Charles L. Bestor Professor of Music Composition Director, Electronic Music Studio Department of Music and Dance Fine Arts Center University of Massachusetts, Amherst Amherst, MA 01003 Phone: (413) 545-4698 4399 Fax: (413) 545-2092 Email: bestor@music.umass.edu ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Index: Compositions Discography Installations Videos Press Clips ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Charles Bestor, a native of New York City, received his musical training under Paul Hindemith at Yale University, Vincent Persichetti and Peter Mennin at the Juilliard School of Music and independently under the electronic music composer Vladimir Ussachevsky. He also holds degrees from Swarthmore College (Phi Beta Kappa) and the Universities of Illinois and Colorado. Dr. Bestor's early works were largely dodecophonic, with a strong grounding in Hindemithian counterpoint. The New York Times described his early Piano Sonata as "a dissonant, tightly organized working out of clear and dramatic motives; explosive and vigorous declamations with sweep and power." In his more recent music, much of it in the electronic medium, Dr. Bestor has increasingly explored the integration of jazz-derived, tonally-based harmonic, melodic and rhythmic elements into the formal structures of conventional concert music. The Boston Globe spoke of his In Memoriam Bill Evans as "lush, urbane, shrewdly paced, neatly transferring some quality modern- jazz orchestration to a related and congenial symphonic territory," and the Salt Lake Tribune, writing of his earlier jazz-based orchestral work, "Until a Time", referred to its "searching treatment of melodic and percussive ideas; a witty piece, interspersed with bits of Stravinsky and Poulenc, but highly original in sound." Dr. Bestor has been awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Composer's Fellowship and was a winner in the 1999 Bourges (France) International Electro-Acoustic Music Competition. He was also the winner of the Main Prize in the 1996 Musica Nova International Competition of the Czech Republic and first prize winner in the Omaha Symphony's 1994 International Orchestral Competition. He has also received awards in the Bourges (France) International Electro-Acoustic Competition, LGBA National Wind Competition, New England Philharmonic and Quinto Maganini Orchestra Competitions, NE New England Composers' Orchestra Competition, LGBA National Wind Competition, the David Lipscomb Prize and the Delius Prize for Instrumental Chamber Music, among others. His works have been commissioned by the Composers String Quartet, the Utah Symphony, the Salem Symphony and the Five-College Symphony Orchestras, the Utah Bicentennial Commission, the Peter Britt Festival, Phi Beta National Professional Fraternity and a number of individual performers. Dr. Bestor has collaborated, as a composer, with the sculptor Sherry Healy on the installation "Pathways from the Dream Spell Series" which was exhibited at the Chicago International Art Exposition at Navy Pier, the Illinois State Museum, the Michigan Art Park and the Chicago ARC Gallery. He also collaborated with the visual artist Barbara Cornett and the lighting designer John Wade on the installation "Cycles" , which was commissioned by the Maier Museum of American Art and has since toured extensively throughout the mid-Atlantic states. He has subsequently collaborated with Ms. Cornett and Mr. Wade on the installation "Into the Labyrinth", commissioned by the Fine Arts Center of the Virginia Museum in Lynchburg and "The Unfound Door", commissioned by the College Music Society, which has been widely seen and heard in its video and tape versions. For many years Dr. Bestor has pursued a parallel career as a teacher and administrator. He was for a decade on the faculty and administration of the Juilliard School of Music and subsequently served as Dean of the College of Music of Willamette University and as Head of the Music Departments of the Universities of Massachusetts, Utah and Alabama. He has also taught on the faculty of the University of Colorado and is presently Professor of Composition and Director