Jon Deak
is also the founder and director of The Very Young
Composers, the Creative Education Advisor of the New York
Philharmonic, as well as its Associate Principal Bassist.
His compositions have been performed by such Symphony
Orchestras as the Chicago, National, New York Philharmonic,
Minnesota, Cincinnati, Vancouver, Dallas, and many others
and at music festivals worldwide. His Concerto for
Contrabass and Orchestra (Jack and the Beanstalk) was
nominated in 1990 for the Pulitzer Prize. He is the
only performing member of the NY Philharmonic in its 168
year history to have been commissioned to write a work for
that orchestra. His works have been recorded on
numerous labels, and his music is available at publisher
Carl Fischer/Theodore Presser, L.L.C. Jon's
fascination with Asia and with Japanese culture in
particular, dates from the many tours he has had the
privilege to make with the New York Philharmonic to that
country.
"What little is known about the particulars of John
Mooney's life I gathered from a mutual friend
and former colleague from my Milwaukee Symphony days,
violinist David Edward Collins. Mooney was born in
Terre Haute, Indiana in 1916 and died in Lafayette, Indiana
in 1990. He evidently did graduate work at Indiana
University, as he presented a symphonic work as a thesis or
dissertation there. He has further studies in
composition with Miklos Rosza and Robert sanders and was on
the faculty of Brescia College in Owensboro, Kentucky.
His other works include dozens of piano preludes, sonatas
for various instruments, chamber music, songs and some
symphonic works including a violin concerto. To the
best of my knowledge, the Poeme for Double Bass and
Piano is his only recorded and published work."
—
Bill Blossom
Alvin Brehm's relentless pursuit of the muse
has brought substantial recognition as a performer,
composer, administrator and teacher. Guest appearances
with the world's leading chamber groups including the
Budapest, Guarnari, Lenox, St. Petersburg, and many, many
other quartets, and as an Artist-Member of the Lincoln
Center Chamber Music Society have firmly established his
performing credentials. His compositions have been
performed in Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and other major
halls, and on American and European tours.
Administrative posts included Dean of the Conservatory at
the Purchase campus of the State University of New York,
chairman of the national Chamber Music Panel of the
Endowment for the Arts, and chairman of the state-wide Music
Panel of the New York State Arts Council.
Ron Wasserman's tonal
and listenable music is influenced by a wide range of
styles, but no matter where his eclectic tastes take him, he
retains a special affinity for writing music suitable for
the dance. This is no surprise since he has held the
position of principal bassist of the New York City Ballet
Orchestra for over twenty years. Another facet that
appears throughout his music is a strong consciousness of
jazz harmony and a feeling of improvisation. In July
2005, he received his first orchestral commission from the
New York City Ballet to compose a short introductory fanfare
celebrating the forty year residency of the Ballet at the
Saratoga Performing Arts Center. In January 2005, Ron
arranged several Astor Piazzolla Tangos to accompany the new
production of Peter Martins' reworked balled, "Todo Buenos
Aires." His orchestra work "Lament and Restoration" a 9/11
memorial concerto for violin, strings, and harpsichord was
recorded in 2004 by the micro-label Red Bandanna Records
along with his "Suite of Historical Dances." "Lament
and Restoration" was previously performed in Sant'Oreste,
Italy and Nyack, New York. In May of 2005,
"Lament and Restoration" was made into a ballet entitled,
"Red Bandanna," choreographed by Margo Sappington for a
performance by Valentina Kozlova and the Dance Conservatory
Performance Project. He has also composed several
highly regarded arrangements of traditional spirituals, jazz
numbers and rages for the Westchester Philharmonic and the
New York City Ballet Orchestra.
