Wayne Peterson
Encyclopedia
Wayne Peterson is a Pulitzer Prize winning composer, as well as a pianist and educator.
Peterson earned B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Minnesota
. He did advanced study on a Fulbright Scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music
, London, England.
In 1960, he joined the faculty of San Francisco State University
, reaching the rank of Professor of Music, from which he is now retired. In 1998 San Francisco State University, established the Wayne Peterson Prize in Music Composition. Peterson was awarded the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for Music
for The Face of the Night, The Heart of the Dark, an orchestral work commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony
and conducted by David Zinman
.
Peterson's other honors include a Composer's Award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters (1986) and a Guggenheim Fellowship
(1989-90). In 1990 he was a visiting artist at the American Academy in Rome
.
Peterson earned B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
. He did advanced study on a Fulbright Scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
, London, England.
In 1960, he joined the faculty of San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University is a public university located in San Francisco, California. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers over 100 areas of study from nine academic colleges...
, reaching the rank of Professor of Music, from which he is now retired. In 1998 San Francisco State University, established the Wayne Peterson Prize in Music Composition. Peterson was awarded the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for Music
Pulitzer Prize for Music
The Pulitzer Prize for Music was first awarded in 1943. Joseph Pulitzer did not call for such a prize in his will, but had arranged for a music scholarship to be awarded each year...
for The Face of the Night, The Heart of the Dark, an orchestral work commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony
San Francisco Symphony
The San Francisco Symphony is an orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980, the orchestra has performed at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus are part of the organization...
and conducted by David Zinman
David Zinman
David Zinman is an American conductor and violinist.After early violin studies at the Oberlin Conservatory, Zinman studied theory and composition at the University of Minnesota and took up conducting at Tanglewood...
.
Peterson's other honors include a Composer's Award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters (1986) and a Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
(1989-90). In 1990 he was a visiting artist at the American Academy in Rome
American Academy in Rome
The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo in Rome.- History :In 1893, a group of American architects, painters and sculptors met regularly while planning the fine arts section of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition...
.
Selected compositions
- Excursion violin and piano (2010)
- Full Circle brass quintet plus percussion: 1 player (2009)
- Trap Drum Fantasy for solo drum set (2008)
- Scherzo for flute, clarinet, violin, cello (2008)
- String Trio (2007)
- Pas de Deux flute/alto flute & marimba/vibraphone (2006)
- Quest flute/alto flute and piano (2002)
- Nonet (2001)
- Four Preludes for piano (2000)
- Antiphonies for solo percussion: marimba/vibraphone (1999)
- Colloquy flute and harp (1999)
- Seven Debussy Songs seven Debussy songs transcribed for soprano or mezzo-soprano and small orchestra (1999)
- Monarch of the Vine percussion quartet (1998)
- Pop Sweet (String Quartet No. 3) (1998)
- Peregrinations solo clarinet (1997)
- Windup saxophone quartet (1997)
- A Robert Herrick Motley five a cappella choruses, SATB, settings of Robert Herrick (poet)Robert Herrick (poet)Robert Herrick was a 17th-century English poet.-Early life:Born in Cheapside, London, he was the seventh child and fourth son of Julia Stone and Nicholas Herrick, a prosperous goldsmith....
(1996, rev. 2000) - Theseus for chamber orchestra (1995-96)
- Vicissitudes for six players (1995)
- And the Winds Shall Blow a fantasy for saxophone quartet, winds and percussion (1994)
- Duo for Violin and Piano (1993)
- Diptych: Aubade, Odyssey for six players (1992)
- String Quartet No. 2: Apparitions, Jazz Play (1991)
- Four Spanish Songs (of Manuel de FallaManuel de FallaManuel de Falla y Matheu was a Spanish Andalusian composer of classical music. With Isaac Albéniz, Enrique Granados and Joaquín Turina he is one of Spain's most important musicians of the first half of the 20th century....
) transcribed for woodwind quintet (1991) - The Face of the Night, The Heart of the Dark for orchestra (1991) awarded the 1992 Pulitzer Prize in Music
- Mallets Aforethought for percussion quartet (1990)
- The Widening Gyre for orchestra (1990)
- Sonatine of Maurice RavelMaurice RavelJoseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
transcribed for woodwind quintet (1989) - Duodecaphony for viola (or violin) and cello (1988)
- Trilogy for chamber orchestra (1988)
- Labyrinth flute, clarinet, violin and piano (1987)
- Transformations for chamber orchestra (1986)
- Ariadne's Thread for harp and six players (1985) winner of the American Society of Harpists 1985 composition contest
- String Quartet No. 1 (1983)
- Sextet (1982)
- Doubles for 2 flutes, clarinet and bass clarinet (1982)
- An Interrupted Serenade flute, harp and cello (1978)
- Rhapsody for Cello and Piano (1976)
- Encounters for eight players (1`976)
- Diatribe violin and piano (1975)
- Capriccio flute and piano (1973)
- Metamorphoses for wind quintet (1967)
- an ee cummings cantata chorus SATB/piano or satb/ mixed ensemble of 8 players (1964)
- Free Variations for orchestra (1958) premiered and recorded by Antal DorátiAntal DorátiAntal Doráti, KBE was a Hungarian-born conductor and composer who became a naturalized American citizen in 1947.-Biography:...
and the Minnesota OrchestraMinnesota OrchestraThe Minnesota Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.Emil Oberhoffer founded the orchestra as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903, and it gave its first performance on November 5 of that year. In 1968 the orchestra changed to its name to the Minnesota Orchestra... - Can Death Be Sleep setting of John KeatsJohn KeatsJohn Keats was an English Romantic poet. Along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, he was one of the key figures in the second generation of the Romantic movement, despite the fact that his work had been in publication for only four years before his death.Although his poems were not...
for a cappella chorus, satb (1955)
Partial Discography
- Peregrinations. Albany Records (Troy 601); Peregrinations, Diatribe, Colloquy, Ceremony After A Fire Raid, Duo, String Quartet No. 1
- Vicissitudes. Albany Records (Troy 912); Vicissitudes, Duodecaphony, Labyrinth, Capriccio, Diptych. New York New Music Ensemble