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 def ...

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 Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in Virginia, United States. It is the seat of government of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Quee ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

. He "felt compelled to compose as a teenager"Article on Coleman's retirement
/ref> and pursued this first at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

before completing Bachelor's, Master's and Doctoral work at

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

. 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 The Oberlin Conservatory of Music is a private music school, music conservatory of Oberlin College, a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio. It was founded in 1865 and is the ...

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, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...

, 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 Kyle Eugene Gann (born November 21, 1955, in Dallas, Texas) is an American composer, professor of music, critic, analyst, and musicologist who has worked primarily in the New York City area. As a music critic for ''The Village Voice'' (from 1986 ...

, Christopher Rouse,

Greg Saunier Gregory Lovell Saunier ( , born 18 May 1969) is a musician, producer, and composer best known as the drummer and founding member of Deerhoof. ''Rolling Stone'' included Saunier alongside Brian Chippendale (of Lightning Bolt) and Zach Hill ( ...

Evan Hause Evan Hause (born 1967) is an American composer, percussionist and conductor. Hause has composed over one hundred works ranging from rock music to opera. Biography and career After growing up in Greenville, North Carolina, he earned the Doctor o ...

, Wally Scharold,

Du Yun Du Yun (traditional Chinese: 杜韻, simplified Chinese: 杜韵) is a Chinese-born American composer, performer, musician and performance artist. She won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Music for her opera ''Angel's Bone'', with libretto by Royce ...

and

Brenda Way ODC, formerly the Oberlin Dance Collective, is a contemporary dance and arts organization founded in 1971, in Oberlin, Ohio, by current artistic director Brenda Way. ODC relocated to San Francisco in 1976 and in 1979 became the first modern dance ...

. He also worked with then students

Bill Irwin William Mills Irwin (born April 11, 1950) is an American actor, choreographer, 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. ...

and

Julie Taymor Julie Taymor (born December 15, 1952) is an American director and writer of theater, opera, and film. Her stage adaptation of ''The Lion King (musical), The Lion King'' debuted in 1997 and received eleven Tony Awards, Tony Award nominations, with ...

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 There have been several organisations referred to as the Brooklyn Philharmonic. The most recent one was the now-defunct Brooklyn Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, an American orchestra based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, in existence f ...

(1984), eighth blackbird, Cincinnati Percussion Group, and the Cleveland Contemporary Ensemble. The Fromm Music Foundation commissioned Coleman to write a work for the first American Music Festival at Tang1ewood in 1964 (Concerto for Piano and Chamber Orchestra).Oberlin Conservatory Faculty Bio
/ref> He received a

Fulbright fellowship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people o ...

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 The Ohio Arts Council (OAC) is an agency serving the U.S. state of Ohio. Its offices are in the Rhodes State Office Tower in Columbus, Ohio. History Established in 1965, its mission is to "foster and encourage the development of the arts and as ...

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