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John McDonald has received the 2007 Music Teachers National Association-Shepherd Distinguished Composer of the Year Award. His composition, Stäudlin as Vogl: Preamble to a Winter Journey, was selected from among 31 works entered in this year's competition. The award will be presented to McDonald at the association's national conference in Denver on April 2, 2008. Saxophonist Philipp Stauedlin, the dedicatee of McDonald's prize-winning work and a member of the Tufts Music Performance Faculty, will perform the piece with McDonald at the Denver conference.

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His compositions have been performed on four continents, and his work is frequently featured in the U.S.A. by such ensembles as Alea III, Arden Quartet, Boston Composers String Quartet, DaVinci Quartet, Hartt Contemporary Players, Kalistos Chamber Orchestra, Marimolin, Brave New Works, and by pianists Veronica Jochum and Andrew Rangell. McDonald has served as Cultural Specialist in Mongolia, where he premiered his "Music for Piano and String Orchestra" and worked with students on his pedagogical works.

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In his performing capacity, recent honors include a Duo Recitalists' Grant from the NEA, an Artistic Ambassadorship to Asia, and an Artists' Residency at M.I.T. with soprano Karol Bennett, as well as invitations to perform his works at conferences in Amsterdam, Budapest, Havana, Montreal, Shanghai, and St. Petersburg.

more about the composer / pianist

Sunday, February 3, 2008, 3:00 pm

Distler Hall, Perry & Marty Granoff Music Center, Tufts University, 20 Talbot Avenue, Medford, MA.

"The Creatures Choir": Songs and interludes for voice and piano, opus 424, by John Mcdonald, featuring Jessica Bowers, mezzo-soprano, & John Mcdonald, piano.

Sundays @ Tufts: The Community Series presents a work based on poems by Carmen Bernos de Gasztold, translated by Rumer Godden.

“Postcards from the zoo in bright, primary colors” (Matthew Guerrieri, Boston Globe, April 13, 2007)

Admission Free. For more info, call 617.627.3679

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