David Ashley White, Director of the Moores
School
Professor of Composition and Music Theory
An
active composer in all media, David Ashley White (b. 11 December
1944) enjoys widespread publication and performance of his sacred
and secular works. Sources for his frequent commissions include
Piccolo Spoleto, the Texas Chamber Orchestra, the Mirecourt Trio,
the Green Lake Festival, the Concert Chorale of Houston, Del Mar
College, the University of Houston, Houston Early Music, Houston
Masterworks Chorus, the Houston Chamber Choir, and, most recently,
KUHF-FM Radio.
White was winner of the 1993 composition contest
sponsored by Saint Paul United Church of Christ, Chicago (Cantate
Domino for mixed voices, brass, and organ, published by Paraclete
Press), and has won first prizes from the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama,
the Virginia Bandmasters Association, and the Texas Federation of
Music Clubs.
In June 1998 White's The Blue Estuaries for mixed
chorus a cappella, commissioned by the Houston Chamber Choir, Robert
Simpson, conductor, was premiered at the national conference of
Chorus America. The work, published by E. C. Schirmer, was sung
again by the same ensemble at the national convention of the American
Choral Directors Association held in Chicago in February 1999.
White is an accomplished composer of hymns for
church usage, with a major collection of his work in this field
gathered in the publication Sing, My Soul: The David Ashley White
Hymnal, published in 1996 by Selah. In addition to the collection
Sing My Soul, White's hymns are found in a number of books, including
The Hymnal 1982 (Episcopal) and its supplement, Wonder, Love, and
Praise; The United Methodist Hymnal; Japan's Hymnal for the United
Church of Christ; and Great Britain's Worship Songs Ancient and
Modern.
Holding a BM in oboe performance and a MM in composition
from the University of Houston, White received the DMA in composition
from the University of Texas at Austin. He was appointed Director
of the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston in 1999.
White's recent critically acclaimed compact disc recording on the
Zephyr label, Echoes of the American Cathedral, (Zephyr CD 115-99)was
produced by KUHF-FM with the choir and instrumentalists of Saint
Paul's United Methodist Church, Houston.
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