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Professor Vayo (b.1957) is Professor and Composition Department head at Illinois Wesleyan University, where he teaches composition 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, Japan, the Netherlands, Germany, and France and at Northwestern University, 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 two 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 and free improvisations.

Recent projects include Mystery Play for Vancouver-based zheng virtuosa Mei Han and string quartet, Fertile Ground, a musical for Prairie Fire Theatre with script and lyrics by Nancy Steele Brokaw, and Sandpails, a song cycle on poetry by IWU Emeritus Professor James McGowan.

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 multi-flautist Alejandro Escuer and the Mexico City-based ONIX ensemble.

Upcoming:

The Murasaki Duo, Ensemble-In-Residence at Luther College, will perform Vayo's Wings for cello and piano during their concert at IWU on September 14.

Moon and Sun for choir, percussion and two Chinese instruments (erhu and zheng) will be premiered during IWU's 2008-09 Symposium of Contemporary Music.  Prof. J. Scott Ferguson will conduct the IWU Collegiate Choir with The Orchid Ensemble of Vancouver, British Columbia:  Sunday, November 9, 3:00 PM at Bloomington's Second Presbyterian Church.

Recent News:

Vayo was a guest composer for the second year in a row at the Thailand Composition Festival, which was held this year at Burapha University in Chonburi from July 16-18.  He gave a talk on his music and a workshop in improvisation, improvised in concert, and was present for performances of two of his compositions, Study in Carmine and Coral (performed by pianist Christopher McKiggan) and Berceuse for guitar (performed by Ekachai Jearakul, with the composer assisting on voice and whistling.)

On July 21, Vayo critiqued composition students' work and gave a talk on composition and improvisation at Payap University in Chiang Mai, Thailand.  Prof. Chaipruck Mekara of the Payap University faculty will be a guest composer at IWU's New Music Cafe concert on March 10. 

Vayo spent a week in June composing as artist-in-residence at Wildacres retreat in the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina.

Vayo has been awarded a Composer Assistance Award from the American Music Center to support the preparation of the performance score and parts for Moon and Sun. 

The Murasaki Duo performed Vayo's Wings for cello and piano at the University of Illinois at Chicago on Jan. 29, Iowa State University on March 27, Grinnell College on April 5, and in New York City on June 4.

Guitarist Aaron Larget-Caplan premiered Berceuse in Brookline, MA on May 30, as part of his new lullaby project.

Violinist Kia Hui-Tan of Ohio State University performed Music for Violin at IWU on March 27, at the University of Louisville on March 18, the University of Louisiana/Lafayette on Feb. 29, and Ohio State on Feb. 19.

Vayo was guest composer at Elmhurst College (IL) on Feb. 28.  In addition to a talk on his music and a master class for composition students, a concert of Vayo’s compositions and improvisations was presented; the concert included the world premiere of Tell Me What You Think of Me: A Monodrama in Twenty-Six Letters for singing actor, performed by Natalie Berg (IWU class of 2002).

Short Subject, a humorous theatrical piece, was premiered by members of IWU’s Tuba/Euphonium Ensemble on Feb. 24.

Dutch harpsichordist Annelie de Man performed Play of Hands on Feb. 9, as part of IWU’s Symposium of Contemporary Music.

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

• 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.)