Jackson Hill (composer)

Jackson Hill (born 1941 in Birmingham, Alabama), is an American composer primarily of symphonic, ensemble, and vocal music.

Biography

Hill was a Morehead Scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Ph.D. in musicology in 1970). A composer from the age of 14, he studied composition with Iain Hamilton at Duke University (1964–66) and Roger Hannay (1967-68). He has served as a visiting scholar and choral assistant at Exeter College, Oxford, and as a visiting fellow at Clare Hall, Cambridge University. He studied Buddhist chant as a Fulbright Fellow in Japan in the 1970s, and traditional Japanese music has been a strong influence in his work.

He has received numerous awards and prizes for his music, which includes choral, solo, and chamber music, as well as a chamber opera and three symphonies. Hill’s music has been widely performed in Europe, Asia and the Americas, including performances at the Tanglewood, Ravinia, Chautauqua, and Edinburgh festivals. Recent commissions have come from The Fitzwilliam String Quartet (UK), Lichfield Cathedral, Chanticleer, the King's Singers, New York Polyphony, and the Three Choirs Festival (UK). His composition Voices of Autumn was part of Chanticleer’s Grammy nomination in 2003. He taught at Duke University (1966-1968) and 1968-2008 at Bucknell University, where he served as Associate Dean, Presidential Professor, and Chair of the Department of Music.

Compositions

Hill is internationally known for his contribution to the vocal idiom. Principal works include:

Music for orchestra

Variations for Orchestra (1964)
Mosaics (1965)
Paganini Set (1973)
Ceremonies of Spheres (1973)
Sangraal (1977)
Chambers (1988)
Toccata Nipponica (1989)
Secrets (Himitsu) (1990)
Symphony No. 1 (Sinfonia Nipponica) (1990)
Symphony No. 2 (Sinfonia Canonica) (1996)
Symphony No. 3 (Sinfonia Romantica) (1997)

Ensemble music

Serenade (1970) flute / violin / cello / piano
Remembered Landscape (1984) violin / viola / cello / piano
Tholos (1991) flute / oboe / clar / violin / cello / piano / percussion
Trio da Camera (1993) flute / oboe / cello
Threnody (2005) horn / string quartet
Ghosts (2010) string quartet

Music for solo voice

Love Parting (1987) song cycle for voice / piano
The Streams of Love (1989) voice / viola / piano
Long hidden deep in winter's keeping (2001) voice / string quartet
Philomel (2002) voice / recorder / cello / harp
El Duelo ("The Mourning") (2010) tenor / string quartet
The Silent Ground (2010) voice / piano

Church music with English text

By Water and the Word (1995) SATB / org
The Gifts of the Spirit (1996) SATB / org
Praise, O Praise the Lord (1997) SATB / org
A Song of Pilgrimage (1997) SATB
How Shall the Young (2000) SATB / org
The St. Chad Magnificat and Nunc dimittis (Lichfield Service) (2003)
Where Cross the Crowded Ways of Life (2010) SATB / org

Church music with Latin text

O Salutaris (1973)
Tantum Ergo (1974) Peters Edition
Missa Brevis (1974) SATB, Peters Edition
Three Motets (1977) SATB Peters edition
Hodie Christus Natus Est (1982) SATB
Sacris sollemniis (1992) SATB
Populus Sion, ecce Dominus (1994) SATB

Choral concert music

Voices of Autumn (1982) SATB
O Light Invisible (1994) SATB
In Winter's Keeping (2001)
Remembered Love (2004) AATBBB
When spring is born at last (2004) SATB
Summer Dreams (2006) SSAATTBB
A Haunted Melancholy (2008) SSAATBB
Ma fin est mon commencement (2009) ATBB
Still, in Remembrance (Elegy for 9/11) (2011) SSAATTBB
To Hold the Light (2013) SSAATTBB
No Traveler More Blest (2014) SATB
Wings of Thy Dark Soul (2014) SATB

References

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (Second Edition, 2000), American Music Center (New York), S.A.I. Composers Bureau Online, The New Grove Dictionary of American Music, International Who's Who in Music and Musicians Directory, ASCAP Symphonic Catalogue, Who's Who in Entertainment, International Who's Who in Classical Music