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Stephen Yarbrough   
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Biography

Stephen Yarbrough, b. 1946, received his DMA in Composition from the University of Oklahoma, where he was a student of Michael Hennagin. He competed his Master's degree from Denver University, Denver, Colorado, the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem, Israel, and the University of Oklahoma. He spent four years service in the Air Force as an instrumentalist (flute/piccolo) and arranger with the United States Air Force Academy Band. His Bachelor's degree was completed in 1968 under the tutelage of composer Charles Hoag at the University of Oklahoma. Dr. Yarbrough is now an Associate Professor of Music at the University of South Dakota, where he began his teaching career in the Fall of 1982. In 1989 he was commissioned by the Black Hills Chamber Music Society and the South Dakota Arts Council to write a work for the SD State Centennial. His Dakota Suite for chorus and orchestra was premiered with the Black Hills Symphony in Rapid City (conducted by the composer), and was specially selected for performance at the Governors Command Performance during the official Centennial Celebration in Pierre, SD.

The recipient of four Bush Foundation Grants, Dr. Yarbrough has been commissioned by many schools, churches, and ensembles, and writes for virtually every medium. He has published works for symphonic band, handbell choirs, and voice, and is represented in the catalogues of five nationally known music publishers. He is a writer-member of ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, Publishers), for whom he has served as lobbyist in Washington, D.C., and from whom he has four times received the ASCAP Standard Award for his compositions. Dr. Yarbrough has also been the recipient of an Emerging Artist Fellowship, an Artists Career Development Grant, and an Artists Project Grant from the South Dakota Arts Council. He has three times received USD Faculty Development Grants, and was the winner of two South Dakota Music Teachers Association Composition Commission Competitions. His Dakota Suite has been broadcast three times by the South Dakota Public Broadcasting System, and was the featured work of the SDPBS Program Guide in November of 1996. His Remembrances and Praises, a twenty-five minute suite for brass choir, was commissioned by the University of South Dakota College of Fine Arts and premiered in a public concert as part of a three day ceremony celebrating the restoration of the University's historic Old Main classroom building in the Fall of 1998. His most recent award was acceptance as one of only thirty-five composer/ auditors at the Ellen Taaffe Zwilich Young Composers Workshop sponsored by (and held at) Carnegie Hall in New York City, N.Y.

List of Publications

 

Unpublished Compositions

  • For Christmas: An Alleluia for Orchestra. Full Orchestra.
  • In Quiet Harmony. 6 movements, Celtic Prayers for SSA and harp.
  • Christ As A Light. Children's Choir and piano accompaniment.
  • With the Voice of Joy and Praise. Full Orchestra.
  • Edgar Centennial Overture. Concert Band.
  • Sonata for Soprano Saxophone and Piano
  • Remembrances and Praises. Six movement suite for brass choir.
  • Fanfare for Old Main. Brass Choir.
  • Lo How a Rose for viola and piano.
  • Lyric Suite for Band. I. Intrada. II. Prayer. III. Dance.
  • Dachsie Dance for two pianos or one piano, four hands.
  • South Dakota PBS Signature Theme. Synthesizer.
  • Transcendental Journies. Synthesizer.
  • Behold the Tabernacle of God. SATB with brass quartet and organ.
  • Come, My Light, Illumine My Darkness. Choir and organ.
  • Resonet in Laudibus. 8-part a capella choir.
  • My Soul There is a Country. Choir and piano.
  • JoyDance. Symphonic band.
  • Fanfare Royale. Brass Choir.
  • Dakota Suite. Chorus and Orchestra.
    • I. Prairie Spring
    • II. The Weight of Green.
    • III. Medicine Song.
    • IV. The Last Corn Shock
    • V. My Prairies.
    • VI. I Sing Dakota.
  • What Wonderous Love Is This. Fantasy Duo for Flute and Viola. Also scored for flute and violin.
  • Sarabande and Gigue. Flute, horn, viola, two pianos.
  • Concertino for Cello and Piano.
  • In Glory Sing. Solo organ.
  • Awake Joy. Trio for flute, viola, and piano.
  • Sonata for Flute and Piano.
  • A Joyful Noise. Solo viola. Also scored for solo cello.
  • Psalm 71. Tenor and viola.
  • And You Shall Be. Oboe, horn, cello, harp, mezzo-soprano and baritone.
  • Angel's Song. Tenor, alto and tenor recorders.
  • Angelus Ad Virginem. Voice and recorder.
  • October. A cappella chorus.
  • A Hymn to God the Father. Chorus and full orchestra.
  • Holy God. Choir and Organ.
  • Now Crowned with Honor and Glory. Tenor and piano.
  • He Was Wounded. Soprano and piano.
  • Eastersong. Choir and organ.
  • Two Preludes for Piano. Solo piano.
  • Toccata. Solo piano.
  • A Ring of Endless Light. Solo piano.
  • Three Psalms. Psalm 121, Psalm 88, and Psalm 8 for high voice and piano.
  • Aria. Flute, clarinet and viola.
  • Three Pieces for Flute and Clarinet.
  • Prelude for Joy. Wind ensemble.
  • Symphony No.1. Full orchestra.


