Zane Randall Stroope (born October 25, 1953) 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

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

. He has published more than 190 works, with:

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, Carl Fischer, Alliance Music Publishing, Walton, Colla Voce, and

Lorenz Lorenz is an originally German name derived from the Roman surname Laurentius, which means "from Laurentum". Given name People with the given name Lorenz include: * Prince Lorenz of Belgium (born 1955), member of the Belgian royal family by h ...

Biography

Stroope earned a master's degree in voice performance at the University of Colorado (Boulder) and his doctorate in conducting from

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

. In an electronic publication, Stroope states that even though he had dabbled in composition since the age of ten, it was not until he wrote ''The Cloths of Heaven'', and ''Inscription of Hope'', that he began to gain recognition. He states, “I was quite fortunate to have written some works that found great attraction across the country. That sort of catapulted my career compositionally. I was soon being asked to write pieces and conduct those works with the groups that commissioned them. Through conducting, you learn about what works in composition. Both aspects of my career took hold, and I’ve never looked back. I’m busier today than I’ve ever been.”Acclaimed composer, conductor joins OSU
. URL last accessed 2011-11-15. In addition to composing music and guest conducting, Stroope held Professor of Music positions at Oklahoma State University,

Rowan University Rowan University is a public research university in Glassboro, New Jersey, with a medical campus in Stratford and medical and academic campuses in Camden. Founded in 1923 as Glassboro Normal School on a site donated by 107 residents, the scho ...

in Glassboro, New Jersey and at the

University of Nebraska at Omaha The University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO) is a public university, public research university in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Founded in 1908 by faculty from the Presbyterian Theological Seminary (Omaha, Nebraska), Omaha Presbyterian Theological ...

. As a conductor, he regularly appears nationally and internationally in such venues as:

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...

, Chicago Orchestra Hall, Sopra Minerva (Rome), and the

Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, is the national cultural center of the United States, located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Opened on September 8, ...

Mentors and contemporaries

Cecil Effinger Cecil Effinger (July 22, 1914 – December 22, 1990) was an American composer, oboist, and inventor. Life Effinger was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado and resided in the state for most of his life. Reversing the usual cliché, he was the son ...

and

Normand Lockwood Normand Lockwood (March 19, 1906 – March 9, 2002) was an American composer born in New York, New York. He studied composition at the University of Michigan from 1921 to 1924, and then traveled to Rome and studied composition under Ottorino Respi ...

, mentors of Stroope, are well-respected American composers. Effinger's ''Little Symphony No. 1'' and ''Four Pastorales'', arguably his most recognizable pieces, are performed by many ensembles across the U.S. and abroad. Normand Lockwood won the prestigious

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

, a scholarship given the select students within the arts, which allowed him to study in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. Both Effinger and Lockwood were students of

Nadia Boulanger Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher, conductor and composer. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organis ...

, a student of

Gabriel Fauré Gabriel Urbain Fauré (12 May 1845 – 4 November 1924) was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers. ...

. Fauré was one of the greatest French composers of the twentieth century. Nadia Boulanger, became one of the most influential music theory teachers of the twentieth century, one of her first pupils being American composer

Aaron Copland Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, critic, writer, teacher, pianist, and conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as the "Dean of American Compos ...

. Stroope credits Boulanger for his mentors' support of his creativity saying, “Efficiency of writing would be the main thing I took from my studies with Effinger. Boulanger didn’t try to replicate herself through her students; she let them be successful in their own way. As a result, Lockwood and Effinger were very open to different styles of music in my writing. It wasn’t a cookie cutter approach to composition.”

Morten Lauridsen Morten Johannes Lauridsen III (born February 27, 1943) is an American composer and teacher. A National Medal of Arts recipient (2007), he was composer-in-residence of the Los Angeles Master Chorale from 1994 to 2001, and is professor emeritus of c ...

, a colleague and friend of Stroope, is the professor of composition at the

University of Southern California Thornton School of Music The USC Thornton School of Music is a private music school in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1884 only four years after the University of Southern California, the Thornton School is the oldest continually operating arts institution in Los An ...

and has been for more than thirty years. From 1994 to 2001 he held the position the composer-in-residence at the

Los Angeles Master Chorale The Los Angeles Master Chorale is a professional Choir, chorus in Los Angeles, California, and one of the resident companies of both The Music Center and Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1964 by Roger Wagner to be one ...

. Lauridsen, composer of works such as ''

O magnum mysterium O magnum mysterium is a responsorial chant from the Matins of Christmas. Text The text is drawn from the Matins of Christmas in the Roman Breviary. ; Latin text: : O magnum mysterium, : et admirabile sacramentum, : ut animalia viderent ...

