Randolph 'Randy' Coleman (born 1937) is an 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 Defi ...

and educator. He was the first chairman of the national council of the American Society of University Composers, now called The Society of Composers, Inc.

Biography

Coleman was raised in Charlottesville, Virginia. He "felt compelled to compose as a teenager"Article on Coleman's retirement
/ref> and pursued this first at the University of Virginia before completing Bachelor's, Master's and Doctoral work at Northwestern University. At Northwestern he studied with Anthony Donato (composition), Arrand Parsons (theory), an
John Ohl
(musicology). Coleman spent the majority of his career at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music at

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...

, teaching composition and classes on intersections in the arts for 43 years while also teaching in guest residencies at a variety of schools and programs. Among his students at Oberlin were Kyle Gann, Christopher Rouse, Greg Saunier, Evan Hause,

Wally Scharold Walter "Wally" Scharold is a London, England based composer, guitarist, vocalist, bandleader, producer, games designer, and filmmaker. Born and raised in Houston, Texas he sang in choirs and musicals from age 10, studied rock, jazz, and classical ...

, Du Yun and Brenda Way. He also worked with then students

Bill Irwin William Mills Irwin (born April 11, 1950) is an American actor, clown, and comedian. He began as a vaudeville-style stage performer and has been noted for his contribution to the renaissance of American circus during the 1970s. He has made a n ...

and Julie Taymor as part of the InterArts program Coleman founded at Oberlin in the 1970s. He currently lives in Oberlin with his wife, Rebecca, and their son, Schuyler. Their daughter, Emma Rose, died in 2011.

Music

Coleman's musical style is self described as trying to move on from his roots in late modernism. He often concentrated on developing and promoting interdisciplinary works involving students from all the creative fields. The wide range of styles and genres of his music are influenced by his own history, including performance (on piano and trombone), and conducting new music and writing prose about many types of music (traditional chamber and symphonic music, Jazz, Rhythm and Blues and a variety of non-western musics) for NOTES (MLA Journal), Fine Arts and other journals.

Awards and commissions

Coleman has had commissioned work performed by a variety of ensembles including the Brooklyn Philharmonic (1984), eighth blackbird,

Cincinnati Percussion Group Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County, Ohio, Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Rive ...

, and the

Cleveland Contemporary Ensemble Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along ...

. The Fromm Music Foundation commissioned Coleman to write a work for the first

American Music Festival American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

at Tang1ewood in 1964 (Concerto for Piano and Chamber Orchestra).Oberlin Conservatory Faculty Bio
/ref> He received a Fulbright fellowship which took him to Paris and Mexico. Early in his career his work received awards from the International Society of Contemporary Music in 1962 and 1963. In 2002 he was awarded a residency at The Rockefeller Institute of Bellagio, ItalyRockefeller Institute in Bellagio, Italy
as well as an Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist's Award.

References

External links

Society of Composers, Inc.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coleman, Randolph 1937 births American male composers 21st-century American composers Living people 21st-century American male musicians