Contact Information

306 Sycamore
Vermillion, SD 57069
E-mail: syarbrough@usd.edu

Annual Updates

 

2009

Angel’s Dances, a full orchestra work written as a Christmas present for the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, is being used as the music for a new Welch’s Purple Grape Juice national TV commercial. The new ad began airing November 10, 2008, and will run for a year.

PREMIERES

Two works received their premieres September 13, 2008, in a concert by the mezzo-soprano Emily Lodine with the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Delta David Gier: the twenty-two minute song cycle Kenyon Songs - Seven Poems of Jane Kenyon, and In Memoriam, two prayers for mezzo-soprano and orchestra in memory of the composer’s oldest son, Jonathan Lee Yarbrough, killed in a motorcycle accident last July. Dakota Diary, three-movement octet for  flute, oboe, horn, string quartet, and piano, was introduced September 23, 2008, by members of the National Symphony Orchestra, Terrace Theatre in the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, DC. A Hymn of the Nativity, for tenor and orchestra, was first heard in a series of performances December 11-14 by tenor Scott Piper and members of the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra conducted by Henry Charles Smith, Sioux Falls, SD.

PERFORMANCES

A December 2008 performance of A Hymn of the Nativity was filmed at one of St. Joseph’s Catholic Cathedral’s 12th annual “Christmas At the Cathedral” concerts in Sioux Falls, SD.

PUBLICATIONS

Kenyon Songs - Seven Poems of Jane Kenyon; mezzo-soprano and orchestra; In Memoriam (Two Prayers), mezzo-soprano and orchestra; Dakota Diary, three-movement octet for flute, oboe, horn, string quartet, and piano; A Hymn of the Nativity, tenor and orchestra; all by Sycamore Press.

2007-2008

 

Stephen Yarbrough’s entry is amplified this year, as his 2007 submission was inadvertently omitted from the last issue of PAN PIPES.

Stephen Yarbrough received a 2006 State Arts Council Artist’s Project Grant from the South Dakota Arts Council, for which he wrote Dakota Diary, an octet for flute, oboe, horn, string quartet, and piano. Commissions currently in progress include a twenty-minute song cycle for mezzo-soprano and full orchestra, for Emily Lodine with the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, with movements based on the poems of Jane Kenyon; and a major work commemorating the 75th anniversary of Mount Mary College in Yankton, SD (underwritten by the Peter and Catherine McGovern family), which will be premiered during the festivities at the college in 2009. A recording of And You Shall Be, for oboe, horn, cello, mezzo-soprano, baritone, and harp, was played December 12, 2006, St Paul’s Episcopal Church, Vermillion, SD, during the celebration of the wedding anniversary of Stephen and Janis Yarbrough (SAI Sword of Honor, University of OK), the Rev. Mercy Hobbs, Vicar, officiating. Prairie Triptych for full orchestra was broadcast on KCSC FM’s “The Composer Next Door” with host Rob Deemer, May 13, 2007, Central State University, Edmond OK. In January 2007, the composer established Sycamore Press for the release of all his original scores. Yarbrough’s compositions are currently published by Kjos, TRN Music, National Music Publishers, and Sycamore Press. For additional information, contact him at syarbrou@usd.edu.

