Santa Clara University

Alvin Singleton

Composer Alvin Singleton was born in Brooklyn, New York and attended New York University and Yale. As a Fulbright Scholar, he studied with Goffredo Petrassi at Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Italy. After living and working in Europe for 14 years, Singleton returned to the United States to become Composer-in-Residence with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra(1985-88). He subsequently served as Resident Composer at Spelman College in Atlanta (1988-91), as UNISYS Composer-in-Residence with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (1996-97), and was the 2002–03 Composer-in-Residence with the Ritz Chamber Players of Jacksonville, Florida. 

In addition, he has served as Visiting Professor of Composition at the Yale University School of Music

Singleton has amassed numerous awards throughout his compositional life. He is the recipient of a 2003 Guggenheim Fellowship, and was commissioned by The Serge Koussevitsky Music Foundation and American Composers Orchestra for the orchestral work When Given A Choice, which premiered at Carnegie Hall in April 2004. His other awards include the Kranichsteiner Musikpreis by the City of Darmstadt, Germany, twice the Musikprotokoll Kompositionpreis by the Austrian Radio, the Mayor’s Fellowship in the Arts Award by the City of Atlanta, and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Also in Spring 2004, Singleton joined the American Composers Orchestra as “Music Alive” Composer-in-Residence and Artistic Advisor for the IMPROVISE! Festival.

Singleton has composed music for theatre, orchestra, solo instruments, and a variety of chamber ensembles. His most recent work is titled TRUTH, a choral ballet based on the life of Sojourner Truth to be premiered by the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers and chamber orchestra conducted by Philip Brunelle 19 February 2006 in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Alvin Singleton’s music is published by European American Music Corporation and Musica Mista and is recorded on the Albany Records, Elektra/Nonesuch, Tzadik, and Innova labels.

PROGRAM NOTE: Say You Have This Ball of Meaning

Say You Have This Ball of Meaning was commissioned by Mutable Music for baritone Thomas Buckner and was first performed 14 April 2005 in New York City. It is receiving its west coast premiere at this concert. The text is by MacArthur Fellow Patricia Hampl. Touching on both religious and spiritual themes, the piece is an admission of the inability to pray. The work is score for solo baritone, harp, 2 percussion, accordion, and string orchestra.

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