Alvin Singleton, African American Composer: "Sing to the Sun"

[Sing to the Sun: Chamber Music by Alvin Singleton, Troy 902 (2007)]

Dr. Dominique-René de Lerma, the principal advisor of AfriClassical.com, has brought this message from Alvin Singleton to our attention:

I have just launched my first ever Website and want all to see: www.alvinsingleton.com

Here is an excerpt from the Biography page of the new website:

Composer Alvin Singleton was born in Brooklyn, New York and attended New York University and Yale. As a Fulbright Scholar, he studied with Goffredo Petrassi at Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Italy. After living and working in Europe for fourteen years, Singleton returned to the United States to become Composer-in-Residence with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (1985-88). He subsequently served as Resident Composer at Spelman College in Atlanta (1988-91), as UNISYS Composer-in-Residence with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (1996-97), and was the 2002–03 Composer-in-Residence with the Ritz Chamber Players of Jacksonville, Florida. In addition, he has served as Visiting Professor of Composition at the Yale University School of Music.

Singleton has amassed numerous awards throughout his compositional life. He is the recipient of a 2003 Guggenheim Fellowship and was commissioned by The Serge Koussevitsky Music Foundation and American Composers Orchestra for the orchestral work When Given a Choice, which premiered at Carnegie Hall in April 2004. His other awards include the Kranichsteiner Musikpreis by the City of Darmstadt, Germany, twice the Musikprotokoll Kompositionpreis by the Austrian Radio, the Mayor’s Fellowship in the Arts Award by the City of Atlanta, and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Also in Spring 2004, Singleton joined the American Composers Orchestra as “Music Alive” Composer-in-Residence and Artistic Advisor for the IMPROVISE! Festival.

Singleton has composed music for theatre, orchestra, solo instruments, and a variety of chamber ensembles. His most recent work, TRUTH, a work for chorus, ensemble and dance based on the life of Sojourner Truth, was premiered on February 19, 2006 at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in St. Paul, Minnesota by the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers and TU Dance. His music is published by Schott Music Corporation, and is recorded on the Albany Records, Elektra/Nonesuch, Tzadik, and Innova labels. Singleton’s latest CD “Sing to the Sun” was released in February 2007 on Albany Records and is the fourth all-Singleton disc.

The following Contents and Review information is from the website of Albany Records:

CONTENTS:
Alvin Singleton, composer
Greed Machine
Teresa McCollough, piano, Peggy Benkeser, vibraphone

Alvin Singleton, composer
Argoru III
Sara Vargas-Barritt, flute

Alvin Singleton, composer
Sing To The Sun
Spivey Hall Children's Choir, Ashley Bryan, narrator, Ted Gurch, clarinet, Barbara Cook, oboe, Amy Leventhal, viola, Laura Gordy, piano, Petty Benkeser, percussion

Alvin Singleton, composer
Apple
Richard Faria, Marianne Gythfeldt, Michael Lowenstern, Charles Neidich, clarinets

Alvin Singleton, composer
Fifty Times Around The Sun
David Shifrin, clarinet, Anne-Marie McDermott, piano

REVIEW:
"Singleton is a difficult composer to categorize, but his works always have a clarity and accessibility to them despite the often-dissonant tonal language. ...serves as a great introduction to a great artist." (Sequenza 21)

"Singleton's music is playful, free, sometimes quite funny, sometimes a bit funky." (American Record Guide)

Alvin Singleton
Chamber Music
Albany Records
Sojourner Truth
Black Composer
classical music