Composer Jack Waldenmaier enjoys a dual career in both music composition and music production.
While Jack Waldenmaier’s compositions include music of nearly every genre, most of his works are scored for orchestra. His major works include:
Second Violin Concerto
Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra
Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
Clin d’Oeil for Soprano and Orchestra
Capriccio for Piano, Winds and Percussion
Chamber Ballet
He is currently writing Year Music, subtitled “Berio et al”, his most ambitious project to date, which will receive its world premiere performance in Dallas during the year 2012. “Year Music”, as the title implies, takes one year to perform and will involve the active participation of more than one thousand musicians. The continuous one-movement composition whose performance will be “visited” by the audience over the course of the year may be considered as much an installation as a concert. The work is made possible by a generous anonymous commission.
Jack Waldenmaier was born in Cleveland, Ohio and began his piano and music theory studies at age three, first with his mother and then with Bach scholar, Marion Plumber. He went on to study with composer Lukas Foss at The University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music where he earned a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in 1981.
Dr. Waldenmaier then joined the faculty of Southern Methodist University’s Meadows School of the Arts as a professor of music theory and composition. Currently he serves as President of the Board of Directors for Dallas’ new music ensemble, Voices of Change which performs predominantly the music of living composers. He is also President and Executive Producer of Music Bakery Publishing (BMI) a leading royalty-free production music library in the United States, producing music for film and television, corporate image campaigns and commercials with distribution worldwide.
His awards include the Raymond Hubbell Prize in composition, awards from BMI and ASCAP, commissions from the Bari Symphony, Italy, the Ohio Arts Council, the International Society for the Double Bass, the Voices of Change Modern Music Ensemble, Paul Kowarsky and Emanar Productions, Southern Methodist University, the Dallas Civic Orchestra, the Contemporary Music Ensemble, the Gardner Dance Troope, the Dallas Shakespeare Festival, among others.
I just saw a report that Jack just passed away two months ago, in January. I’m so shocked and saddened by this news. I corresponded (email and phone) with Jack on rare occasions and he was always kind, humble and generous.
I was a self-employed video producer from 1988 to 2010. I have purchased all of Jack’s Music Bakery CD’s during that period, from his first one. In fact, I produced a one production using music from only that first CD, because it was all I had.
I knew only Jack’s commercial side, not his classical side, but he was a creative force, with compositions, styles and melodies that deserved more recognition than just being background music on an industrial video. This past Sunday, I heard one of his pieces in a TV documentary and tried to contact him, then I learned of his passing.
Jack did more than you can imagine to add interest and beauty to my creations as a video producer. He was a truly creative force and I could feel his heart and beauty in his music.
May you rest in peace, dear friend.