of the Electronic and Computer Music Studios of the University of Massachusetts. Dr. Bestor is a Fellow of the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, the Ragdale Foundation, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, Ireland. He is listed in Marquis' Who's Who in America and Who's Who in the World, the International Who's Who in Music, the Dictionary of International Biography, Joseph Machlis' Introduction to Contemporary Music and a number of professional who's whos. Compositions (works marked with a # include a 20 second sound byte): *Kyrie for tenor and orchestra (2222 4321 2-3 perc strings) 2002. 12:00. TM *"Music for Gerry" (clarinet & interactive electronics) 2002. 10:00 *#Symphony for chamber winds: "The Long Goodbye" (2222 4331 timp 4 perc) 2001. 18:00. TM *Andantino, Canon and Blues. Concerto Grosso for percussion and wind nonet (flt, ob, cl, bsn, hrn, 2 trpt, trb, tba, vibes, perc) 2000. 9:00. TM *#"In the Shell of the Ear" (high voice, vibes, ob, alto sax, hrn, contrabass) 2000. 8:30. TM *#Symphony No. 1: "Three Ways of Looking at the Night" for orchestra (2222 2221 timp 2-3 perc strings) 1999 19:00. TM *"For Ann, in Autumn" (high voice & piano) 1999. 9:00. TM *Lament (tape, 2 readers) 1999. 8:30 *Partita for solo clarinet 1998. 8:00. TM *Fantasia Sacra et Profana (2 recorders, 2 Renaissance vln, 2 viol, drums, lute, virginal) 1998. 8:00. TM *#"Into the Labyrinth" (tape) 1995. 9:00 *"The maple at my window weeps" (SSAATTBB a cappella) 1995. 4:00. MS *"Things unseen" (SSAATTBB a cappella). 1995. 5:00. MS *"Three Ways of Looking at the Night" for orchestra (2222 2221 timp 2-3 perc strings) 1994. 15:00. TM *"In Memoriam Bill Evans" for orchestra (2222 4221 timp 2 perc strings) 1993. 10:00. TM *#"Conversations with Myself" (clarinet & interactive electronics) 1993. 14:00. TM *"about Her" (clarinet & interactive electronics) 1995. 5:00. TM *"Time's Arrow" (alto sax, hrn & piano or synthesizer) 1993. 12:30. TM *#Five Sketches for jazz piano. 1992. 7:30. TM *Chaconne for Chamber Winds (2222 4331 timp 4 perc) 1992. 7:00. TM *#Soliloquies (oboe & interactive electronics) 1991. 8:00. TM *Four Love Songs (SATB & chamber orchestra or piano) 1990. 9:00. TM *#Incantations and Dances (contrabass, electronic keyboards & computer) 1990. 11:00. TM *"Of Times and Their Places", five songs (sop or mezzo & piano). 1990. 14:00. TM *"Monday's Child" (SATB or SSAA & synthesizer or piano) 1988. 9:00. TM *"Stations of the Night", three blues for S (piano) 1988. 11:00. TM *Andante, Canon and Blues (flt, alto sax, trb, cb, pni, perc) 1986. 9:00. TM *More Sort of Love Songs (piano). 1985. 10:30. TM *"Make a Joyful Noise" (SATB & organ) 1985. 6:00. TM *Sort of Love Songs (French horn octet) 1984. 8:00. TM *#Variations for orchestra (2222 2222 1-2 perc strings) 1984. 9:00. TM *#Sonata for cello & piano. 1984. 15:00. TM *Three Portraits for wind octet (flt, ob, cl, bsn, hrn, trpt, trb, cb or tba) 1984. 12:00. TM *Suite for alto saxophone & percussion. 1983. 14:30. DM *#Overture to a Romantic Comedy for orchestra (2222 4321 timp 2 perc strings) 1981. 14:30. GS *Four Ostinati from the Edge of Time (tape) 1981 12:00 *Suite for violin & piano. 1979. 7:00. GM *Lyric Variations for oboe and tape, with viola. 1979. 11:00. 16:00. TM *"Until a Time..." for antiphonal orchestras (3333 4331 timp 3 perc strings) 1977. 9:00 11:45. TM *#Piano Sonata. 1977. 7:00. GM *"Second Moon of Venus" (piano & tape) 1976. 9:45. TM *Twelve Short Movements for string quartet & tape. 1976. 10:45. TM *Concerto Grosso for percussion and orchestra (222 222 timp 2 perc strings) 1976. 9:00 10:00. GM *Variations for violin & piano duo with synthesizer. 1973. 11:45. ASUC *"Music for the Mountain" for orchestra (2222 4321 timp 3 perc strings) 1972. 8:00 12:00. GM *Poem for choir and synthesizer (SATB) 1972. 6:00. TM *"In Memoriam" to texts from "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" (SATB, reader wind quintet & jazz quartet) 1971. 20:00. TM *"A Wind in the Willows" (flute) 1968. 10:00. GM *Suite from Incidental Music to the Play "J.B." (flt, ob, cl, bsn, trpt) 1964. 13:00. GM *"Measure for Measure" (recorder quartet) 1963. 