Joseph Packales, orchestration, theory, and world music
 |
With great sadness we announce that Joe Packales passed away on September 30, 2008. His generous spirit was captured in a quote that appeared just yesterday in the Kennebec Journal, in an article about Joe taking on a new role as accompanist for the Winthrop Chorus. "This is a bunch of really good musicians in this group," Packales said. "It's always a pleasure to make music with good musicians. I'm just thrilled." An article about Joe was published here, with quotes from USM student Josh Newton:
An obituary was published here:
The memorial service is Sunday,
October 26, 2008 at 1 p.m. More details will be posted as they are
known
|
A tribute to Joe Packales (1948-2008):
Joseph Packales was born in New York City in 1948. He received his education at The Eastman School of Music, Cleveland State University, and Kent State University. He has served the faculties of Skidmore College, Belknap College, and Cleveland State University, from 1984 until 1999, Composer-in-Residence and Professor of Music at The University of Texas at El Paso. He currently is composing full time and is a professor at the University of Southern Maine.
Dr. Packales’ list of works includes piano, orchestral, choral, and chamber pieces in addition to an opera, Scenes from the Life of The Virgin Mary, and a ballet, Lilith. He has fulfilled commissions from such artists and organizations as The Fox Trio, German violinist Christiane Edinger, The Figaro Trio, The Ohio Arts Council, The Erick Hawkins Dance Company, The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, The Presidential Orchestra of Turkey, and The El Paso Symphony Orchestra. His compositions have been performed by orchestras and soloists throughout the United States, and in Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Rumania, Italy, Slovakia, The Czech Republic, Ireland, and Poland. Most recently, there have been performances of his music in Turkey, India, Japan, and Chile.
He has twice been nominated for The Pulitzer Prize, and has been honored with The Howard Hanson Prize, three Macdowell Colony fellowships, a major grant from the I.B.M. Corporation, and two grants from The National Endowment for the Arts. In 1997, he was named Composer-of-the-year by the Texas Music Teachers’ Association. In 1998, he signed an exclusive contract for the publication of his choral works with Voice of The Rockies.
His large pieces of the last decade include Brahmanirvana, premiered at the 1993 Rockport Festival of Music, where he was Guest Composer; I Was on the Sea, a piece for large orchestra recently released on a commercial CD in a performance by The Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra; and Tour/Retour, an orchestral piece premiered in El Paso and Ankara, Turkey, in 1995. Recently premiered were O, What We Have Seen, another piece for the El Paso and Ankara orchestras, The Nativity, for brass; and Three Meditations under the Bo Tree, a piece for euphonium and piano. Lucidae, a large-scale solo piano piece, was premiered and recorded by pianist Sylvia Shadick-Taylor in October, 1998.
On his worktable for 2000-2001 are Trinity for guitar; Revolving Visions at the End of the Ocean for orchestra; and a second opera, A Fisher at Dunkirk, on commission from BBC television.
Dr. Packales is also well known as a conductor, pianist, and church musician, now serving Old South Church in Hallowell. Joseph Packales is currently accepting a limited number of commissions
Visit the comprehensive web site of Joseph Packales at http://packales.tripod.com/home/
Contact:
Joseph Packales
University of Southern Maine School
of Music
37 College Avenue
Gorham, ME 04038
207-780-5265
CompDoc99@aol.com
Click "back" on your browser to return to where you were,
or visit one of the following sites
2000/2001