composer
CLINT NEEDHAM
News
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Fall 2024: Awarded the Cleveland Arts Prize (mid-career prize). The Strongsville Community Band will premiere Mustang Galop and the Poiesis String Quartet will release their debut album featuring String Quartet-shades of green. The Karidion Brass Quintet continues to perform Brass Quintet No. 1 "circus" on tour throughout Germany.
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Summer 2024: the Internationale Ensemble Modern Akademie will perform Mobiles at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt (HfMDK). Cleveland Orchestra trumpet player Jack Sutte recorded Four Jacks for an upcoming album release. Brass Quintet No. 1 was featured repertoire as part of Yale University's 2024 Norfolk Chamber Music Festival.
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Spring 2024: the Karidion Brass Quintet performs Brass Quintet No. 1 "circus" on tour at various stops in Germany. The Poiesis String Quartet performs String Quartet-shades of green at the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music.
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Winter 2023/24: the Texarkana Symphony Orchestra premieres Hands that Build a City in celebration of the city of Texarkana's Sesquicentennial. The Poiesis String Quartet (2023 Fischoff Grand Prize Winner) will record String Quartet-shades of green for an upcoming release produced by Grammy winner Elaine Martone. The BWV Choral Ensemble premieres Cantata at the 2024 BW Bach Festival.
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Fall 2023: the Baldwin Wallace Symphony Orchestra performs Free Radicals and Inspiring Light. The Baldwin Wallace Symphonic Wind Ensemble performs the premiere of Tethered to the Stars featuring singer Amanda Powell.
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Summer 2023: Two performances at the Sydney Opera House (Legacies for Wind Band and the premiere of Stops Along the North Coast for String Orchestra)
BIO
The music of Clint Needham has been described as “wildly entertaining” and “stunning, brilliantly orchestrated” by the New York Times, as well as “well-crafted and arresting... riveting” by the Herald Times. He has served as the Mellon Composer/Educator in Residence and the Music Alive: New Partnerships Composer in Residence with the Albany Symphony, and as the Knight Foundation Composer in Residence with the Akron Symphony.
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Clint has received commissions and performances by leading orchestras across the country including the Minnesota Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Omaha Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, Spokane Symphony, Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, and the New York Classical Players, among others. Chamber ensembles including Alarm Will Sound, the American Brass Quintet, Chicago Pro Musica, Da Capo Chamber Players, Factory Seconds Brass Trio, Poiesis Quartet, Fifth House Ensemble, Hawthorne String Quartet, Hub New Music, and the President’s Own Marine Band Brass Quintet have given performances of his music across the country as well as in Europe, Brazil, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Australia. As an arranger and orchestrator, Clint has collaborated with the Kaboom Studio Orchestra for production and recording projects with pianist Mike Garson, indie rock trio The Accidentals, and progressive/experimental band Mourning [A] BLKstar.
Clint’s music has been recognized with numerous awards including the Barlow Prize, Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Cleveland Arts Prize, Aspen Music Festival Jacob Druckman Prize, two ASCAP Morton Gould Awards, the William Schuman Prize/BMI Composer Award, and the Heckscher & Walter Beeler Prizes from Ithaca College. He has also been the recipient of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra’s Project 440 Commission and the Underwood New Music Commission from the American Composers Orchestra.
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As an educator, Clint serves as Composer in Residence and Professor of Composition at the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music. He holds degrees from the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music (BM) and Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (MM, DM). He has also studied at the Aspen Music Festival as a Susan and Ford Schumann composition fellow and at the Wellesley Composers Conference.
Clint’s music is published by the Theodore Presser Company, Manhattan Beach Music, and Triplo Press. Recordings of his works can be found on the Summit Records, New Focus Recordings, Beauport Classics, and Mark Masters labels as well as on recordings by the United States Air Force Band of the West, trumpeter Jack Sutte, and the American Composers Orchestra Digital Release Series.