'', ''Sure on this Shining Night'', and ''Les Chansons des Roses'', was named "American Choral Master" by the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

. In 2007, President Bush awarded him the

National Medal of Arts The National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and Patronage, patrons of the arts. A prestigious American honor, it is the highest honor given to artists and ar ...

in a

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

ceremony. The National Medal of Arts is the highest award given to artists and arts patrons by the United States government. While Stroope taught at Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey, Lauridsen held a residency and The Rowan University Concert Choir performed Lauridsen's works. During the concert, Morten Lauridsen was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Rowan University. Since then, Stroope and Lauridsen have continued to engage in collaborative projects. In 2010 and 2014, Lauridsen held residencies at Oklahoma State University similar to that at Rowan University.

Published material

Compositions (partial list of published works)

* Abandon *All My Heart This Night Rejoices * All So Still * American Christmas/American Rhapsody * Amor de mi alma * An die Freude * And Sure Stars Shining... (poem by Sara Teasdale) * Caritas et amor * Christi Mutter (No. 2 of ''Triptych)'' * Cloths of Heaven * Consecrate the Place and Day * Dance for Love * Danny Boy * Danse Macabre * Dies irae * Dona nobis pacem * Echo of Beauty * Fanfare from Cantus natalis * Four Sonnets of Garcilaso de la Vega * Go Lovely Rose * Homeland * Hodie! This Day * How Can I Keep From Singing? * I carry your heart with me * Inscription of Hope * I Am Not Yours *I Have Loved Hours at Sea * Image of Beauty * Invocation * Judaskuss (The Kiss of Judas) (No. 1 of ''Triptych)'' * Tarantella (Jubilate Agno) * Kyrie *

Lamentationes Jeremiae Prophetae ''The Lamentations of Jeremiah the Prophet'' have been set by various composers. Renaissance England Thomas Tallis Thomas Tallis (; also Tallys or Talles; 23 November 1585) was an English composer of High Renaissance music. His compositio ...

* Lux aeterna *

Magnificat The Magnificat (Latin for "y soulmagnifies he Lord) is a canticle, also known as the Song of Mary or Canticle of Mary, and in the Byzantine Rite as the Ode of the Theotokos (). Its Western name derives from the incipit of its Latin text. This ...

* Michelangelo's Sonnet * My Flight to Heaven (Charm Me Asleep) * Northwest Passage: Three Poetic Landscapes * Odysseus and the Sirens * Omnia Sol * Os justi *Petrus No. 3 of ''Triptych'' * Psalm 23 * Revelation * Sanctus * Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day? * She Walks in Beauty * Sicut cervus * Song to the Moon (La Luna) * Soul Speak * Sure On This Shining Night * The Conversion of

Saul Saul (; , ; , ; ) was a monarch of ancient Israel and Judah and, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament, the first king of the United Monarchy, a polity of uncertain historicity. His reign, traditionally placed in the late eleventh c ...

* The Pasture *The Love of Truth * There is No Rose *The Road Not Taken * This Endris Night * Three Metaphysical Motets * Vesuvius * We Beheld Once Again the Stars * Winter

Books

Stroope contributed to the book ''Composers on Composing for Choir'' along with composers such as

René Clausen René Clausen (born 1953) is an American composer, conductor emeritus of The Concordia Choir, and former professor of music at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota. Some of his works are widely performed by high school and church choirs, a ...

Gwyneth Walker Gwyneth Van Anden Walker (born 22 March 1947) is an American music educator and composer. Biography Walker was born in New York to a Quaker family and grew up in New Canaan, Connecticut. She began her first efforts at composition at an early age ...

John Rutter Sir John Milford Rutter (born 24 September 1945) is an English composer, conductor, editor, arranger, and record producer, mainly of choral music. Biography Born on 24 September 1945 in London, the son of an industrial chemist and his wife, R ...

and Morten Lauridsen. In this book, Stroope speaks on his experiences with composing, strategies for composing and instructing young composers.Wine, Thomas (2007). Composer on Composing for Choirs. G I A Publications, Incorporated.

Awards and honors

*2004

Brock Commission The American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is a non-profit organization with the stated purpose of promoting the field of choral music A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Lat ...

from the American Choral Directors Association.http://acda.org/page.asp?page=brock_pieces , Retrieved March 2016 *Australian-American FulbrightZ. Randall Stroope
. zrstroope.com. *Douglas R. McEwen award for National Choral Excellence *Doug and Nickie Burns Endowed Chair in Choral Music *Regents Distinguished Research Award * 2018 Oklahoma State University Eminent Professor Award * 2020 Honorary member of ANDCI association of Italian choir directors.

References

External links (Citations)

Z. Randall Stroope's page at Carl Fischer

Official website
*Oklahoma State University Department of Music *An interview with Northwest ACDA Women’s Choir Conductor Z. Randall Stroope {{DEFAULTSORT:Stroope, Z. Randall 1953 births Living people 20th-century American classical composers 21st-century American classical composers American male classical composers Oklahoma State University faculty American male conductors (music) University of Colorado Boulder alumni University of Nebraska Omaha faculty Arizona State University alumni Musicians from Albuquerque, New Mexico Rowan University faculty 20th-century American conductors (music) 21st-century American conductors (music) 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians