Ray Songayllo

Ray Songayllo earned his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in piano from Northwestern University. He continued study at Aspen, Colorado, and New York City with Alexander Uninsky, and Grant Johannesen, and in Boston with the late Alexander Borovsky. Mr. Songayllo has performed programs in Boston, two Carnegie Recital Hall appearances, in Denver, and in cities in the Northeast, Midwest, and the South. As a composer he has had works presented in various venues, including all college and university events, festivals, and in Fontainebleau, France, where he worked in composition with Narcis Bonet at the Conservatoire Americaine. He won the Keyboard Category Award at the Delius Composition Contest at Jacksonville University (Fla.) both in 1976 (for his Duo Concertante for Two Pianos) and in 1992 (for the Ballade-Sonata for Piano). Mr. Songayllo has received grants from both the Minnesota Composers Forum and Meet the Composer for lecture-recitals of 20th century piano music. After 27 years of college/university teaching, he is performing, lecturing, composing, and adjudicating. In June of 1990, he made his European debut with two solo recitals in Geneva, Switzerland, under the auspices of Concerts Atlantique of New York. Mr. Songayllo is a founding member of the lowa Composes Forum, and was the 1993 recipient of the Francis Pyle Commission awarded annually by the Iowa Composers Forum.

List of Works

Stage

Orchestra

• Concert Overture, Westward, the Pioneers 1988; 5': school orchestra. Sectional, tonal work, suitable for high school or amateur ensemble; instrumentation is 2 flutes, 1 oboe, 2 Bb clarinets, bassoon, 2 horns, 1 trumpet, 1 trombone, 1 tuba, Timpani, percussion and strings.
• Concert Piece for Piano and String Orchestra 1993; 4': difficult solo piano part, strings accompanimental; 5 sections but connected, dissonant but in a traditional concerto style.

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Band

Chorus

• Psalm 100 1985; 4': SATB with piano accompaniment. Tonal, but at times quite dissonant, some passages neo-romantic in quality, piano part may be 4-hands.

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Ensemble

Chamber

• Trio for Oboe (Flute or Violin), Clarinet, and Bassoon (ëcello) 1985; 6': four short movements in neo-classic style.
• Quintet for Piano and String Quartet 1993; this a chamber version of the Concert Piece as described above.

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Voice

• Five Nonsense and Otherwise Songs 1987; 5': suitable for soprano, alto, or tenor ranges with piano; mostly humorous settings of childrens' verses, tonal and slightly minimalist in style.
• Three Songs for High Voice and Piano 1989; 5ë: settings of three American poets, neo-romantic in style.

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Solo Instrument

• Duo Concertante 1974: two pianos. Neo-classic style, moderate to difficult.
• Sonata 1980: 4-hands (Or 2 pianos). Three movements In Memorium D. Shostakovitch.
• Sonata 1972: organ. Neo-classic style complex and dissonant.
• Nine Etudes for Piano 1978: studies in intervals.
• A Western Set 1978: 4-hands arrangement of 4 cowboy tunes. 1 part easy.
• Sonata 1970: 2 manual harpsichord. 4 movements difficult in Baroque forms.
• A Rochester Passacaglia 1988: large carillon of 59 bells. Ballade-Sonata 1990: 14': piano. Chromatic, dissonant, difficult.

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Electronic

Jazz