Ron Nelson is a composer

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...

 of both classical and popular

Popular music

Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...

 music

Music

Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

 and a retired music academic.

Biography

A native of Joliet

Joliet, Illinois

Joliet is a city in Will and Kendall Counties in the U.S. state of Illinois, located southwest of Chicago. It is the county seat of Will County. As of the 2010 census, the city was the fourth-most populated in Illinois, with a population of 147,433. It continues to be Illinois' fastest growing...

, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

, Ron Nelson was born December 14, 1929. He studied composition at the Eastman School of Music

Eastman School of Music

The Eastman School of Music is a music conservatory located in Rochester, New York. The Eastman School is a professional school within the University of Rochester...

 at the University of Rochester

University of Rochester

The University of Rochester is a private, nonsectarian, research university in Rochester, New York, United States. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The university has six schools and various interdisciplinary programs.The...

 earning a bachelor's degree in 1952, a master's degree in 1953, and a doctorate in composition in 1957. His teachers at Eastman included Louis Mennini, Bernard Rogers

Bernard Rogers

Bernard Rogers was an American composer.Rogers was born in New York City. He studied with Arthur Farwell, Ernest Bloch, Percy Goetschius, and Nadia Boulanger. He taught at the Cleveland Institute of Music, The Hartt School, and the Eastman School of Music...

 and Howard Hanson

Howard Hanson

Howard Harold Hanson was an American composer, conductor, educator, music theorist, and champion of American classical music. As director for 40 years of the Eastman School of Music, he built a high-quality school and provided opportunities for commissioning and performing American music...

. In 1954-1955 he studied with Tony Aubin

Tony Aubin

Tony Louis Alexandre Aubin was a French composer.From 1925 to 1930 Aubin studied at the Paris Conservatory under Samuel Rousseau , Noel Gallon , Philippe Gaubert , and Paul Dukas . He was awarded the Prix de Rome for the cantata Actaeon in 1930...

 in France at the Ecole Normale de Musique

École Normale de Musique de Paris

The École Normale de Musique de Paris is a leading conservatoire located in Paris, France. The school was founded by Auguste Mangeot and pianist Alfred Cortot in 1919...

 and at the Paris Conservatory

Conservatoire de Paris

The Conservatoire de Paris is a college of music and dance founded in 1795, now situated in the avenue Jean Jaurès in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, France...

 under a Fulbright Grant

Fulbright Program

The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright-Hays Program, is a program of competitive, merit-based grants for international educational exchange for students, scholars, teachers, professionals, scientists and artists, founded by United States Senator J. William Fulbright in 1946. Under the...

. In 1956, Dr. Nelson joined the faculty of Brown University

Brown University

Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...

 in Providence

Providence, Rhode Island

Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...

, Rhode Island

Rhode Island

The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...

, where he served as chairman of the music department from 1963 to 1973, retiring as Professor Emeritus, in 1993.

In 1991, Dr. Nelson was awarded the Acuff Chair of Excellence in the Creative Arts, the first musician to hold the chair. His Passacaglia (Homage on B-A-C-H) was the first piece to win all three major wind band composition prizes during one period — the National Band Association Prize, the American Bandmasters Association

American Bandmasters Association

The American Bandmasters Association was formed in 1929 by Edwin Franko Goldman to promote concert band music. Goldman sought to raise esteem for concert bands among musicians and audiences...

 Ostwald Award

Ostwald Award

The Sousa/Ostwald Award is an annual award given by the American Bandmasters Association for a composition for concert band. It was first awarded in 1956, after band uniform suppliers Ernest and Adolph Ostwald established the ABA/Ostwald Award for the best band composition written in the previous...

, and the Sudler International Prize. He was awarded the Medal of Honor by the John Philip Sousa Foundation

John Philip Sousa Foundation

The John Philip Sousa Foundation is a non-profit foundation dedicated to the promotion of band music internationally. The foundation administers a number of projects and awards supporting high quality band performance, conducting, and composition....

 in 1994. In 2006, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Oklahoma City University

Oklahoma City University

Oklahoma City University, often referred to as OCU, is a coeducational, urban, private university historically affiliated with the United Methodist Church...

.

Nelson has received numerous commissions, including those from the National Symphony Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic

Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra

The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra is an American orchestra based in the city of Rochester, Monroe County, New York. Its primary concert venue is the Eastman Theatre at the Eastman School of Music....

, the USAF Band and Chorus

The United States Air Force Band

'The Singing Sergeants' is the official chorus of the United States Air Force. It was formed in 1945 from members of The United States Air Force Concert Band, but is now composed entirely of professional vocalists who have been appointed by audition. The Singing Sergeants have appeared before every...

, Musashino Wind Ensemble

Musashino Academia Musicae

, located in Tokyo, Japan, is a music conservatory founded in 1929. It is considered to be one of the most prestigious music conservatories in Japan...

, Aspen Music Festival

Aspen Music Festival and School

The Aspen Music Festival and School, founded in 1949, is an internationally renowned classical music festival that presents music in an intimate, small-town setting...

 and numerous colleges and universities. He has also received grants and awards from The Rockefeller Foundation

Rockefeller Foundation

The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...

, the Howard Foundation, ASCAP, and several from the National Endowment for the Arts

National Endowment for the Arts

The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...

.

His compositions for orchestra, chorus and wind band are widely performed and recorded.

