Donald Steven (born 26 May 1945) is a Canadian-American

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

music educator Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as elementary or secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a research area in which scholars do origina ...

, and

academic administrator Academic administration is a branch of university or college employees responsible for the maintenance and supervision of the institution and separate from the faculty or academics, although some personnel may have joint responsibilities. Some ...

. An associate composer of the

Canadian Music Centre The Canadian Music Centre was founded in 1959 by a group of Canadian composers who saw a need to create a repository for Canadian music. It now holds Canada's largest collection of Canadian concert music, and works to promote the music of its As ...

, he won a BMI Student Composer Award in 1970, the

Canadian Federation of University Women The Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW) (Canadian French, French: ''Fédération canadienne des femmes diplômées des universités CFDU') (formerly called University Women’s Club) is a non-partisan, voluntary, self-funded organi ...

's Golden Jubilee Creative Arts Award in 1972, the 1987

Juno Award for Classical Composition of the Year The Juno Award for "Classical Composition of the Year" has been awarded since 1987, as recognition each year for the best classical music composition in Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canad ...

(for ''Pages of Solitary Delights'') and the 1991

Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music The Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music is a Canadian contemporary classical music award given to composers in recognition of quality new works of chamber music. Granted annually since 1978 (with the exception of 1984 and 1990 when no prize was ...

(for ''In the Land of Pure Delight''). His musical compositions are characterized by their emphasis on instrumental colour and atmosphere. Perhaps his most well known piece is his ''Illusions'' for solo

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

, which has been widely performed in concert and on television and radio broadcasts.

Life and career

Born in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, he attended

Selwyn House School Selwyn House School (SHS) is an English-language independent K-12 boys' school located in Westmount, Quebec. The school was founded in 1908 by Englishman Captain Algernon Lucas and was named in honour of Selwyn College at the University of C ...

, followed by

Ashbury College Ashbury College is an independent day school, day and boarding school, boarding school located in the Rockcliffe Park area of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was originally founded in 1891 by former faculty of Bishop's College School in Quebec to acc ...

. He began his career performing and arranging folk and rock music in the 1960s (most notably with The Raftsmen) before pursuing professional studies in music. In 1968 he entered

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

where he was a

music composition Musical composition can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are called ...

student of

Bruce Mather Bruce Mather (born May 9, 1939) is a Canadian composer, pianist, and writer who is particularly known for his contributions to contemporary classical music. Career One of the most notable composers of microtonal music, he was awarded the Jules ...

. After graduating from McGill with a

Bachelor of Music A Bachelor of Music (BMus; sometimes conferred as Bachelor of Musical Arts) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. The degree may be awarded for performance, music ed ...

in 1972, he entered the graduate music program at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

where he studied under

Milton Babbitt Milton Byron Babbitt (May 10, 1916 – January 29, 2011) was an American composer, music theorist, mathematician, and teacher. He was a Pulitzer Prize and MacArthur Fellowship recipient, recognized for his serial and electronic music. Biography ...

, earning a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...

in 1974. He later earned a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

from Princeton. In 1975 Steven joined the Faculty of Music (now the

Schulich School of Music The Schulich School of Music (also known as Schulich) is one of the constituent faculties of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located at 555, Rue Sherbrooke Ouest (555, Sherbrooke Street West). The faculty was named after the ...

) at McGill University, ultimately becoming the head of the performance department in 1986. He taught music composition at the school until 1992 and was involved in the modernization of McGill's studio for electronic music and the creation of the computer music studios. In 1992 he became dean of the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College and, subsequently in 1997, founding dean of the College of the Performing Arts at

Roosevelt University Roosevelt University is a private university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1945, the university was named in honor of United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The university enrolls arou ...

. He has since worked in senior administration at the

State University of New York The State University of New York (SUNY ) is a system of Public education, public colleges and universities in the New York (state), State of New York. It is one of the List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, larges ...

and

The Citadel The Citadel Military College of South Carolina (simply known as The Citadel) is a public senior military college in Charleston, South Carolina, United States. Established in 1842, it is the third oldest of the six senior military colleges ...

, and retired as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at

Rider University Rider University is a private university in Lawrence Township, New Jersey, United States. It consists of three academic units: the Norm Brodsky College of Business, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, which includes Westminster Choir Coll ...

in 2013. He is also a former faculty member of the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO; branded as Western University) is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thame ...

