Composers
Let Us
Break Bread Together
Bios for 20th century composers only. Others can be found in any standard
reference or online.
Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (1932-2004) enjoyed
an extremely versatile career as a composer and conductor. His ballet
scores include works for the Dance Theatre of Harlem, Alvin Ailey, and
the Eleo Pomare Dance Company. Perkinson composed and conducted scores
for numerous award-winning theatrical, television, and documentary films
such as Montgomery to Memphis (Martin Luther King), Bearden
on Bearden (Romare Bearden), A Woman Called Moses (Cecily
Tyson), and A Warm December (Sidney Poitier). He served as composer-in-residence
for the Negro Ensemble Company and composed a number of solo, chamber,
and vocal works.
Lloyd McNeill (b.1935) teaches visual arts
at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. He has
had numerous exhibitions in the art world, and has published poems,
drawings, and photographs. Some of his musical works can be heard on
the Baobab and Ashy labels. McNeill, whose mentor in the study of music
composition is Hale Smith, studied flute with Harold Jones and several
other teachers. A native of Washington D.C., McNeill is a graduate of
Morehouse College and Howard University.
Bernard Rogers (1893-1968) taught at the
Eastman School of Music for many years, becoming chairman of the composition
department. Early in his career, he was a member of the editorial staff
of Musical America. His first ambition was to become an artist,
and he continued to paint as a hobby throughout his life. His interest
in art, especially in Japanese prints, continued to influence his music.
Michel Colombier's (1939 -2004) credits include
more than fifty film and television scores, symphonic and chamber music
works, opera, and compositions for ballet for Mikhail Baryshnikov, Wile
Tharp, Maurice Bejart, and others. His first solo album, Wings,
(which uses an orchestra, a full choir, solo vocalists, a jazz-rock
orchestra, an oboe soloist, and an electrified string trio) marked the
first time that pop music was integrated into a symphonic work. Released
in 1971, it was nominated for three Grammy Awards and went on to win
numerous international awards. Colombier's film credits include New
Jack City, Against All Odds, White Nights, Ruthless People, Purple Rain,
The Golden Child, and Manon. Colombier, a native of France,
lives in Los Angeles. Emmanuel was written as a memorial to Colombier's
son, who died at age five.
Daniel Paget's (b.1943) theatre scores include
music for mime director Moni Yakim's New York Pantomime Theatre, presented
on national tour; music for Lewis Gardner's Soup for One; scores
for the APA-Phoenix and other companies; and two full-length musical
scores that were produced at Columbia University. Paget has also composed
chamber, electronic, vocal, television, and film scores. As a pianist
he toured the Far East under State Department auspices, playing ragtime.
Paget is Choral Director at the Manhattan School of Music and John Jay
College (CUNY) in New York City.
Howard Hanson (1896-1981) was director of
the Eastman School of Music from 1924 to 1964. He founded the Institute
of American Music of the Eastman School for the publication and dissemination
of American music as well as research in the history of 20th-century
musical styles. A neo-romantic composer, Hanson wrote many works for
large forces in addition to chamber and solo works.