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Professor Vayo (b.1957) is Professor and Composition Department head at Illinois Wesleyan University, where he teaches composition, improvisation, and contemporary music. As Coordinator of New Music Activities, he directs the annual Symposium of Contemporary Music, the New Music Cafe concert series, and other events in the School of Music's New Music Series. Vayo has also taught at Connecticut College and the National University of Costa Rica. He holds an A.Mus.D. in Composition from The University of Michigan, where his principal teachers were Leslie Bassett and William Bolcom; his M. Mus. and B. Mus. degrees are from Indiana University, where he studied with Frederick Fox and Juan Orrego-Salas.

 Vayo has received awards and commissions from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, ASCAP, the Koussevitzky Music Foundations, the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition, the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, the American Music Center, the National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors, and the Illinois Council for the Arts, and has been granted numerous artists' colony residencies.Over three hundred performances and broadcasts of his compositions have taken place, including recent performances in Mexico, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Germany, and France and at the University of Wisconsin, Ohio State University, and the California Institute of the Arts. Festivals which have programmed his work include the International Trombone Festival, the International Double Reed Festival, the Grand Teton Music Festival, the Thailand Composition Festival, and three World Music Days of the International Society for Contemporary Music. His compositions are published by A. M. Percussion Publications, Bèrben/Italia Guitar Society Series, and the International Trombone Association Press.  Vayo is also active as a pianist performing contemporary music, free improvisations, and jazz.

Recent projects include Enlightenment for Mexico City's ONIX ensemble,  Mystery Play for Vancouver-based zheng virtuosa Mei Han and string quartet and Fertile Ground, a musical for Prairie Fire Theatre with script and lyrics by Nancy Steele Brokaw.

Prof. Vayo writes: "As a composition teacher I am primarily concerned with helping young composers discover and refine their personal artistic voices.  My teaching is aimed at developing each student's aesthetic sensitivity, practical skills, and inner ear in ways that will make it possible for him or her to create music of significance and meaning.

"Traditional and contemporary concert music, jazz, popular, and folk music have been equally potent influences on my own artistic development.  I welcome students whose backgrounds and interests include any combination of these areas."

News

Current Project:

A composition for Oryx, an Amsterdam-based trio of violin, cello and harpsichord.

Upcoming:

Vayo has been awarded an artist residency at The Lillian E. Smith Center for the Arts in Georgia for two weeks in June.

Vayo will be a guest composer at the Utah Arts Festival in Salt Lake City, where Awakening of the Heart will be performed on June 27.

Recent News:

Violinist Kia-Hui Tan of Ohio State University performed Vayo's Music for Violin on April 4 at the National Conference of the Society of Composers, Inc. in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The France-based duo of Thierry Miroglio (percussion) and Ancuza Aprodu (piano) premiered Vayo's Orion at Williams College (MA) on March 17.

The Third Millennium Ensemble included Vayo's Poem in its March 1 concert in Bethesda, MD.

Vayo performed original jazz and free improvisations with the Sonic Exploration Society in their February 28 concert at IWU.

Awakening of the Heart was performed by the University of Iowa Center for New Music during its December 7 concert in Iowa City.

The Indiana University Percussion Ensemble performed Vayo's Border Crossing on November 17.

Moon and Sun for choir, percussion and two Chinese instruments (erhu and zheng) premiered Sunday, November 9, during IWU's 2008-09 Symposium of Contemporary Music.

Vayo took part in an improvisation concert on November 8 at IWU, as part of the Symposium of Contemporary Music.  Also participating were the Orchid Ensemble, bassist Bill Koehler of Illinois State University, and tabla player Manpreet Bedi.

Trombonist Mark Hetzler of the University of  Wisconsin performed Eight Poems of William Carlos Williams during his faculty recital in Madison on November 1.

Audio Files of Music by David Vayo

- Quiet Poem,  from Sandpails, performed by Prof. Robert Mangialardi, baritone, with chamber ensemble of IWU students and faculty.  Text by James McGowan, Emeritus Professor of English.