9:00. GM *"Unto Thee Do I Lift Up My Soul" (SATB a cappella) 1962. 5:00. E-V *"Lord Unto Thee" (SATB a cappella) 1957. 4:00 E-V Publishers' code: * E-V: Elkan-Vogel * GS: G. Schirmer * GM: General Music * TM: Tamar Music * ASUC: American Society of University Composers * DM: Dorn Music * MS: Manuscript Discography: (works marked with a # include a 20 second sound byte): * Night Thoughts and Fancies. New Music for Flute and Piano. Capstone. CD CPS-8664. 1988 * O "A Wind in the Willows" for solo flute * Grzegorz Olkiewicz, flute * Illuminations. Capstone. CD CPS-8643. 1997 O "Of Times and Their Places" for soprano and piano Paulina Stark, soprano Estela Olevsky, piano * Shadows of Ancient Dreams. Capstone. CD CPS-8635. 1997 O "Conversations with Myself" for clarinet and interactive electronics F. Gerard Errante, clarinet * Music from the Setting Century. Living Artist. CD Vol.2. 1996 O "Soliloquies" for oboe and interactive electronics Fredric Cohen, oboe * Symphonic and Wind Music of Charles Bestor. Centaur. CD CRC-2216. 1995 o Overture to a Romantic Comedy o #Variations for orchestra o In Memoriam Bill Evans Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bystrik Rezucha, conductor o #Chaconne for chamber winds o Three Portraits for wind octet Massachusetts Wind Ensemble, Malcolm W. Rowell, conductor * Contemporary American Eclectic. Jeffrey Jacob, piano. New Ariel Recordings. CD AE001. 1995 o "Stations of the Night", three blues for S o #Five Sketches for jazz piano * American Society of University Composers. LP SC19. 1990 o Variations for violin & piano duo with synthesizer Julian Olevsky, violin, Estela Olevsky, piano * Music for Piano and Tape. Jerome Reed, piano. Capstone Records. LP CPS-8602. 1988 o "The Second Moon of Venus" * The Music of Charles Bestor. Orion. LP ORS87501. 1986 o #Sonata for cello & piano Leopold Teraspulsky, cello, Estela Olevsky, piano o "More Sort of Love Songs" Estela Olevsky, piano o Suite from the Incidental Music for the Play "J.B." Avanti Wind Quintet o Suite for alto saxophone & percussion Lynn Klock, saxophone, Peter Tanner, percussion * Charles Lehrer, oboe. Orion Recordings. LP ORS82432. 1981 o Lyric Variations for oboe and tape, with viola * The Contemporary Music Project. Dwight Peltzer, piano. Serenus Records. LP SRS12069. 1976 o Piano Sonata Installations: *"The Unfound Door" (sound, sculpture, video, light and text) 1998 *"Into the Labyrinth" (sound, sculpture, light and text) 1995 *"Cycles" (sound, sculpture and light) 1992 *"Pathways from the Dream Spell Series (sound & sculpture). 1987 Videos: *"The Unfound Door". 1998. 8:00 *"Into the Labyrinth". 1995. 7:00 *"Cycles". 1992. 5:00 Press Clips: "Explosive and vigorous declamations with sweep and power...A tightly organized working out of clear and dramatic motives." The New York Times "A searching treatment of melodic and percussive ideas; a witty piece, interspersed with bits of Stravinsky and Poulenc, but highly original in sound." Salt Lake Tribune "A work that deserves a lasting place in the...repertory" Piano Guild News "Lush, urbane, shrewdly paced, neatly transferring some quality modern-jazz orchestration to a related and congenial symphonic territory." Boston Globe "A spirited concert packed with first-rate music...Delightful." The New York Times "Makes maximum use of every bar in a tightly integrated, substantive piece of music...Altogether beautiful." Omaha World-Herald "Not only arresting in sound but musically stimulating." Canberra (Australia) Times "An attractive, interesting and unusual work." Salt Lake Tribune "Manages with ease [the] integration of jazz harmonic and melodic elements into more conventional techniques of the so-called Western concert tradition...Most attractive!" Boston Globe "A sonata that looked good between Carter and Barber with no reason to step back in deference." Daily News Fascinating music, at once foreboding, haunting, amused and contemplative"." Boulder Daily Camera ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Links: * AMERICAN MUSIC CENTER * ASCAP * UMASS * IRCAM ------------------------------------------------------------------------