Houston Civic Symphony

Composer, Desmond Ikegwuonu

Desmond Ikegwuonu’s music gracefully captivates listeners, conveying a poignant message enveloped in his rich musical heritage. As a composer, pianist, conductor, and singer born in Lagos, Nigeria, Ikegwuonu flourishes in classical, jazz and his Native African music. He is a recent winner of the Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra New Music Experiment. Last April 2015, the Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra gave a world premiere of his work “Gaba N’iru,” which was also later performed by the Fort Worth Civic Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Kurt Sprenger. He is also a recent winner of the J.D. Riddle Memorial award at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Ikegwuonu conducted the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra in the world premiere of his composition titled “Chukwudube” at a Gala concert in Fort Worth. His music has been performed in venues as varied as the Truett Auditorium, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Moores Opera House, Belin Chapel, Heinen Theatre, Reynolds Auditorium Fort Worth, Northeast Texas Saxophone Symposium at Texas A&M University.

In the summer of 2015 Ikegwuonu attended the Atlantic Music Festival summer program in which he had a piece played by the Atlantic Festival Orchestra and a recording his composition by the Atlantic Festival New Music ensemble.

This summer, Ikegwuonu will be attending the New Charlotte Music Festival which will feature a premiere of his work “Oganiru N’ime Ogbaaghara” by the Iktus Percussion Duo.

Ikegwuonu’s duo for violin and piano won first place in the 2012 Louisa Stude Sarofim competition. He has been commissioned by The Houston Grand Opera’s “Opera to Go!”, Aura contemporary ensemble, Musiqa, Fort Worth Civic Orchestra, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary School of Church music. He was inducted into Pi Kappa Lambda, the only honor society representing the field of music for his outstanding achievements in performance, academic scholarship, and service. His short movie entitled” “Short tales on Life’s journey” won the Awsker award for Excellence in Conception and Production. Soprano Melissa Givens, of the Grammy award winning vocal ensemble Conspirare, gave the premiere of Desmond’s art songs “Whisper a Calm” and “A peek into heaven”. Ikegwuonu’s song commission for the Houston Grand Opera was featured on the front cover of the Houston Chronicle newspaper and on ABC Channel 13 Houston. Virtuoso saxophonist and Yamaha artist Dan Gelok gave the premiere of Ikegwuonu’s concerto for saxophone and orchestra in Houston.

He holds a Bachelor degree in Music Composition from Houston Baptist University (graduating Summa Cum laude) and a Master in composition from the Moores School of Music. Ikegwuonu is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts in composition at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. His composition teachers include notable opera composer Mary Carol Warwick and Ann Gebuhr. He also studied with David Ludwig, George Tsontakis, Robert Paterson, Eric Ewazen, Joe Locascio, Rob Smith, Marcus Maroney, and Christopher Teichler.

Composer William Mac Davis

William Mac Davis is a composer who enjoys a growing national and international reputation. A native of Mississippi, Davis holds degrees in theory and composition from the University of Mississippi and the doctor of philosophy degree in composition from the University of Utah.  He did post-doctoral study in composition at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. Davis studied with a number of celebrated composers including Samuel Adler, Ned Rorem, Vladimir Ussachevsky, Ramiro Cortes, Andrew Fox and Raymond Liebau.

His works have been performed by the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, the Dallas Wind Symphony, the United States Army Orchestra, the Colonial Tuba Quartet and the Tidewater Winds as well as numerous college and professional ensembles. His music has received performances by such distinguished artists as Donald Palmire, John Mueller, Tony Baker, and Lynda Poston-Smith. He has received many commissions and awards including the Ithaca College Choral Composition Prize, the Delius Festival Vocal Composition Award, the Virginia CBDNA New Band Music Festival Award, the Dallas Wind Symphony Fanfare Competition Award and for twenty consecutive years he received the ASCAPlus award.

Retired after thirty-four years of teaching at three major institutions, Davis now devotes his time to composition and conducting. He lives in Southlake, Texas, with his wife, Wendi, their two children, and two cats.

Each year the Houston Civic Symphony invites high school and middle school musicians to participate in its Young Artist Competition.  Each year we continue to be amazed to hear and watch student musicians from the Houston area and from around the state as they audition for in the competition.  Winners of competition will be featured in performance with the orchestra.  It is always an enjoyable and inspiring evening of great music and talented young people.

Hailed by Newsday for “extraordinary musicianship..forceful, sophisticated and entirely in the spirit of the music”, cellist Brinton Averil Smith continues to win rave reviews for virtuosic performances with musical ideals rooted in the golden age of string playing. His debut recording of Miklós Rózsa’s Cello Concerto with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra won widespread international critical acclaim, with Gramophone praising Smith as a “hugely eloquent, impassioned soloist,” and his recording of chamber music of Fauré with Gil Shaham was chosen by numerous critics as one of the year’s best albums. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with Yo-Yo Ma, Gil Shaham, Cho-Liang Lin, Lynn Harrell, Sarah Chang, Dawn Upshaw and members of the Beaux Arts Trio and the Guarneri, Emerson, Juilliard, Cleveland, and Berg quartets. Mr. Smith is the principal cellist of the Houston Symphony and a faculty member of the Shepherd School of music at Rice University. He was previously a member of the New York Philharmonic and the principal cellist of the San Diego and Fort Worth symphonies. His performances have been broadcast throughout the world including, in the US, on CBS Sunday Morning and NPR’s Performance Today and Symphonycast . At age 10, Mr. Smith was admitted part-time to Arizona State University, studying mathematics, music and German, and he completed a B.A. in mathematics at age 17. He received his masters and doctoral degrees from Juilliard, studying with renown cellist Zara Nelsova and writing on the playing of Emanuel Feuermann.

Stephen Bachicha is a composer most interested in blending the beauty and fun in both listening to and performing music. He has had solo as well as ensemble works performed throughout the United States and in parts of Europe. At Syracuse University, he was the recipient of the Virginia K. Hickey Scholarship in Music. At UNLV, he received the Susan L. Johnson Scholarship in Choral Studies, while at Rice University, he was the recipient of the Bertha Mallard Scholarship in Music Composition. His Doctoral dissertation Allusions, Illusions & Delusions was selected as the winner of the 2014 Marilyn K. Glick Young Composers Competition at the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.

His song cycle New Mexico Fragments, commissioned by Susanne Mentzer, was awarded 3rd place for the NATS Art Song Composition Competition. For two consecutive years, two solo flute pieces Red Stilettos and N’Awlins Funks were premiered at the National Flute Convention. In 2013 international acclaimed violinist SoJin Kim premiered his Four Scenes for Solo Violin which is currently on tour in Europe. Houston based Omni Brass premiered his work Three Sculptural Impressions at the MenilFest exhibit at the Menil Museum. He currently teaches music for all grade levels at St. Stephen’s Episcopal School in Houston. Stephen wants to thank his former teachers Virko Baley, Jorge Grossman, Kurt Stallmann and Art Gottschalk for helping him grow as both a musician and a composer.