Discipline: Music Composition

Roger Hannay

Discipline: Music Composition
Region: Durham, NC
MacDowell Fellowships: 1982

Roger Hannay (1930-2006) was an American composer and music educator. From 1966 until his retirement in 1995, he was professor of composition at the University of North Carolina. He was founding director of the New Music Ensemble, the Composer-Concert Series, and the Electronic Music Studio. He also gave courses at the Tanglewood Music Center, Princeton UniversityCenter for Advanced Studies, Indiana University, Charles Ives Center for American Music (1985), Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (1992), the Centrum Foundation (1992), and Yaddo ( 1992). Hannay's approximately 120 compositions include ten symphonies, five operas, and numerous chamber music works. He received u. a. composition assignments from the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra , ASCAP, the National Endowment of the Arts, and the American Music Center. From tonal beginnings Hannay went over to twelve-tone music. He used serial techniques and in the 1960s also turned to electronic music and multimedia techniques.

Studios

Watson

Roger Hannay worked in the Watson studio.

Built in 1916 in memory of Regina Watson of Chicago, a musician and teacher, this studio was donated by a group of her friends, along with funds for its maintenance. Originally designed to serve as a composers’ studio with room for performance, Watson was used as a recital hall for chamber music for a…

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