Page 15 - Phil Great Collaborations March 2024 digital program book

PROGRAM NOTES

Mayflower — and who still live among us. The musical soundscape created
by composer Tonya Wind Singer depicts a broad span of time, from the
beginning of the Wampanoag and Maushop tribes, to the struggles over these
past centuries, and the hope for the future.
-- Steven Karidoyanes
About the composer

Tonya Wind Singer is a composer, conductor, singer, pianist, and multi-
instrumentalist from Arizona. Her work is rooted in her cultural background,
American Indian (O’odham) and Mexican, and as a singer of both Mariachi
and Powwow music, she brings those musical cultural influences into her
works. Her music is primarily for wind band, orchestra, and chorus, but
she has also written folk rock and Latin American music and is an indie
songwriter.
Wind Singer began taking piano lessons at the age of ten and then clarinet
and saxophone at twelve. She began composing in high school and studied
composition at California State University, Los Angeles. During this time,
she continued playing in orchestras and wind bands and studied conducting.
She continued her composition studies at The Boston Conservatory and
received her Master of Music Degree in composition.
She joined the Charles River Wind Ensemble as a percussionist and
was a regular member between 2013 and 2017. Since 2013, she has been a
powwow singer with various drums in the powwow circuit. She worked as
an apprentice composer under Brent Michael Davids for the documentary
“Lake of Betrayal” on PBS. She composed and arranged several works
for Kirchenchor der Wallfahrtskirche St. Jakobus choir and orchestra
in Biberbach, Germany. She also worked as an editor, engraver, and
collaborator in projects recorded by the London Chamber Orchestra and
Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.
Wind Singer continued bringing the worlds of Native music and classical
concert music together with her 2017 composition First Light for the Cape
Symphony, featuring a Wampanoag song sung by Wampanoag singer and
historian Jonathan James Perry.
Tonya Wind Singer continues to work as a freelance composer, conductor,
and instrumentalist based in the southwest US.

The following Program Notes are by Laura Stanfield Prichard

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