George Frederick McKay

about

George Frederick McKay (June 11, 1899 – October 4, 1970) was a prolific modern American composer. George Frederick McKay's music, recently recorded by Grammy-Winning artists Leonard Slatkin, William Bolcom and John McLaughlin Williams on NAXOS Records, emerges from the Far West of North America carrying a vigorous blend of influences, including Civil War Era folksongs sung to him by his grandparents; old Fiddlers' Tunes handed down in the family; Northwest Native American Songs and Dances, and Avant-Garde satire from the Seattle urban scene (More early works can be heard at http://www.myspace.com/alleydanceakagfmckay). His range of musical expression encompasses Symphonies, Chamber Works, Songs, Band Pieces, Woodwind Ensembles, Harp compositions, Organ music, Cantatas, Musical Plays, Modern Dance, and Jazzy Piano pieces. Literally hundreds of these works were published and performed worldwide during his lifetime. Much of his Jazz influenced music was composed in his younger days in Seattle. Later he studied with the Scandinavian composers Selim Palmgren and Christian Sinding at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, and was influenced toward using folk-music and evocative melodic content in his compositions. In 1923 McKay became the first graduate in Composition at Eastman. One clear memory from McKay's childhood was listening to a hometown bandstand performance by John Philip Sousa's traveling ensemble; forty years later his music was on the concert program at

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top songs

albums

MCKAY: Suite for Viola and Piano / My Tahoe Window / An April Suite

MCKAY: From a Moonlit Ceremony / Harbor Narrative

MCKAY: Violin Concerto / Sinfonietta No. 4 / Song Over the Great Plains

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The Music of George Frederick McKay

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American Classics Sampler

Mckay, G: Epoch - An American Dance Symphony

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Orchestral Music - Ives, C. / Persichetti, V. / Harris, R. / Bacon, E. / Gould, M. / Mckay, G.F. / Turok, P. / Copland, A.(Lincoln Portraits)

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Explore America

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Medieval Dances for flute and harp

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Chamber Music (Bolcom, Morris et al.)

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William Bolcom, George Frederick McKay: Suite for Viola and Piano; From My T

MCKAY: Epoch: An American Dance Symphony

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