John Mitchell (composer)
Encyclopedia
John Mitchell is an American classical composer
. He is the son of John Stewart Mitchell, pianist
and cousin of Canadian novelist W. O. Mitchell
and Hungarian-born singer Teresa Hideg Mitchell. He studied music composition at the University of California, Los Angeles with Dr. John Vincent, who succeeded Arnold Schoenberg
as professor of composition there. In 1965 Mitchell left UCLA, but he and Dr. Vincent remained close friends until Vincent's death in 1977.
Since 1962 Mitchell has been a church music director, organist
, and opera
coach. Mitchell is a member of the American Guild of Organists, the American Music Center, and the Center for Promotion of Contemporary Composers. He lives in Los Angeles
with his wife, artist Vicky Brago-Mitchell
, a dog named Chelsea, and five cats (Elizabeth, Adolf, Shelley, Isolde and Babalou).
and organ
, choral music, chamber music
http://www.fanfarearchive.com/articles/atop/31_5/3151830.az_MITCHELL_Clarinet_Sonata_1.html, operas, and more than 380 art songshttp://www.recmusic.org/lieder/m/mitchell.htmlhttp://www.nats.org/. In 2000 - 2004 he composed two piano sonatas, a song cycle based on T. S. Eliot
's Four Quartets
, a setting of Robert Browning
's Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came
for vocal quartet, a quartet for flute
, viola
, bassoon
and piano (world premiere by The Field Quartet, Oxford Music Festival, 2007), a dance suite
for piano, a requiem
mass
, and song
settings of poet
of Sylvia Plath
, Anne Sexton
, Federico García Lorca
, Jorge Luis Borges
, William Blake
and Delmira Agustini
. Current projects include an opera based on Emily Brontë
's Wuthering Heights
.
by the Sheremetyev Ensemble in 2002 (Label: John Mitchell).
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
. He is the son of John Stewart Mitchell, pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
and cousin of Canadian novelist W. O. Mitchell
W. O. Mitchell
William Ormond Mitchell, PC, OC better known as W.O. Mitchell was a Canadian writer.-Early life and career:...
and Hungarian-born singer Teresa Hideg Mitchell. He studied music composition at the University of California, Los Angeles with Dr. John Vincent, who succeeded Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
as professor of composition there. In 1965 Mitchell left UCLA, but he and Dr. Vincent remained close friends until Vincent's death in 1977.
Since 1962 Mitchell has been a church music director, organist
Organist
An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists...
, and opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
coach. Mitchell is a member of the American Guild of Organists, the American Music Center, and the Center for Promotion of Contemporary Composers. He lives in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
with his wife, artist Vicky Brago-Mitchell
Vicky Brago-Mitchell
Vicky Brago-Mitchell is an American fractal artist known in the 1960s as a Stanford University coed who, while working as a topless dancer, ran for student body president. She won the preliminary election, but lost to eventual Earth Day national coordinator Denis Hayes in a two person runoff...
, a dog named Chelsea, and five cats (Elizabeth, Adolf, Shelley, Isolde and Babalou).
Works
His compositions include works for solo pianoPiano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
, choral music, chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
http://www.fanfarearchive.com/articles/atop/31_5/3151830.az_MITCHELL_Clarinet_Sonata_1.html, operas, and more than 380 art songshttp://www.recmusic.org/lieder/m/mitchell.htmlhttp://www.nats.org/. In 2000 - 2004 he composed two piano sonatas, a song cycle based on T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
's Four Quartets
Four Quartets
Four Quartets is a set of four poems written by T. S. Eliot that were published individually over a six-year period. The first poem, "Burnt Norton", was written and published with a collection of his early works following the production of Eliot's play Murder in the Cathedral...
, a setting of Robert Browning
Robert Browning
Robert Browning was an English poet and playwright whose mastery of dramatic verse, especially dramatic monologues, made him one of the foremost Victorian poets.-Early years:...
's Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came
Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came
"Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" is a poem by English author Robert Browning, written in 1855 and first published that same year in the collection entitled Men and Women. The title, which forms the last words of the poem, is a line from William Shakespeare's play King Lear...
for vocal quartet, a quartet for flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
, viola
Viola
The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
, bassoon
Bassoon
The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...
and piano (world premiere by The Field Quartet, Oxford Music Festival, 2007), a dance suite
Suite
In music, a suite is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral pieces normally performed in a concert setting rather than as accompaniment; they may be extracts from an opera, ballet , or incidental music to a play or film , or they may be entirely original movements .In the...
for piano, a requiem
Requiem
A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead or Mass of the dead , is a Mass celebrated for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, using a particular form of the Roman Missal...
mass
Mass
Mass can be defined as a quantitive measure of the resistance an object has to change in its velocity.In physics, mass commonly refers to any of the following three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent:...
, and song
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
settings of poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
of Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath was an American poet, novelist and short story writer. Born in Massachusetts, she studied at Smith College and Newnham College, Cambridge before receiving acclaim as a professional poet and writer...
, Anne Sexton
Anne Sexton
Anne Sexton was an American poet, known for her highly personal, confessional verse. She won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1967...
, Federico García Lorca
Federico García Lorca
Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27. He is believed to be one of thousands who were summarily shot by anti-communist death squads...
, Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo , known as Jorge Luis Borges , was an Argentine writer, essayist, poet and translator born in Buenos Aires. In 1914 his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school, receiving his baccalauréat from the Collège de Genève in 1918. The family...
, William Blake
William Blake
William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...
and Delmira Agustini
Delmira Agustini
Delmira Agustini , a Uruguayan poet, is considered one of the greatest female Latin American poets of the early 20th century.-Background:Born in Montevideo, the daughter of Italian immigrants, Agustini was a precocious child...
. Current projects include an opera based on Emily Brontë
Emily Brontë
Emily Jane Brontë 30 July 1818 – 19 December 1848) was an English novelist and poet, best remembered for her only novel, Wuthering Heights, now considered a classic of English literature. Emily was the third eldest of the four surviving Brontë siblings, between the youngest Anne and her brother...
's Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights is a novel by Emily Brontë published in 1847. It was her only novel and written between December 1845 and July 1846. It remained unpublished until July 1847 and was not printed until December after the success of her sister Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre...
.
Recordings
A CD of his art songs was produced in 2001, and a CD of chamber music, Mitchell in Moscow, was recorded in MoscowMoscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
by the Sheremetyev Ensemble in 2002 (Label: John Mitchell).