Alvin Singleton

The music of African American composer Alvin Singleton mixes influences from jazz and the classical avant-garde. His works have been widely performed not only in the U.S. but also in Europe, where he was partly trained. Singleton was born in Brooklyn, New York, on December 28, 1940. He attended New York University, studying there with Charles Wuorinen and Hall Overton and receiving a bachelor's degree. Singleton went on to Yale University for a master's degree, studying with Mel Powell and Yehudi Wyner. Earning a Fulbright scholarship, Singleton traveled to the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome for studies with Goffredo Petrassi. He stayed on in Europe, living there from 1971 to 1985. Singleton returned to the U.S. for a stint as composer-in-residence at the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra from 1985 to 1988, moving to a similar position at Spelman College in Atlanta. In 1989, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, under conductor Robert Shaw, released the album Alvin Singleton: Shadows; Yellow Rose Petal; After Fallen Crumbs. Some of Singleton's large compositions are When Given a Choice for orchestra (2004, premiered at Carnegie Hall in New York), TRUTH, a choral ballet (2006), Brooklyn Bones for chorus and orchestra (2008), the piano concerto BluesKonzert (2010, premiered by pianist Ursula Oppens), and Different River for orchestra (2012). He held further residencies with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Ritz Chamber Players in Florida, and the city of Tirana, Albania, and his career was supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. Singleton's works have been performed by many major American orchestras, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the Philadelphia Orchestra, as well as those in Europe, such as the Rotterdam Philharmonic, L'Orchestre de Paris, and the Kölner Philharmoniker. Chamber groups that have performed his music include the Kronos Quartet and the Momenta Quartet, which recorded a series of his string quartets. The Albany label has released several albums devoted to Singleton's music, and his works have been featured on releases by many performers, including, in 2023, cellist Seth Parker Woods on his album Difficult Grace. Singleton has served as a visiting professor at Yale University.
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