Samuel Hazo
Encyclopedia
Samuel Robert Hazo is an American
composer
of primarily music for concert band
.
with his wife and children. In 2003, Mr. Hazo became the first composer in history to be awarded the winner of both composition contests sponsored by the National Band Association. He has composed for the professional, university and public school levels in addition to writing original scores for television, radio and the stage. His original symphonic compositions include performances with actors Brooke Shields, James Earl Jones, David Conrad and Richard Kiley. He has also written symphonic arrangements for three-time Grammy Award winning singer/songwriter Lucinda Williams. Mr. Hazo’s compositions have been performed and recorded worldwide, including performances by the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra (national tour), the Birmingham Symphonic Winds (UK) and the Klavier Wind Project’s recordings with Eugene Migliaro Corporon. Additionally, his music is included in the series "Teaching Music Through Performance in Band." Mr. Hazo's works have been premiered and performed at the Music Educators’ National Conference, Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles Convention, National Honor Band of America, National Band Association/TBA Convention, College Band Directors’ National Association Convention and also aired in full-length programs on National Public Radio. He has served as composer-in-residence at Craig Kirchhoff’s University of Minnesota Conducting Symposium and has also lectured on music and music education at universities and high schools internationally. In 2004, Mr. Hazo's compositions were listed in a published national survey of the "Top Twenty Compositions of All Time" for wind band.
Mr. Hazo has been a music teacher at every educational grade level from kindergarten through college, including tenure as a high school and university director. Mr. Hazo was twice named “Teacher of Distinction” by the Southwestern Pennsylvania Teachers’ Excellence Foundation. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Duquesne University
where he served on the Board of Governors and was awarded as Duquesne’s Outstanding Graduate in Music Education. Mr. Hazo serves as a guest conductor and is a clinician for Hal Leonard Corporation. He is also sponsored by Sibelius Music Software. Recordings of his compositions appear on Klavier Records and Mark Records.
He has been asked by the Virginia Tech Wind Ensemble to write a memorial piece for the recent Virginia Tech shooting
. Hazo gave it to VA Tech as a gift. It is titled Bridges and is published by Hal Leonard Corporation.
The 2008-2009 school years, Hazo is slated to conduct the All-State Bands of Indiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Oregon, Kentucky, Maryland and Georgia.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
of primarily music for concert band
Concert band
A concert band, also called wind band, symphonic band, symphonic winds, wind orchestra, wind symphony, wind ensemble, or symphonic wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of several members of the woodwind instrument family, brass instrument family, and percussion instrument family.A...
.
Career
Samuel R. Hazo resides in Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaPittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
with his wife and children. In 2003, Mr. Hazo became the first composer in history to be awarded the winner of both composition contests sponsored by the National Band Association. He has composed for the professional, university and public school levels in addition to writing original scores for television, radio and the stage. His original symphonic compositions include performances with actors Brooke Shields, James Earl Jones, David Conrad and Richard Kiley. He has also written symphonic arrangements for three-time Grammy Award winning singer/songwriter Lucinda Williams. Mr. Hazo’s compositions have been performed and recorded worldwide, including performances by the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra (national tour), the Birmingham Symphonic Winds (UK) and the Klavier Wind Project’s recordings with Eugene Migliaro Corporon. Additionally, his music is included in the series "Teaching Music Through Performance in Band." Mr. Hazo's works have been premiered and performed at the Music Educators’ National Conference, Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles Convention, National Honor Band of America, National Band Association/TBA Convention, College Band Directors’ National Association Convention and also aired in full-length programs on National Public Radio. He has served as composer-in-residence at Craig Kirchhoff’s University of Minnesota Conducting Symposium and has also lectured on music and music education at universities and high schools internationally. In 2004, Mr. Hazo's compositions were listed in a published national survey of the "Top Twenty Compositions of All Time" for wind band.
