Dwayne S. Milburn (b. 1963, Baltimore, Maryland)
Major Dwayne S. Milburn is an American composer, conductor and military officer.
In 1986, Dr. Milburn graduated from UCLA with a BFA in music and received a Master's of Music in orchestral conducting from the Cleveland Institute of Music in 1992. He received his Ph.D. in music from UCLA in 2009.
During his undergraduate career, Maj. Milburn was an arranger for the UCLA band and choral programs, as well as the Special Projects Division of ABC-TV. Upon graduation, he became the director of cadet music for the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, serving as the conductor for the internationally renowned West Point Glee Club. During graduate studies in Cleveland, he contributed several arrangements to the Cleveland Orchestra.
Prior to his Ph.D. studies, Maj. Milburn served as one of 24 commissioned officer conductors in the United States Army Band Program. His assignments included duties as the associate bandmaster for the U.S. Continental Army Band, Fort Monroe, Virginia; The U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own,” Washington, DC; and the U.S. Army Europe Band and Chorus, Heidelberg, Germany. He also commanded the Army Ground Forces Band in Atlanta, Georgia. Since he completed his Ph.D. studies, he resumed his military service and currently serves as the commander and conductor of the U.S. Army Europe Band and Chorus in Heidelberg. Among his military honors are the President Benjamin Harrison Award, the Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, and the NATO Medal.
Maj. Milburn is active as a composer, conductor, and adjudicator. He has received commissions from the instrumental programs at UCLA, the University of North Texas, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. His choral and wind ensemble works are published by the Alfred, Kjos and Ludwig Masters Music companies.
Several of his works for band, including American Hymnsong Suite, Variations on "St. Patrick's Breastplate", and Emerald Suite are featured in volumes six through eight of Teaching Music Through Performance in Band, edited by Richard Miles.
From 2005-2009, Major Milburn was the composer-in-residence for the Music Guild of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church (Pacific Palisades, California). During that time he wrote three major works for the St. Matthew’s Chamber Orchestra and contributed over 25 anthems, several psalm settings, and a major service music setting to the parish choral music program. Major Milburn continues to serve as an instrumental adjudicator for the Heritage Music Festival series, and is currently completing commissioned works for Pacific Serenades Chamber Ensemble (Los Angeles, California) and Vocal Arts Ensemble (Ann Arbor, Michigan).
In 2024, Dr. Milburn was teaching composition and conducting at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
American Hymnsong Suite (2007)
American Hymnsong Suite is firmly rooted in my family history as church musicians. I grew up singing and playing many different hymns, including the four tunes featured in this work. The final impetus to compose this particular treatment came during the course of an organ concert in Atlanta, Georgia. One section of the program featured innovative settings of three hymns. With the gracious consent of composers Joe Utterback and Brooks Kukendall, I adapted their settings to act as the inner movements of the suite, bracketed with my own original treatments of favorite hymns.
The Prelude on Wondrous Love (“What Wondrous Love is This”) opens with a chant-like statement of this Southern tune before proceeding to a more kinetic retelling. Ballad on “Balm in Gilead” features a rich jazz harmonization of this familiar spiritual. The Scherzo on “Nettleton” (“Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”) contains all the rhythmic playfulness inherent in the best orchestral third movements, and the March on “Wilson” (“When We All Get to Heaven”) calls to mind the wildest marching band ever heard.
While audience members will certainly make various connections to this piece, the ongoing goal is to introduce all listeners to the richness of our American musical heritage.
- Program Note by composer
Instrumentation
for Wind Ensemble
Performer
North Texas Wind Symphony
Conducted by Eugene Migliaro Corporon
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24 мар 2024
