Dr. Nick Virzi (b. 1991) is a composer from New York City whose work includes acoustic, electronic, and electroacoustic music, as well as intermedia pieces and multichannel installations. His recent pieces explore the relationships between humans and the natural world, numerology and rhythmic structure, and ethnography and identity. His practice includes field recording in nature preserves, orchestration of rhythmic frameworks based on complex numerical systems, and ethnographic research focused on collecting and adapting archival media as an exploration of his identity as an Italian-American. In addition to composing, he is an electric guitarist, conductor, photographer, researcher, and educator. He also hosts the international composer interview series Composer OverTime.

Nick’s music has been performed throughout the USA and internationally by leading artists such as cellist Séverine Ballon (France), soprano Tony Arnold, the Los Angeles Percussion Quartet, the JACK Quartet, the Spektral Quartet, Splinter Reeds, Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble, Ensemble Liminar (Mexico), Distractfold (United Kingdom), the Ekmeles Vocal Ensemble, the TAK Ensemble, Ensemble Dal Niente, and Wild Up. His work has been featured at such venues as the Juilliard School at Lincoln Center, the Center for New Music in San Francisco, and the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus, Denmark. His recent projects include “Convergent Boundaries” for Percussion Trio and Electronics, an electroacoustic piece featuring field recordings from Kopački Rit Nature Park in Croatia, Crater Lake National Park in Oregon, and Mt. Etna in Sicily, Italy. This piece was commissioned by the Novalis Music and Art Festival and premiered by Line Upon Line Percussion in October 2022.

Virzi has been a featured composer at international festivals such as Gaudeamus Muziekweek (The Netherlands), the Impuls Academy (Austria), and Festival Ecos Urbanos (Mexico). He has been awarded fellowships by the Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival (NYC), the Cortona Sessions for New Music (Italy), the soundSCAPE Composition and Performance Exchange (Italy), and the New Music for Strings Festival (Denmark). He has won festival competitions including the Black Bayou Composition Award, 2nd Prize at the New Music on the Bayou Festival in Louisiana. He has held residencies at the Academy of Arts and Culture and Kopački Rit Nature Preserve in Osijek, Croatia, the Sagehen Experimental Forest and Landels-Hill Big Creek Reserve in the UC Reserve System, and the Poto Festival in Grass Valley, California. He has presented his music and given lectures at universities such as UC San Diego, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Barbara, and the University of Missouri (Mizzou). He has presented his research in music theory and analysis at conferences hosted by the American Beethoven Society, the California Interdisciplinary Consortium of Italian Studies (CICIS), and the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS). He has presented his research in acoustic ecology at NYU’s Steinhardt School as part of the Precarious Sounds/Sounding Sanctuary Conference (NYC), The Catholic University of America at the Eleventh International Conference on Climate Change: Impacts and Responses (Washington, D.C.), and the Centro Cultural Vila Flor at the Ninth International Conference on the Constructed Environment (Guimarães, Portugal).

Dr. Virzi completed his D.M.A. in Music Composition at Stanford University, where he studied with Mark Applebaum and Brian Ferneyhough. He also completed his B.M. at the SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Du Yun, Huang Ruo, Laura Kaminsky, and Suzanne Farrin. He recently completed the H&S Dean’s Fellowship at Stanford University, where he was a Lecturer in the Department of Music and the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA).  

From New York Times Oct. 14, 1974 page 39

Edward H. Margetson, a West Indian composer who died in New York in 1962 at the age of 70, was honored yesterday afternoon by the performance of several of his works in Alice Tully Hall. The program was presented by the Triad Chorale, directed by Noel Da Costa, assisted by the Schubert Music Society, which Mr. Margetson founded in 1927.

In some of his pieces the composer made good use of the Caribbean folk tunes he had known in his youth. They formed the material of the String Quartet that was played and gave color and melodic vitality to the well‐crafted but academic score.

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From Historical St. Kitts website

In 1919 Margetson decided to go to the United States. It meant making do with a lot of things until he had the musical education that he had dreamed of. Soon after his arrival in New York, Margetson took on the post of Organist and Minister of Music for the Church of the Crucifixion, and continued to hold that post until his retirement. He attended Columbia University in 1921, 1922 and from 1924 to 1926 where his compositions were featured in annual concerts.

Dr. Daniel Mason , the head of the Music Department at Columbia University in an article in The Herald Tribune of the 3rd May 1943 said:

There is in Margetson’s best work a directness, a wholeheartedness, and therefore a persuasive power that is rare nowadays.

In commenting on the significance of these awards, Mason noted that Margetson had been

working quietly among his people in Harlem for nearly a quarter of a century has made in his unostentatious way a contribution, far deeper than many showier ones, both to our creative musical art and to our social democracy.