Mr. Hazo has been a music teacher at every educational grade level from kindergarten through college, including tenure as a high school and university director. Mr. Hazo was twice named “Teacher of Distinction” by the Southwestern Pennsylvania Teachers’ Excellence Foundation. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Duquesne University
Duquesne University
Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit is a private Catholic university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded by members of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, Duquesne first opened its doors as the Pittsburgh Catholic College of the Holy Ghost in October 1878 with an enrollment of...
where he served on the Board of Governors and was awarded as Duquesne’s Outstanding Graduate in Music Education. Mr. Hazo serves as a guest conductor and is a clinician for Hal Leonard Corporation. He is also sponsored by Sibelius Music Software. Recordings of his compositions appear on Klavier Records and Mark Records.
He has been asked by the Virginia Tech Wind Ensemble to write a memorial piece for the recent Virginia Tech shooting
Virginia Tech massacre
The Virginia Tech massacre was a school shooting that took place on April 16, 2007, on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States. In two separate attacks, approximately two hours apart, the perpetrator, Seung-Hui Cho, killed 32 people...
. Hazo gave it to VA Tech as a gift. It is titled Bridges and is published by Hal Leonard Corporation.
The 2008-2009 school years, Hazo is slated to conduct the All-State Bands of Indiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Oregon, Kentucky, Maryland and Georgia.
Partial list of composed works
- Perthshire Majesty— winner of the 2003 NBA William D. Rivelli Memorial Composition Contest
- Sevens
- Ride
- Rush (Noted in the score by Hazo to be Ride Part II)
- Fantasy on a Japanese Folk Song
- Diamond Fanfare
- Novo Lenio
- In Heaven's Air
- Olympiada
- Exultaté
- Sky is Waiting
- Ascend (Movement III of Georgian Suite)
- Today is the Gift
- Three Minnesota Portraits: (Commissioned by the Edina High School Concert Band)
- Movement One: Hennepin County Dawn (Shrouds of Snow)
- Movement Two: Rest
- Movement Three: Across the Halfpipe
- Echoes
- Chorus Angelorum (Commissioned by Hereford High SchoolHereford High School, ParktonHereford High School is a four-year public high school located in the rural northern Baltimore County town of Parkton, Maryland, USA, as part of the Baltimore County Public Schools. The school was established in 1954....
in memory of Joey and Audrey Baseman) - Southern Hymn (Commissioned by Providence High School Wind Ensemble, Charlotte, NC in memory of Neil Rasmussen)
- Bridges (Commissioned by Virginia Tech in memory of the victims of the Virginia Tech Massacre in 2007)
- Their Blossoms Down
- Voices of the Sky
- Sòlas Ané (Yesterday's Joy)
- Arabesque (Commissioned by the Indiana Bandmasters' Association for the 2008 All-State Honor Band)
- Psalm 42
- Our Kingsland Spring
- Our Yesterdays Lengthen Like Shadows (Commissioned by the South Carolina Band Director's Association for the 2008 All-State Honor Band)
- The Quest
- As Winds Dance
- Each Time You Tell Their Story
- Keltic Variations
- Rivers (Movement II of Georgian Suite)
- In Flight
- Blessings
- Our Kingsland Spring (Movement I of Georgian Suite)
- Rising Star
- Three Concert Fanfares
- Minuet
- Whisper to Their Souls (based on Greensleeves)
- ...GO
- Autumn on White Lake (Hazo's most recent piece, premiered December 14, 2008 by Lakeland High School Wind Ensemble by whom the piece was commissioned. Publishing date has not been determined.)
- Themes from "Handel's Water Music"
- Themes from Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusick"
- Síoraí September (Commissioned by the Notre Dame Concert BandBand of the Fighting IrishThe Band of the Fighting Irish is the marching band of the University of Notre Dame. The over 380 members of the band represent nearly every field of study, and include students from all fifty states as well as from overseas...
, to be premiered May 11, 2010 at Carnegie HallCarnegie HallCarnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
) - Parkour (Commissioned by the East Winds Symphonic Band, premiered November 6, 2011)
- Blue and Green Music (Based on the painting by Georgia Okeeffe)