Dr. Sy Brandon, composer, will be in residence on the Delta State campus Monday, Feb. 28, hosted by Dr. Bret Pimentel, assistant professor of music at Delta State. Brandon will work with students in areas of music performance, scholarship, and composition.
Brandon recently completed a new work entitled Divertissement, funded by a Co-op Press Commission Assistance grant awarded to Dr. Pimentel. Divertissement features a soloist performing on six woodwind instruments (flute, piccolo, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and saxophone).
An open rehearsal of the new work with Pimentel on woodwinds and Dr. Kumiko Shimizu, assistant professor of music on piano, will be held at 3 p.m., in the Recital Hall of the Bologna Performing Arts Center. Brandon will collaborate with the performers in preparing the piece for performance, and will take questions from the audience about the work and about his compositional process. The Delta State community and local community members are invited to attend.
Brandon has received numerous awards including first prizes in the WITF-FM’s 25th Anniversary Composition Contest, the El Dorado Sacred Music Composition Contest, Franklin and Marshall College’s Wind Ensemble Composition Contest, and the New England String Ensemble Composition Competition. He has received numerous commissions for his music from organizations such as the Boise Philharmonic, York Symphony Orchestra, the Twentieth Moravian Music Festival, as well as numerous professional musicians and school music organizations. In 2010, he was awarded a commission from the Arizona Commission on the Arts to compose the band composition celebrating the Arizona Centennial during 2011-12. He has been a recipient of an ASCAP Special Award annually since 1998.
His music has been recorded by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra on the Albany Records Label, the Philharmonia Bulgarica and the Kiev Philharmonic on the ERM Label, Emeritus Recordings, the Contemporary Record Society, and by the Swiss Duo Dilemme on the Arizona University Label. Tuba/Euphonium Press, Trombone Association Publishing, the Theodore Presser Co., and Co-Op Press publish his music. His book, A Composer’s Guide to Understanding Music with Activities for Listeners, Interpreters, and Composers, is published by Co-op Press.
Brandon (b. 1945 in New York, NY) holds the rank of professor emeritus of music from Millersville University, Millersville, PA, where he taught low brass, composition, orchestration, music history, electronic music, and music industry for twenty-four years. He received his B.S. and M.S. in music education from Ithaca College and his A. mus. D. in composition from the University of Arizona. His composition teachers include Warren Benson, Elie Siegmeister, and Robert McBride.
For more information, contact Pimentel, (662) 846-4608.