Margetson’s quiet and unassuming personality encouraged confidence in those who came in contact with him. His unpretentious contributions continued to span the miles to reach his homeland. In 1948 at the height of the Thirteen Week Strike, Rufus King travelled from England to St. Kitts in order to mediate between the Trades and Labour Union and the Sugar Association. He stopped in New York to visit Margetson who expressed concerns over the plight of the island and urged the restoration of peace between the battling sides.

Failing health forced Margetson to retire as Director of the Society in 1960 and on the 22nd January 1962, he passed away leaving behind a wealth of musical compositions.

A composer of a large catalogue of orchestral and chamber music, Allen Shawn has also composed chamber operas, songs, piano music, and music for ballet, theatre, and film. He was the recipient of a 1995 Goddard Lieberson Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and an Academy Award in music from the Academy in 2001. His music is recorded on Opus One, Bay Cities, Northeastern, Sono Luminus, and Albany records and has works published by Boosey and Hawkes, Galaxy Music, and GunMar Music. He is active as a pianist and is the author of four books: Arnold Schoenberg’s Journey (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002); Wish I Could Be There (Penguin, 2007); Twin (Viking, 2011); and Leonard Bernstein: An American Musician (Yale University Press, 2014), as well as articles for The New York Review of Books, The Atlantic Monthly, The Musical Times, The Times Literary Supplement, and The New York Times Magazine. BA, Harvard; study with Nadia Boulanger; MA, Columbia University. Shawn has taught at Bennington since 1985.

Hayes Biggs was born in Huntsville, Alabama and raised in Helena, Arkansas. He holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in composition from Columbia University. His teachers include Don Freund, Mario Davidovsky, Jack Beeson, Fred Lerdahl and Donald Erb. Biggs has been a fellow in composition at the Composers Conference and Chamber Music Center at Wellesley, at the Tanglewood Music Center, at Yaddo, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Millay Colony for the Arts and the MacDowell Colony. Among his honors are a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship and an Aaron Copland Award, the latter of which afforded him the opportunity to live and compose at Copland House in upstate New York for several weeks. Since 1992 he has been on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music, teaching courses in the theory and composition departments.  

Recent works include Symphonia brevis (2010), composed for Riverside Symphony; Psalms, Hymns & Spiritual Songs (2011), for soprano Susan Narucki and pianist Christopher Oldfather; Three Hymn Tune Preludes (2010), commissioned by organist Gail Archer; The Caged Skylark (2011), Goe lovely Rose (2014), Fortunes Pantoum (2016, on a poem by Jane Shore), who are you? (2017, on a poem by Zsuzsanna Ardó), and O Oriens/Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern (2021), all composed for C4: the Choral Composer/Conductor Collective, an ensemble in which Biggs has often participated as a member of the bass section; Chorale Prelude on Nun komm der Heiden Heiland (2016), for organ; Prelude & Freund's Fuguing Tune in E (Noch einmal nach Bach) (2012), for solo piano; The Trill Is Gone (2013), for solo tenor saxophone; Inquieto (attraverso il rumore) (2015), composed for violinist Rolf Schulte; and four piano preludes, The secret that silent Lazarus would not reveal (2015), The presence of still water (2017),„du aber bist der Baum” ("but you are tree") (2018), commissioned by Thomas Stumpf, and Quicksilver (2022). Through to (and Out of) the Other Side (2018) a work for the eleven-piece saxophone orchestra Megalopolis was premiered by them under the direction of Andrew Steinberg in 2018. In 2020 Steinberg and pianist Shaoai Ashley Zhang premiered Be Gentle And Kind With Your Wandering Mind, for alto saxophone and piano. Reveries. Passions, (Fantasy-Quartet for Piano and Strings) (2020) was premiered in May of 2023 on a Merkin Concert Hall recital of Biggs’s chamber music; Currently he is at work on a new piano prelude and a work for singers and chamber orchestra based on Keats’s The Eve of St. Agnes. In 2006 Biggs’s String Quartet: O Sapientia/Steal Away (2004) was given its premiere at New York City’s Merkin Concert Hall by the Avalon String Quartet on a Washington Square Contemporary Music Society concert; it was recorded by the Avalon String Quartet in 2008 and released on Albany Records. In 2018 a CD comprised entirely of his music was released by PARMA Recordings, LLC on its Navona Records label. Biggs’s music is published by C. F. Peters Corporation, APNM (Association for the Promotion of New Music) and Margun Music, Inc. (Shawnee Press). 

https://hayesbiggs.com

A prolific composer, Mrs. White enjoyed a lengthy and diverse career incorporating teaching and performing into her artistic practice, while raising a family and supporting her husband, Donald, a cellist and the first Black member of the Cleveland Orchestra.

