RICHARD PRIOR • COMPOSITION

Following his 1988 debut at London’s Westminster Abbey, Richard Prior’s music has been performed and broadcast throughout Europe and North America. He has created works for many notable artists including pianist James Swisher, flutist Jonathan Keeble and horn player Eric Ruske, as well as professional chamber groups and orchestras. Firmly committed to music in education, Dr. Prior has also written extensively for high school, university and college orchestras, wind ensembles and choirs. His instrumental music has been featured at new music festivals and various symposia internationally, while his choral works maintain a firm presence with choirs in the U.S. and in cathedrals across the U.K.

Recent performances of his music have been featured at:

• College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) regional convention at Emory University, Atlanta Ga. 2004

• Midwest Clinic International Band & Orchestra Convention, Chicago IL, 2003

• national convention of the British Association of Symphonic Bands & Wind Ensembles, (BASBWE) at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester U.K., 2003

• International Choir and Honor Band Festival, the Hague, Netherlands, 2003

• Orebro International Flute Festival, Sweden, 2002

• national convention of the National Flute Association (NFA) in Denton Tx., 2001

• national convention of CBDNA at the University of North Texas, 2001

Dr. Prior’s teachers include Alan Ridout, Philip Wilby (Leeds University), James Fulkerson (Nottingham University), Trevor Wishart and Nigel Osborne. He has been a selected participant in workshops and festivals with leading figures such as Milton Babbitt, Pierre Boulez, Henryk Gorecki, Krystof Penderecki, Terry Riley and John McCabe.

Current projects include a number of compositions for a CD recording with violinist Katherine Wolfe, Associate Professor of Violin at the University of Iowa:

• work for solo violin
• work for violin & piano
• work for violin & MIDI marimba
• concertino for violin & orchestra and an orchestral work for the Tulsa Signature Symphony.

SELECTED COMPOSITIONS

INSTRUMENTAL

labyrinth (solo piano)

icarus (flute & piano) [Albany Records, CD: TROY673]

Festival Toccata (solo organ)

Jubilate Toccata (solo organ)

Soundscape (solo piano)

In the Black Circle (solo piano)

CHAMBER

Fanfare and Intermedio (brass and percussion)

Chromosome (2.2.2.2, 1.1.1.0, timp., perc., piano, strings)

ORCHESTRAL

Cimarron Portrait

inner visions/outer voices

Concerto for Piano & Orchestra: Phoenix Rising

Symphony No. 1

Symphony No. 2

WIND ENSEMBLE

Concertino for Horn & Wind Symphony

Concertino for Clarinet & Wind Symphony: wudeliguhi (the darkening land)

Concertino for Piano & Wind Symphony

Concerto for Piano & Wind Symphony

earthrise

SOLO VOCAL

Cradle Song (mezzo-soprano & piano)

Sonnet 152 (counter-tenor & piano)

Most like an arch (baritone & piano)

CHORAL

hymn for nations united (SATB & orchestra)

hymn for nations united (SATB & wind ensemble)

Stabat Mater (soprano solo, SATB & orchestra)

Drop, drop, slow tears (SATB)

I am a little world (SATB & piano)

Play on, invisible harps (SATB) [Alliance Music]

Make we joy now in this fest (SATB) [Alliance Music]

Five Nursery Rhymes (SATB)

Nativity Carol (SATB) [Alliance Music]

There is a Flower (SATB)

Videte Miraculum (SSAATTBB & ad. lib organ)

Second Evening Service (SATB & organ)

Preces and Responses for Mens’ Voices (AATTBB)

The Song of Solomon (1.1.1.0, 0.3.2.1, timp., perc., strings, sop. & bar. solo, SATB)

The Seventh Seal (brass sextet, timp., perc., organ, sop. & bar. Solo, SATB, reader)

I will lift up mine eyes (SATB & organ)

Dives and Lazarus (baritone & alto solo, SATB, organ)

Ante Luciferum Genitus (SATB & organ)

Chichester Cathedral Service - Evening Canticles (SATB & organ)

CHAMBER OPERA

Madness Rules the Hour (chamber orch., sop. & bass solo, SATB, spoken dramatic cast)