James CURNOW (b.1943)
James
Curnow was born in Port Huron, Michigan in 1943. He lives in Nicholasville,
Kentucky where he is president, composer, and educational consultant for Curnow
Music Press, Inc. of Lexington, Kentucky, publishers of significant music for
concert band and brass band. He also serves as Composer-in-residence on the
faculty of Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky, and is editor of all music
publications for The Salvation Army in Atlanta, Georgia.
He
received his formal training at Wayne State University (Detroit, Michigan) and
at Michigan State University (East Lansing, Michigan), where he was a euphonium
student of Leonard Falcone, and a conducting student of Dr. Harry Begian. His
studies in composition and arranging were with F. Maxwell Wood, James Gibb, Jere
Hutchinson, and Irwin Fischer.
As
a conductor, composer and clinician, Curnow has traveled throughout the United
States, Canada, Australia, Japan and Europe where his music has received wide
acclaim. Among his most recent honors are inclusion in Whofs Who in America,
Whofs Who in the South and Southwest, and Composer of the Year (1997) by the
Kentucky Music Teachers Association and the National Music Teachers Association.
He has received annual ASCAP standard awards since 1979.
Curnow has been commissioned to write over two hundred works for concert band, brass band, orchestra, choir and various vocal and instrumental ensembles. His published works now number well over four hundred. His most recent commissions include the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra (Symphonic Variants for Euphonium and Orchestra), the United States Army Band (Pershingfs Own, Washington, D.C.-Lochinvar, Symphonic Poem for Winds and Percussion), Roger Behrend and the DEG Music Products, Inc. and Willson Band Instrument Companies (Concerto for Euphonium and Orchestra), the Olympic Fanfare and Theme for the Olympic Flag (Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, 1996) and Michigan State University Bands (John Whitwell, Director of Bands) in honor of David Catronfs twenty-six years of service to the University and the University Bands (Ode And Epinicion).