Alvin Singleton facts for kids

Alvin Singleton, born on December 28, 1940, in Brooklyn, New York, is a famous composer from the United States. He grew up in New York City. Alvin studied music at New York University and later at the Yale School of Music. He also studied in Rome, Italy, as a Fulbright Scholar.

After living in Europe for 14 years, Singleton came back to the U.S. He worked with important groups like the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. He was also a Resident Composer at Spelman College. Later, he worked with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. He even taught at the Yale University School of Music. In 2003, he received a special award called the Guggenheim Fellowship.

Alvin Singleton's Music Style

Alvin Singleton's music is a mix of many different styles. He gets ideas from famous musicians like Mahler and Bach. He also gets ideas from jazz artists like Thelonious Monk and Charlie Parker. His music often includes elements of theater and surprises.

One of his well-known works is a series of eight pieces called Argoru. These pieces are for different solo instruments. He wrote them over many years, from 1968 to 2002.

Important Works

Singleton wrote a choral ballet called TRUTH in 2006. This piece tells the story of Sojourner Truth, a brave woman who fought for human rights. It features a choir, dancers, and a group of 10 instruments.

His piano concerto, BluesKonzert, was first performed at Carnegie Hall in 2010. A concerto is a piece of music for a solo instrument, like a piano, played with an orchestra.

Recordings of His Music

You can find Alvin Singleton's music on several recordings. Albany Records has released albums like Extensions of a Dream (2002), which features percussion music. They also released Sing to the Sun (2007) with choral and chamber music, and Sweet Chariot (2014) with solo and chamber music.

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus recorded his piece called PraiseMaker. His four string quartets have also been recorded by the Momenta Quartet.

List of Compositions

You can find a full list of Alvin Singleton's published works on his website. Here are some of his notable compositions:

• Dream Sequence '76 (an opera) (1976)
• A Yellow Rose Petal for orchestra (1982)
• String Quartet No.2 Secret Desire to be Black (1988)
• BluesKonzert for piano and orchestra (1995)
• PraiseMaker for mixed chorus and orchestra (1998)
• TRUTH, a choral ballet (2006)
• Brooklyn Bones for chorus and orchestra (2008)
• String Quartet No.4 Hallelujah Anyhow (2019)