Her music reaches into American traditions and draws on ethnic and international influences. In a November 2021 interview for the Oberlin News Center, Mrs. White said, “I’ve always thought the average person needs to know about different cultures. It’s important to have exposure to different music, different genres, and different histories.” Of her composition work, she said “I take risks, I dream big, and I use humor in my works in different ways which helps to keep my optimistic views.”

Mrs. White was born in Chicago, Illinois. She attended Howard University for two years before transferring to Oberlin Conservatory of Music where she earned her bachelor’s degree in piano performance. She later completed her Master of Music in both piano performance and composition at the Cleveland Institute of Music, twenty years after finishing her undergraduate degree. She pursued additional studies at The Ohio State University and The Juilliard School.

Mrs. White held positions at several colleges, universities, and arts organizations, including College of Wooster, Hartt School of Music, Cleveland’s Karamu House, and the Metropolitan Campus of Cuyahoga Community College, where she served as assistant professor of music. She was also a piano instructor at the Cleveland Music Settlement. After retiring from teaching in 2000, White continued to compose vocal and instrumental works, remaining vitally involved throughout her life.

Dr. Curtis Biggs (b. 1988) is the low brass instructor at Snow College in Ephraim, UT. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Contemporary Music from Bowling Green State University, as well as undergraduate and master’s degrees in Trombone Performance from Brigham Young University and Yale University. His compositions have been performed at several universities and music festivals, including the Big 12 Trombone Conference, and the International Trombone Festival.

As a trombonist, Curtis has performed with Ballet West, the American Festival Chorus and Orchestra, Andrea Bocelli, and the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square, among other ensembles and musicians. From November 2015 to 2016, Curtis held the position of principal bass trombonist with Symphony S.O.N.G. (Symphony Orchestra for the Next Generation) based in Seoul, South Korea. A major role of his position was also touring South Korea with the Symphony S.O.N.G. Brass Quintet. He has also performed as a soloist with the Snow College Wind Symphony, performing David Gillingham’s Vital Signs of Planet Earth, and with the BYU Philharmonic playing the 2nd movement of Christopher Rouse’s Trombone Concerto.

Together with his wife and pianist Jackie, Curtis founded the Radium Duo. In 2020, Curtis led a consortium of 20 bass trombonists to commission Czech Composer Juraj Filas. The Radium Duo premiered the resulting piece, “Dormi, amore, … dormi!” for bass trombone and piano at the Eccles Center for the Performing Arts at Snow College in April, 2021. The duo’s first recording includes this piece, and can be heard on all streaming platforms.

Curtis’s compositions have explored the trombone in innovative ways. In addition to traditional playing techniques, his pieces have used multiphonics, circular breathing, creative uses of mutes,  attaching tubes to tuning slides, and playing in only the bell section of the trombone without the slide. Curtis has used these extended techniques to find new expressive sounds and atmospheres.

curtistrombone.com

Wells Hively (1903‐1969) had a fascinating career and life, spanning several of the most important periods in American musical history. From 1917‐1928 (ages 14‐25) he was a celebrated accompanist for silent movies, as an improvisational organist at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in both Hollywood and Kansas City. At the age of 24, he was commissioned to write the musical scores for the last two silent movies produced by D.W. Griffith at United Artists Studios in Hollywood. From 1925‐1930 he studied and composed music in Paris and Brussels. From 1930‐1940 he was Director of Music at the Ruth St. Denis School of the Dance, New York City, and composer/lyricist for NBC radio operas in New York City. He became known as the “Noel Coward of Radio”. From 1940‐1962 he was the Director of Music at the Graham‐Eckes Schools, and also was touring accompanist in the US and Europe for multiple opera stars, including Lily Pons, Thomas Hayward, and Sofia Noel.

Wells lived an extremely romantic life, travelling constantly in his work and composing at all times. He was bisexual, holding several long‐term relationships with other male musicians, while maintaining a romantic and devoted relationship with his wife Elsabeth, 11 years his senior, and their son, Wells Hively II. In addition to his musical compositions, Wells wrote several written pieces, notably “The Left‐Legged Organist – Stories of the Silent Film Era 1916‐1928”.

Wells’ handwritten scores for 322 compositions; as well as concert programs, recordings, press clippings and photographs have been cataloged a by his granddaughter, Kathryn Hively Snider. The compositions include 115 works for solo piano, 128 works for solo voice and piano, 28 for multiple voices and piano, 17 orchestral works, 8 works for multiple voices and orchestra, and 26 for other instrumental combinations. It is our intention that this collection of materials be made available in a publicly available archive for research and historical documentation.

--Kathryn Hively Snider and Wells Dean Hively