BIOGRAPHY
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I wrote my first mass on my 12th birthday, It was performed in New York City at The Cathedral of St. John The Divine, and at St. Anne's Pro-Cathedral of Brooklyn, both in NYC. Before that age I sang, played guitar & wrote songs for The Muskrats: a rock group. At age 13 my Organ Sonata: 12 Tone Under Glass; was performed on numerous concerts across New England by my father, Dr. Sam Walter. My St. Mark Passion (VI/II/7) was written when I was age 17 and performed the following year at The Church of The Resurrection in New York City. You can click on any of the bunnies (or the button) to the right to hear selections from my St. Mark Passion:
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I received a Bachelor of Music in musical composition from The Juilliard School of Music. I studied with Vincent Persichetti, David Diamond, Otto Leuning & orchestration with Lester Trimble. I placed out of secondary piano and the first two years of theory and received an honorary scholarship my Junior year. My tone poem: Masque of The Red Death (age 21; rewritten in 2023: please see III/I/3) was recorded by The Juilliard Concert Orchestra in my senior year. In my sophomore year, The Juilliard Concert String Orchestra recorded my Cloud Blue (age 19: III/III/IV): Please click on the picture to the right to hear Cloud Blue and view the score: entry number 3).:
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Cloud Blue Recording/Score
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I pursued a PhD in musical composition at Boston University, where I taught courses in Ear Training and Keyboard Harmony on a teaching fellowship. I finished all but one of the courses and wrote the thesis: my first symphony (III/IIb/1). I studied composition with Joyce MeKeel, David Del Tredici, and John Thow.
Subsequently I was offered post graduate scholarships in opera at Boston Conservatory, Longy School of Music & New England Conservatory. I also have an Master's of Arts degree in vocal performance from Trenton State Teacher's College. Among other teachers, I studied voice with Oren Brown (Juilliard) & Metropolitan Opera stars: Jeffrey Gall, countertenor & Jerome Hines, bass. I was in the opera workshops of Valerie Goodal and Emile Renan. I gave the Boston premiere of the male solos in the newly discovered chamber version of The Fauré Requiem at King's Chapel, Boston under Daniel Pinkham. In addition, I performed the role of Herod in the New England premiere of Only a Miracle by Seymour Barab. I also performed the role of King Marke in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde on BNN-TV, Boston with The Acting Singers Project. I gave vocal workshops in Lexington, Massachusetts; Colby College, Waterville, Maine & taught private voice for several decades.
I was the composer-in-residence for: The Putnam Court Musicians (also regular singer); Primetime for Kids at Massasoit College in Brockton, MA. (also music director & pianist) & Music Now and Now Dance (also artistic director & regular singer and one of three composers with Charles Turner & Merton Brown (see "Teachers..."); Guest composers included: Minuetta Kessler, Gary Nolan, Daniel Pinkham, David Swerdlove, & Dr. Sam Walter.
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My music has been performed by: Copley Square Ballet Company, Kinetic Dance Theater of Moscow, M. I. T. Concert Band, Mobius, North Shore Civic Ballet, OutLook Film and Video, NYC. My Invocation for Organ was commissioned by The American Guild of Organists and is published by E. C. Schirmer. Two of the series that I produced for Boston Neighborhood Network-TV: Crazy Dinosaurs and Out-TV won an honorable mention and
2nd prize in The Hometown USA Film and Video Competition. Please click on any dinosaur, or click the button, to the right to visit Crazy Dinosaurs: |
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