WORKS LIST
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click titles to link to recordings
------- ORCHESTRA -------
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premiered by the Minnesota Orchestra
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City Meets Symphony (w/ pre-recorded audio)
commissioned by the Akron Symphony
Dreams Within Dreams (w/ chorus)
written for the Central Ohio Symphony and Ohio Wesleyan University Choirs
premiered by the Aspen Concert Orchestra
commissioned by the Bloomington Symphony and Albany Symphony
commissioned by the Sioux City Symphony
commissioned by the Texarkana Symphony
commissioned by the Empire State Youth Orchestra
written for the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory Orchestra
Of Joy and Nostalgia (w/ chorus)
commissioned by the Avon (OH) City Schools
commissioned by the Sioux City Symphony
commissioned by the American Composers Orchestra
commissioned by the Texarkana Symphony
Spires (recording available upon request)
commissioned by the Idaho Falls Symphony
commissioned by the Iowa State University Orchestra
We are all from somewhere else (w/ pre-recorded audio)
commissioned by the Albany Symphony
commissioned by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
------- CHAMBER ORCHESTRA (SINFONIETTA) -------
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premiered at Indiana University
version premiered by the Omaha Symphony
commissioned by the Indiana University New Music Ensemble
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Cantata (w/ chorus)
commissioned by the Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival
commissioned by the American Composers Orchestra
Crossing Brooklyn Ferry (w/ baritone singer)
written for the Indiana University New Music Ensemble
Driving Music (strings only)
commissioned by the New York Classical Players
Imaginary Dances
written for the Cleveland Chamber Symphony and Verb Ballets
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written for Alarm Will Sound
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------- WIND ENSEMBLE -------
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Advance Always (w/ chorus)
written for the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory Symphonic Wind Ensemble
commissioned by the Lyon (CO) High School Wind Ensemble
written for the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory Symphonic Wind Ensemble
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Fractured Elements, concerto for Trumpet and Wind Ensemble
written for the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory Symphonic Wind Ensemble
written for the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory Symphonic Wind Ensemble
written for the Indiana University Concert Band
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RESOLVE, concerto for Brass Trio and Wind Ensemble
written for the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory Symphonic Wind Ensemble
commissioned by the Brecksville (OH) High School Wind Ensemble
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commissioned by the Arrowhead (WI) High School Wind Ensemble
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written for singer Amanda Powell and the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory Wind Ensemble
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------- CONCERTO -------
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Crossing Brooklyn Ferry (baritone singer and chamber orchestra)
written for the Indiana University New Music Ensemble
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Fractured Elements, concerto for Trumpet and Wind Ensemble
written for the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory Symphonic Wind Ensemble
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In these sacred spaces, concerto for Brass Quintet and Wind Ensemble
commissioned by the Mirari Brass Quintet, Ohio State University, Indiana University, and Capital Conservatory
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Pocket Concerto (flute and string orchestra)
commissioned by the New York Classical Players
RESOLVE, concerto for Brass Trio and Wind Ensemble
written for the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory Symphonic Wind Ensemble
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written for singer Amanda Powell and the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory Wind Ensemble
commissioned by the New York Youth Symphony
Voices (string quartet and orchestra)
commissioned by the Hawthorne String Quartet and Omaha Symphony
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Vox Paterna, Concerto for Tuba and Orchestra (or Wind Ensemble)
commissioned by the Akron Symphony and Baldwin Wallace Conservatory
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------- CHAMBER -------
Abstract Mosaics for brass quintet
commissioned by the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Brass Quintet
Action/Inaction for flute and string quartet
commissioned by the Flauto d’amour Project
Assorted Preludes for solo piano
Axioms for flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, piano & percussion
premiered by the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble
recorded by the American Brass Quintet
Cleveland Sketches for trumpet ensemble
Dream Sequence for bass trombone & piano
written for John Rojak
Five Movements for wind quintet
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Four Jacks, sonata for trumpet & piano
written for Jack Sutte
Imaginary Dances for wind quintet
commissioned by the Barlow Endowment
Inside the Calder Room for soprano saxophone, cello, & piano
written for Gabriel Piqué, Khari Joyner, and Christine Fuoco
Landscape Trio for violin, cello, & piano
written for the University of Nebraska Summer Institute
Mobiles for brass trio
written for the Factory Seconds Brass Trio
On the Road (versions for violin & piano, clarinet & piano, and violin, clarinet, & piano)
written for Miles Jaques
String Quartet, shades of green
written for the Indiana University Kuttner Quartet
Three Ditties for solo trumpet
written for Jack Sutte
Three Miniatures for trumpet ensemble
commissioned by Bugles Across America
Toccatas, Recits, and Aria for flute, clarinet, violin & cello
commissioned by the Da Capo Chamber Players
Tribute for trumpet ensemble
commissioned by the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory
Trio for violin, horn, & piano
Viola Music for solo viola
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------- VOCAL/CHORAL -------
Advance Always (wind ensemble w/ chorus)
written for the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory Symphonic Wind Ensemble
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Cantata (w/ strings, harpsichord)
commissioned by the Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival
written for the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory Motet Choir
Crossing Brooklyn Ferry (chamber orchestra w/ baritone singer)
written for the Indiana University New Music Ensemble
Dreams Within Dreams (chamber orchestra w/ chorus)
written for the Central Ohio Symphony and Ohio Wesleyan University Choirs
Of Joy and Nostalgia (orchestra w/ chorus)
commissioned by the Avon (OH) City Schools
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written for singer Amanda Powell and the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory Wind Ensemble
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