Discipline: Music Composition

H. Headley

Discipline: Music Composition
Region: UNITED STATES and CANADA
MacDowell Fellowships: 1940
H. Headley (1906-1996) was an American composer, pianist, and organist. From 1939 to 1954 Headley taught at the University of Santa Barbara. During that time he succeeded Maurice Faulkner as conductor of the University of California Symphony Orchestra in Santa Barbara, becoming known both as a composer and as a pianist and giving concerts in which he conducted his own works. After 1954 he moved to Seattle to teach at the Cornish School of Applied Arts. After a short period in Seattle, Headley moved to Vancouver. He also moved to Sudbury, Ontario, Canada where he developed the music program at Cambrian College in the late 60s and early 70s. He left for Vancouver where he remained until his death. His music is today virtually unknown, and many of his works are lost. In 2006 his music resurfaced by accident. Robert Buckley, one of his students, and Stan MacDaniel took joint responsibility for the recordings of his music in 2007.

Studios

MacDowell

H. Headley worked in the MacDowell studio.

Built in 1912, Pine Studio was renamed MacDowell Studio in 1943 in recognition of support from a group of Edward MacDowell’s music students. It was built as a composers’ studio and the stuccoed walls were intended to be soundproof. Like many of the studios on property, MacDowell was winterized in the 1950s when the program began welcoming…

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