Conductor Leonard Slatkin

Leonard Slatkin

Leonard Edward Slatkin is an American conductor and composer.-Early life and education:Slatkin was born in Los Angeles to a musical family that came from areas of the Russian Empire now in Ukraine. His father Felix Slatkin was the violinist, conductor and founder of the Hollywood String Quartet,...

 may have described Ron Nelson best: "Nelson is the quintessential American composer. He has the ability to move between conservative and newer styles with ease. The fact that he's a little hard to categorize is what makes him interesting." (Los Angeles Daily News, February 19, 1996)

Ron Nelson currently resides with his wife Michele in Scottsdale

Scottsdale, Arizona

Scottsdale is a city in the eastern part of Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, adjacent to Phoenix. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2010 the population of the city was 217,385...

, Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

.

Orchestral Works

• 1955 Savannah River Holiday
• 1960 This Is The Orchestra
• 1960 Jubilee
• 1961 Toccata for Orchestra
• 1969 Trilogy: JFK-MLK-RFK
• 1969 Rocky Point Holiday
• 1976 Five Pieces after Paintings by Andrew Wyeth
  Andrew Wyeth
  Andrew Newell Wyeth was a visual artist, primarily a realist painter, working predominantly in a regionalist style. He was one of the best-known U.S. artists of the middle 20th century....
  
  
• 1996 Panels (Epiphanies 11)
• 1997 Resonances 11

Works for Wind Ensemble

• 1958 Mayflower Overture
• 1969 Rocky Point Holiday
  Rocky Point Holiday
  "Rocky Point Holiday" is a composition for wind ensemble by Ron Nelson. Nelson's first major work, it was written in 1966 on a summer vacation in Rocky Point, Rhode Island as a commissioned piece for the University of Minnesota's band's Russian tour. The piece was premiered by The University of...
  
  
• 1973 Savannah River Holiday
• 1982 Fanfare for a Celebration
• 1982 Medieval Suite
• 1983 Pebble Beach Sojourn for organ, brass and percussion
• 1984 Aspen Jubilee
• 1985 Danza Capriccio for solo alto saxophone
  Saxophone
  The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
  
   and wind ensemble
• 1988 Te Deum Laudamus for chorus SATB and wind ensemble
• 1989 Morning Alleluias
• 1989 Fanfare For The Hour of Sunrise
• 1990 Resonances 1
• 1991 Lauds (Praise High Day)
• 1992 To The Airborne
• 1992 Passacaglia (Homage on B-A-C-H)
• 1994 Epiphanies - Fanfares and Chorales
• 1994 Chaconne (In Memoriam...)
• 1994 Sonoran Desert Holiday
• 1995 Epiphanies (Fanfares and Chorales)
• 1995 Nightsong (Homage Howard Hanson)
• 1995 Fanfare For The Kennedy Center
• 1995 Courtly Airs and Dances
• 1999 Fanfare for the new Millennium for symphonic band and two antiphonal brass choirs
• 2006 Pastorale: Autumn Rune

Stage works

• 1954 Dance in Ruins Ballet
• 1955-1956 The Birthday of the Infanta Opera for Chamber Orchestra
• 1981 Hamaguchi Opera for Chamber Ensemble

Chamber music

• 1982 Kristen's Song for Violin, Flute, and Organ
• 1983 And the Moon Rose Golden for Cello and Piano

Choral Music

• 1958 Three Mountain Ballads for women's chorus or SATB
• 1958 Choral Fanfare for Easter for mixed chorus and narrator
• 1960 Fanfare for a Festival for mixed chorus, brass and timpani
• 1961 Behold Man for men's chorus
• 1963 Triumphal Te Deum for double chorus, brass, organ, and percussion
• 1964 Oratorio: What is Man? in three movements, for narrator, soprano solo and baritone solo, mixed chorus, and orchestra
• 1969 Alleluia, July 20, 1969
  Apollo 11
  In early 1969, Bill Anders accepted a job with the National Space Council effective in August 1969 and announced his retirement as an astronaut. At that point Ken Mattingly was moved from the support crew into parallel training with Anders as backup Command Module Pilot in case Apollo 11 was...
  
  for mixed chorus
• 1972 Prayer of Emperor of China
  Emperor of China
  The Emperor of China refers to any sovereign of Imperial China reigning between the founding of Qin Dynasty of China, united by the King of Qin in 221 BCE, and the fall of Yuan Shikai's Empire of China in 1916. When referred to as the Son of Heaven , a title that predates the Qin unification, the...
  
   on the Altar of Heaven, December 21, 1539 for mixed chorus and ensemble
• 1977 Four Pieces After The Seasons for mixed chorus

• 1981 Mass of Saint LaSalle
  Jean-Baptiste de La Salle
  Saint Jean-Baptiste de La Salle or John Baptist de La Salle was a priest, educational reformer, and founder of Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools...
  
  for mixed chorus, organ, mallet instruments, pianos, and percussion
• 1982 Three Nocturnal Pieces for mixed chorus, solo viola, piano and percussion
• 1983 Three Settings of the Moon for women's chorus (SA), piano, marimba, and glockenspiel
• 1989 Three Pieces After Tennyson for mixed chorus or TTBB
• 2002 Proclaim this Day for Music for mixed chorus, brass, and percussion
• 2005 Let Us Find A Meadow