Merrill Bradshaw was an American composer and professor at Brigham Young University

Brigham Young University

Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...

 (BYU) where he was the John R. Halliday Professor of music.

Bradshaw was born in Lyman, Wyoming

Lyman, Wyoming

Lyman is a town in Uinta County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 1,938 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Lyman is located at ....

 to Melvin K. Bradshaw and his wife the former Lorene Hamblin. He went to junior high school in Salt Lake City and high school in Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

 while his father oversaw the construction of air landing facilities in the Alutian islands. The family then moved pack to Lyman where Bradshaw graduated from high school.

Bradshaw did his undergraduate studies at BYU where he was mentored by John R. Halliday. He then served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Switzerland. After returning from his mission he was accepted into BYU's a capella chior. It was while in this choir that he met Janet Spilsbury who he later married. Besides Halliday other BYU professors of music who Bradshaw studies with were Leon Dallin

Leon Dallin

Leon Dallin was an American music theorist whose primary work was Techniques of Twentieth Century Composition: A Guide to the Materials of Modern Music....

 and Crawford Gates

Crawford Gates

Crawford Gates is a musician, composer, and conductor known for his contributions to the body of LDS music.- Early life :Gates was born in San Francisco, December 1921, and grew up in Palo Alto, California.-Family:...

.

Bradshaw received a masters in music and a doctor of musical arts degree both from the University of Illinois. Among those he studied with at Illinois were Carl Fuerstner, Hubert Kessler, and Claire Richards.

In addition to being a professor at BYU Bradshaw was also the first to hold the position of composer-in-residence there. He also served as executive director of the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition. He also directed BYU's semester abroad program in Austria on multiple occasions. Bradshaw worked closely with Ralph Laycock, BYU's orchestra conductor, and Ralph Woodward

Ralph Woodward

Ralph Woodward is an English classical conductor, arranger andorganist. His main focus is on conducting choirs.-Education:...

, the conductor of BYU's premier choir, in getting his various compositions performed.

Merril and Janet Bradshaw were the parents of seven children.

Selected works

Orchestral

• Symphony No. 1 (1957)
• Orchestra Music, Symphony No. 2 (1962)
• Piece for strings (1967)
• Symphony No. 3 (1967)
• Symphony No. 4 (1968)
• Peace Memorial (1971)
• Four Mountain Sketches (1974)
• Centennial Fantasy (1975)
• Yankee Celebration (1975)
• Piece for 2 horns and strings (1977)
• Symphony No. 5 (1978)
• A Symphonic Tribute (1984)
• Descants (1986)
• Kinesis (1988)
• Museum Piece (1993)
• Life Song (1996)

Concertante

• Concerto for piano and orchestra (1955)
• Divertimento for 4 pianos and orchestra (1963)
• Concerto for viola and orchestra (1979)
• Homages, Concerto for viola and small orchestra (1979)
• Concerto for violin and orchestra (1981)

Chamber music

• Meditation for flute and organ (1955)
• Septet for flute, oboe, clarinet and string quartet (1955)
• Dialogue for flute and horn (1956)
• Suite for viola alone (1956)
• Sonata for violin and piano (1956)
• String Quartet No. 1 (1957)
• 3 Sketches for viola (1963?)
• Sonatina for flute and piano (1965)
• Suite for oboe and piano (1965)
• Brass Quintet (1969)
• String Quartet No. 2 (1969)
• Duo for flute and clarinet (1980)
• Tales from the Desert Winds for string quartet (1982)
• Fantasy for clarinet and piano (1983)
• Foretaste for string quartet (1984)
• Fantasy Dialogues for cello and piano (1989)

Piano

• Beneath the Sea (1953)
• Sarah's Soliloquy (1967)
• Der Schwyzer Missionar (1988?)
• Visionscape (1991)

Choral

• The Articles of Faith for chorus a cappella (1960)
• Three Psalms for chorus a cappella (1971)
• Christ Metaphors, Festival of Images for chorus and orchestra (1989)
• The Restoration, Oratorio for chorus and orchestra (1989)

Vocal

• 3 Songs on Verses by Samuel Hoffenstein (1962)
• Come Ye Disconsolate for soprano and piano (1984)

Sources

• Biography of Bradshaw from the BYU Library