[[(Bio)graph(y)]] #biography #readme [Paul Whear](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_W._Whear) My first composition teacher, I met Dr. Whear in a beginning composition class at Interlochen. I wrote a bunch of notes that summer and it was clear that I had music swirling around in my head. He was a tall imposing fellow, but I think went out of his way to be kind. He was also something of a wit, as in "My name's Whear, as in Whear's the door?" Dr. Whear also taught [Juliana Hall](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juliana_Hall), a fine vocal composer, who specializes in art song. [Russell Harris](https://composers.com/collections/russell-harris?srsltid=AfmBOoqKnLhlPk9hjsCPkRh7YONDKhsXiszluHuYLA_qkMUYfPFh_tMh) Kindly. Very tall. He was a colleague of my father's at Hamline University. He noticed I was good at short pieces, which still rings true. ![[Iain Hamilton Compositional genealogy.jpg|300]] The English side of my compositional family tree. I tried very hard to trace myself back to Puccini and the Milan conservatory, but failed. [Iain Hamilton](https://www.schott-music.com/en/person/iain-hamilton) [Iain Hamilton](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iain_Hamilton_(composer)) was a Scottish composer. He was my first professor at Duke. He was always rather formal and shy, running behind his desk the minute he let me into his office. He did write operas and was his own librettist. He was a big Wagner fan, something that he didn't manage to pass on to me. [Robert Ward](https://www.morningstarmusic.com/composers/w/robert-ward.html) Soon after I arrived at Duke, I was told that Dr. Hamilton was going on sabbatical in the spring. I was pissed. The gracious funders of my scholarship, [Mary Semans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Semans) and Dr. James Semans, helped me go to the North Carolina School for the Arts in the spring to study with [Robert Ward](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ward_(composer)). This turned out to be a key relationship, as Bob moved over to Duke and Durham a year later and became my composition teacher. He was warm and casual, and a good storyteller. I'd say he was a model colleague, although sexist--something his wife Mary would always try to point out to him. Bob was always good for a story, like the time Marilyn Monroe came to THE CRUCIBLE, or the Japanese got behind the U.S. lines where the band was in the Aleutian campaign. He was a confirmed progressive and handed me a libretto about the life and work of Eugene Debs that he felt he was too old to pursue. The most important thing he challenged me with was that he would let me write anything vocal if I could play it and sing it at the same time. He reminded me that opera singers have to memorize their roles and also act them. It is one of the most important lessons for any composer. He had an occasional teaching quirk, like trying to prove that TOSCA was in sonata form. This drive to push form onto drama occasionally backfired when he applied it, as it did in his opera CLAUDIA LeGARE. ![[Michael w Bob Ward.png|300]] [Carlisle Floyd](https://www.carlislefloyd.org/bio) Bob recommended me and helped launch me at the Houston Opera Studio where I studied with [Carlisle Floyd](https://www.carlislefloyd.org/). It was a difficult relationship but an important one. Being told that my libretti were ridden with cliches was difficult but valuable! Ever since then, I attribute to him the fact that my operas, if they aren't brilliant, always "work." The year I was in the Houston Studio, the Houston Grand Opera premiered Floyd's WILLIE STARK. It was exciting to be part of the rehearsals and to play celeste in the pit for the premiere. Being around that show probably taught me more about Carlisle's own deft handing of character and scene than any time in composition lessons. I remember on the opening night of STARK I was playing the celeste in the pit. There was a fair amount of time to absorb the music and story. I could also see the front few rows of the audience. There was a technical snafu--Willie was supposed to be starkly silhouetted when a newsreel he was watching ran out. The thing failed and the moment was lost. You could see the famous director, Hal Prince, swearing as it happened. Although I don't teach regularly, I have participated in the[ NATS Composer mentoring program](https://www.nats.org/Mentoring_Program_for_Composers.html) and am on the committee to select the [Dominick Argento composer fellow at the National Opera Association (NOA](https://www.noa.org/argento-vocal.html)).