music, Yale University, and Stanford University, his principal composition teachers were Samuel Adler, Martin Bresnick, Jacob Druckman, Brian Ferneyhough, and Jonathan Harvey. He has presented his compositions at national and international festivals, such as the Pan Music Festival, Spring in Havana, June in Buffalo, and the Bang on a Can Institute, and his research at conferences, such as ICMC, SEAMUS, NIME, DAFx, and SIGGRAPH, has published articles in journals, such as Open Sound and Leonardo Music Journal, and performs on acoustic, electric, and MIDI violins. His piece, Posture, was recently awarded a Mention in the Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Competition. Martin Rokeach Martin Rokeach (b. 1953) earned music degrees from San Francisco State University and his Ph. D. in music composition and theory from Michigan State University. His music has been performed throughout the United States, Europe and Australia, and has received honors in eleven national competitions, including first prize in the Chicago Ensemble's "Discover America" competition and the Cygnus Ensemble competition in New York. His works have been published by Roncorp, ALRY, Fallen Leaf and Go Fish Music, and recorded by Albany, North/South, Furious Artists, Capstone and CRS records. He teaches at Saint Mary's College of California, and is one of the founders and artistic directors of San Francisco's contemporary music concert series, Composers, Inc. George Tanner George Tanner was born in 1979 in Uniontown, PA.