COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (Oct. 4, 2007) — Members of the music faculty from Tennessee Tech University have been selected to participate in the recording and performance of selected chamber music compositions of internationally recognized composer Leroy Osmon.

Osmon, an American composer currently living in Mexico, will be in residence at TTU during the week of Oct. 7 - 13 in order to supervise the recording and performance of his compositions.

The TTU Wind Ensemble, under the direction of Joseph Hermann, will perform Osmon’s Wind Symphony in Derryberry Hall auditorium on Tuesday, Oct. 9, at 7:30 p.m.

The chamber music performance is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 10, at 7:30 p.m. in Derryberry Hall Auditorium. The public is invited to attend, and there is no admission charge.

Nine of Osmon’s chamber works will be presented by the Cumberland Wind Quintet, the Brass Arts Quintet and the TTU Percussion Ensemble and various other Tech music faculty, including in no particular order: Phil Barham, saxophone; Diane Pulte, mezzo-soprano; Eric Willie, percussion; William Woodworth, oboe; Roger Martin, flute; Anne Thurmond, clarinet; Jim Lotz, bassoon; Jeremy Hansen, horn; Charles Decker, trumpet; Chris McCormick, trumpet; Greg Danner, Horn; Joshua Hauser, trombone; R. Winston Morris, tuba; Dan Alcott, cello; Seanad Chang, viola; Curtis Prichard, euphonium; and Joe Hermann, conducting the world premiere of a major new Osmon composition, Zeraim.

The pieces to be performed include: Yiskor, for saxophone and voice, Grigg Suite for alto saxophone and percussion, Music for Five Winds for woodwind quintet, Introduction and Allegro for brass quintet, Log Rhythms for percussion ensemble, Prelude for brass sextet, Sonatina for trumpet and viola, Fantasies for Solo Clarinet and Zeraim from the Book of Ruth for mixed septet.

In addition to the performance of these works, recording engineers from Mark Recording of Buffalo, N.Y., will be on hand to produce a new recording of these compositions to be released later this year.

Born May 27, 1948, in Washington, Ind., Leroy Osmon grew up and lived most of his childhood and adult life in east Texas. As a student in the Texas public school system he studied clarinet and saxophone.

Osmon holds a bachelor’s degree in music theory and composition from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. He has a master’s degree in music from Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, where he studied with composition with Fisher Tull, conducting with Gary Sousa and musicology with James Marks.

While working on his DMA at the University of Houston, Osmon studied composition with Michael Horvit and conducting with Eddie Green.

Osmon continues to receive commissions for all music genres, and he has received the ASCAP Standard Music Award for Composition 15 times and the Medallion La Ville De Contrexeville (Contrexeville, France) twice.

His works have been performed at every major music conference in the United States, and he was one of only five composers worldwide selected to have their music studied and presented at the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles 1988 conference in Manchester, England.

Everyone is invited to the Oct. 10 performance, where they will have the opportunity to meet the composer.

--Tracey Hackett
This information posted 4 October 2007