- Play of Hands, performed by David Vayo, amplified harpsichord

- First movement from Music for Wind Ensemble, performed by the IWU Wind Ensemble, Steven W. Eggleston, conductor

- Second movement from Music for Wind Ensemble, performed by the IWU Wind Ensemble, Steven W. Eggleston, conductor

- Arms Length  for upright piano with paper-covered strings; written for a collaboration with IWU faculty choreographer Jean MacFarland Kerr

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David Vayo List of Works
         

• Weave for ruan (Chinese moon guitar) ensemble (2009; 10 min.)
• Enlightenment for flautist (contrabass flute, bass flute, alto flute, C flute and piccolo), clarinet/bass clarinet, violin, cello and piano (2008; 17 min.)
• Orion for percussion and piano (2008; 10 minutes)
• Moon and Sun for erhu, zheng, percussion and choir (2007; 11 min.)
• Berceuse for guitar (2007; 6 min.)
• Mystery Play for zheng and string quartet (2007, 13 min.)
• Fertile Ground, musical. Commissioned by Prairie Fire Theatre; script and lyrics by Nancy Steele Brokaw (2007; ca. 90 min.)
• We’re Rolling a Snowball (2 min.) and That Book (3 min.) for children’s choir and piano (2006)  Commissioned by the Riverside (IL) Public School District
• Flower Thought for viola (2006; 4 min.)
• Tell Me What You Think of Me: A Monodrama in Twenty-Six Letters for singing actor (2006; 6 min.)
• Climb for trombone and percussion (2005; 12 min.)
• Tangram for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, percussion, piano, soprano and baritone (2005; 10 min.)
• Sandpails for baritone, violin, viola, cello, piano and recorded sound (2005; 40 min.)
• Seis Cosechas for clarinet, bassoon and piano (2004; 17 min.)
• Short Subject for two tubas and two euphoniums (2004; 15 min.)
• Mosaics and Webs for flute, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, tuba and percussion (2003; 12 min.)
• Fanfare for Four for two trumpets and two trombones (2003; 20 sec.)
• Fantasía Lírica  for guitar (2003; 10 min.)  Published by Bèrben/Italia Guitar Society series
• Arms Length, dance composition for prepared piano (2003; 11 min.)
• Three for Two for two clarinets (2002; 6 min.)
• nocturne for SATB choir (2002; 6 min.)
• Wellspring for chamber orchestra (2001; 16 min.)
• Scuttlings and Scramblings for bass clarinet and harpsichord (2000; 10 min.)
• Reach for jazz ensemble (1999; 12 min.)
• Porch Music for tenor and viola (1999; 6 min.)
• Awakening of the Heart for piano trio (1998; 17 min.)
• Septet for woodwind quintet and two percussionists (1998; 12 min.)
• Music for Violin (1997; 14 min.)
• Signals for winds, brass, piano and electric bass (1997; 13 min.)
• Molly and the Opposite Elf, children's musical play for speaking actors and chamber ensemble (1996; 60 min.)
• Play of Hands for amplified harpsichord (1996; 10 min.)
• Music for Wind Ensemble (1995; 15 min.)
• Eight Poems of William Carlos Williams for trombonist (1994; 26 min.) Published by the International Trombone Association Manuscript Press.
• Wings for cello and piano (1993; 8 min.)
• Prayer: In Memoriam Olivier Messiaen for organ (1992; 10 min.)
• Wind Quintet for flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon (1992; 7 min.)
• Mother Goose Rhymes for chamber choir SATB (1991; 10 min.)
• Study in Carmine and Coral for piano (1990; 5 min.)
• Poem for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano (1990; 9 min.)
• Symphony: Blossoms and Awakenings for orchestra (1990; 17 min.)
• Five Small Packages for string quartet (1987; 8 min.)
• Time Elastic, electroacoustic composition (1987; 6 min.)
• Border Crossing for percussion quartet (1987; 6 min.) Published by A. M. Percussion Publications.
• Love Songs to a First- Born for baritone voice and viola (1986; 8 min.)
• Salmos for medium voice, double bass, piano and percussion (1986; 13 min.)
• Reflex for marimba (1985; 6 min.)
• Dance for violin and piano (1979, revised 1985; 6 min.
• Duo for violin and harp (1984; 11 min.)