Premieres

Emily Lodine, Scott Piper, and the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra conducted by Henry Charles Smith introduced A Christmas Hymn (text Richard Wilbur), a duet for mezzo-soprano and tenor with orchestra. Delta David Gier conducted the premiere of A Little Suite for Strings, for chamber orchestra, by the South Dakota Symphony Chamber Orchestra (SDSO), Sioux Falls, on March 24, 2006; this piece was performed during the SDSO tour through March 26. Suite Sioux Falls, for full orchestra, was first presented July 4 by the SDSO with guest conductor Matthew Savery, for the Sioux Falls Sesquicentennial. Organist Robert Horton introduced Fantasy for Organ and Orchestra on April 24, 2007, assisted by the North West Iowa Symphony Orchestra conducted by Henry Duitman, Sioux Center, IA. Elizabeth Heinrichs and Norma Heinrichs premiered Hills of the Prairie, for violin and piano, July 28, 2007, University of SD; the work was later performed by Karen Lipp and Janis Yarbrough on September 16, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Vermillion, SD.

Performances

The Nevada All-State Orchestra, conducted by William LaRue Jones, performed With a Voice of Joy and Praise, for full orchestra during April 2006. A Little Suite for Strings, for chamber orchestra, received performances April 18, University of South Dakota Orchestra, led by John Thompson; December 16, Dakota Academy of the Performing Arts, conducted by Ray Sidoti, Belbas Theater, Sioux Falls; and May 6, 2007, Salina (KS) Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Ken Hakoda. Pastorale for violin and piano, was heard May 7, in a performance by Karen Lipp and Lisa Swanson, St Paul’s Episcopal Church, Vermillion, SD; and on September 6 and 12 by flutist Stephanie Kocher, flute, USD Recital Series. Come, My Light, for choir and piano, was performed by the University of South Dakota Chamber Singers led by Matthew Harden, on May 12, at the United Church of Christ; May 13, at the USD Graduation, Dakota Dome; and May 3, 2007, at Colton Hall. The SDSO performed Angel’s Dances, for full orchestra, August 17 and September 4, under the direction of Delta David Gier, during a South Dakota PBS Interview, on South Dakota Public Broadcasting. A recording of Behold the Tabernacle of God, for choir, tracker organ and brass, was played during the dedication of 10 stained glass windows, October 28, at St Paul’s Episcopal Church, Vermillion, SD. Advent Antiphon, for congregation and keyboards, was heard during November-December, also at St. Paul’s. The Montana All-State Orchestra, led by William LaRue Jones, included With the Voice of Joy and Praise,
for full orchestra, in an October 19 concert, Billings, MT.

Publications

A Christmas Hymn (text Richard Wilbur), mezzo-soprano, tenor, full orchestra; Suite Sioux Falls, full orchestra; A Little Suite for Strings, chamber orchestra; Fantasy for Organ and Orchestra; Hills of the Prairie, violin and piano; all by Sycamore Press, Vermillion, SD.

Recordings

Alleluias for Orchestra, CD containing 17 of the composer’s most requested works. Prairie Triptych, full orchestra, complete work broadcast on KCSC FM’s “The Composer Next Door,” host Rob Deemer, May 13, 2007, Central State University, Edmond OK.

 

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