JAMES SYLER

composer
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University of South Florida Chamber Singers, Dr. James Bass, conductor.

 

COMMENTS


"You really write exactly what you want to write and that is excellent. The pieces are full of energy and musicality..."

~ Samuel Adler, Composer, The Juillard School, Professor Emeritus Eastman School of Music 

 

"One thing that is particularly effective about the work 'Minton's Playhouse' is that one feels it is a piece for jazz ensemble, 'framed' by the colors and textures of the full wind ensemble."

~ Fanfare Magazine, July/August 2002 

 

"He is one of the few young composers whose music has moved me."

~ Michael Colgrass, Composer 

  

"I listened to your work [The Hound of Heaven] and I like it! I think it's imaginative and evocative. I hope it receives many performances."

~ Morton Gould, Composer

 

"In the twenty-one years I have been conducting, I don't know that I've ever seen my choir become so attached to a piece as immediately as they did to 'Dear Sarah'. It was one of the most musically and artistically rewarding new pieces that I've had the pleasure to work on."

~ Sharon Paul, Choral Conductor, University of Oregon

 

"Syler's music is a tasteful blend of tradition and innovation... his gift of lyricism within a dramatic framework is apparent to all who listen."

~ San Antonio Symphony Program Notes

 

 

RECENT NEWS


A consortium of 20 colleges organized by conductor James Worman at Trinity

University in San Antonio has commissioned a new work for wind ensemble.

Premieres will begin in the Fall of 2012. Thanks to these conductors for making this new work possible.

 

Bethel College, Timothy Shade, conductor 

Butler University, Robert Grechesky, conductor

California Polytechnic State University, Andrew McMahan, conductor

Capital University, Barry Kopetz, conductor

Cornell University, Cynthia Johnston Turner, conductor

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Fred Harris, conductor

Ohio Northern University, Thomas Hunt, conductor

Purdue University, Jay Gephart, conductor

Roosevelt University, Stephen Squires, conductor

Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Jacob Wallace, conductor

Stephen F. Austin State University, Fred J. Allen, conductor

Sunderman Conservatory at Gettsburg College, Russell McCutcheon, conductor

Texas Christian University, Bobby Francis, conductor

Texas Lutheran University, Beth Bronk, conductor

Trinity University, James Worman, conductor

University of North Carolina at Greensboro,  John Locke and Kevin Geraldi, conductors

University of the Pacific, Eric Hammer, conductor

Valparaiso University, Jeffrey Scott Doebler, conductor

Washburn University, Mark Norman, conductor

Williams College, Heidi Johanna Miller, conductor

 

 

 

 

NEW RECORDINGS 


The Hound of Heaven  

on NAXOS

 

 

       www.naxos.com

 

“It is at first a disquieting work, wildly eclectic in its dramatic depiction of pursuit, escape, and eventual capture… I think that Syler has nicely captured the dark spirit of Thompson’s allegorical poem. It is a touching ending to a rewarding disc.”

~ Fanfare Magazine, May 2011

 

This 19 minute programatic work follows the dramatic poem of the same name by Francis Thompson. Thanks to conductor Bill Berz and the Rutgers University Wind Ensemble for this fine recording. 

 

 

 

 

PREMIERES


A Blue Streak

for Nine Winds and Jazz Drummer

 
The first of 20 premieres began in March at the College Music Society Conference in San Antonio, Texas. 
 
Commissioned by a consortium of 20 colleges, it is high energy music that exists between worlds - between notation and improvisation, tonality and atonality, jazz and classical. Based on the expression "to talk a blue streak", as in a continuous stream of words. It builds to an eventual distortion and break down of communication, like someone who is talking "a blue streak".  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
PERFORMANCES

May 18, 2011
DEAR SARAH
Heidleberg University Choir
Tiffin, Ohio
 
Nov 3, 2011
STORYVILLE
University of Nebraska
Lincoln, Nebraska
 
Dec 2011
DEAR SARAH 
Music Office Youth Choir
"War and Peace" concert
Hong Kong, China
 
Dec 4, 2011
DEAR SARAH
Ohio Wesleyan University
Delaware, Ohio
 
Dec 2011
FANTASIA on SILENT NIGHT
Multiple performances throughout the USA
 
Feb 10, 2012  
GEARBOX 
Western Carolina University
Cullowhee, North Carolina
 
Feb 11-12, 2012
DEAR SARAH 
Cora Voce Chorus
Tacoma, Washington
 
Feb 16, 2012
A BLUE STREAK
McGill University, Montreal, Canada
 
Feb 24, 2012
SYMPHONY NO. 1 "BLUE"
Texas A&M Commerce University Wind Ensemble and Chorus 
 
Feb 28, 2012
SYMPHONY NO. 1 "BLUE" at Carnegie Hall, NY
Texas A&M Commerce University Wind Ensemble and Chorus 
 
Mar 15, 2012
THE HOUND OF HEAVEN Washburn University
Topeka, Kansas
 
Mar 30, 2012
THE HOUND OF HEAVEN
Southwest CBDNA Conference, San Antonio
Washburn University,
Topeka, Kansas
 
Mar 31
SYMPHONY NO. 1 "BLUE" Southwest CBDNA Conference, San Antonio
Texas A&M Commerce University Wind Ensemble and Chorus
 
Apr 21, 2012
MINTON'S PLAYHOUSE Baylor University
Waco, Texas
 
May 6, 2012
SYMPHONY NO. 1 "BLUE" Bethel College
North Newton, Kansas

New YOU TUBE Video