. Steven's works have been performed throughout the world, including the ''World Music Days'' of the

International Society for Contemporary Music The International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) is a music organization that promotes contemporary classical music. The organization was established in Salzburg in 1922 as Internationale Gesellschaft für Neue Musik (IGNM) following the ...

and the World Cello Congress.Canadian Music Centre
/ref> He has received numerous commissions, including from

Maureen Forrester Maureen Kathleen Stewart Forrester, (July 25, 1930 – June 16, 2010) was a Canadian operatic contralto. Life and career Maureen Forrester was born and grew up in Montreal, Quebec, one of four children of Thomas Forrester, a British cabinetma ...

Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi (born July 28, 1942 in Tokyo) is a world renowned Japanese cellist. In an international career which began in 1954, Tsutsumi has performed and recorded all of the principal standard works in the cello repertoire, both solo and concerto. He has ap ...

Bertram Turetzky Bertram Jay Turetzky (born February 14, 1933) is a contemporary American double bass (contrabass) soloist, composer, teacher, and author of ''The Contemporary Contrabass'' (1974, 1989), a book that looked at a number of new and interesting ways o ...

, Robert Riseling, and Alvaro Pierri, and from '' La Société de musique contemporaine du Québec'', ''Répercussion'', the ''Pierrot Ensemble'', the ''Canadian Electronic Ensemble'', ''New Music Concerts'' and the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is the Canadian Public broadcasting, public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a Crown corporation that serves as the national public broadcaster, with its E ...

Selected works

Counterpoint Music Library Services, Inc.
/ref> * ''Harbinger'', a fantasia for soprano and orchestra, 1969 (BMI Award for Student Composers), 1969 * ''Illusions'', an elegy for solo cello, 1971 * ''The Gossamer Cathedral'', five surrealistic frescoes for chamber ensemble, 1972 * ''Crossroads'', for chamber ensemble, 1974 * ''The Transient'', for soprano and chamber ensemble, 1975 * ''Images: Refractions of Time and Space'', for flute, electric piano, electric bass and percussion, 1977 * ''For Madmen Only'', magic theatre for solo cello and orchestra, 1978 * ''Rainy Day Afternoon'', for brass quintet, 1979 * ''Night Suite'', for chamber ensemble, 1979 * ''Wired'', electronic ensemble and optional tape, 1981 * ''On the Down Side'', for jazz septet, 1982 * ''Bert in Nether-Nether Land'', adventures for solo contrabass and ensemble, 1983 * ''Ordre sans ordre (sans désordre)'', concerto for solo guitar and chamber orchestra, 1984 * ''Straight on Till Morning'', for chamber ensemble and tape, 1985 * ''Pages of Solitary Delights'', for contralto and orchestra, 1985 (Juno Award 1987) * ''Sapphire Song'', for solo clarinet, 1986 * ''Love Where the Nights are Long'', for soprano, oboe d'amore and orchestra, 1987 * ''Full Valleys'', for children's choir, 1989 * ''Orbits'', for four percussionists and tape, 1989 * ''That Other Shore'', for solo contrabass and low strings, 1990 * ''In the Land of Pure Delight'', for chamber ensemble, 1991 (Jules Léger Prize 1991) * ''ô, to make dreames true'', miniatures for the

Harry Partch Harry Partch (June 24, 1901 – September 3, 1974) was an American composer, music theorist, and creator of unique musical instruments. He composed using scales of unequal intervals in just intonation, and was one of the first 20th-century com ...

Instrumentarium, 2001 * ''mesmerie0000-mesmerie0100'', five computer-generated etudes, 2008 * ''GearTrain'', computer-generated isorhythmic motet, 2008 * ''ScatterToms'', computer-generated electronic music, 2013 * ''Evensong'', computer-generated electronic music, 2015 * ''Generations'', computer-generated electronic and ambient music, 2015 * ''Au Bord des Flots'', Scènes Acadiennes d'autrefois pour trois jeunes ami(e)s de la clarinette, 2015 * ''Anamnesis'', for two shakuhachi, 2016 * ''souvenirs d'autrefois'', three bagatelles for clarinet and bassoon, 2016 * ''October'', for solo alto flute, 2017 * ''Dusk'', for shakuhachi and chamber ensemble, 2020 * ''Aphorismes'', for solo clarinet, 2023

References

The Canadian EncyclopediaCanadian Music Centrela Société de musique contemporaine du QuébecCounterpoint Music Library Services, Inc.Library of Congress online catalog

External links

* ttps://soundcloud.com/ Impartial Music at SoundCloud {{DEFAULTSORT:Steven, Donald 1945 births Living people Canadian male composers Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music winners Canadian classical composers Juno Award for Classical Composition of the Year winners McGill University School of Music alumni Academic staff of McGill University Musicians from Montreal Princeton University alumni Rider University faculty Roosevelt University faculty State University of New York faculty Academic staff of the University of Western Ontario Selwyn House School alumni Ashbury College alumni