OUR COMPOSERS
David Ashley White
David Ashley White’s secular and sacred compositions are widely performed and published, and he has received numerous commissions from various organizations, schools, churches, and individuals. His vocal and instrumental music is recorded on a number of labels, including Zephyr, which has released two compact discs — Echoes from the American Cathedral, a selection of White’s sacred music sung by the acclaimed St. Paul’s Choir from Houston, and The Blue Estuaries, which features his choral suite by the same name, commissioned and performed by the Houston Chamber Choir. The Blue Estuaries, on poems by Louise Bogan, was premiered at the 1998 convention of Chorus America and is published by E.C. Schirmer, Boston.
In spring 2007, Praise the Spirit was released on the Gothic label. This CD, which contains performances by the Palmer Choir, Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church, Houston, Courtney Daniell-Knapp and Brady Knapp, co-directors, contains more of White’s anthems, motets, service music, and hymns.
In addition to the extensive publication of White’s choral and instrumental music, his published hymns are readily available through a number of sources, including the Episcopal Church’s The Hymnal 1982 and Wonder, Love, and Praise; The United Methodist Hymnal and its supplement; the hymnal of the United Church of Christ in Japan; Great Britain’s Worship Songs Ancient and Modern; and Hymns of Universal Praise, published by the Chinese Christian Literature Council LTD, among others. Three collections of his hymns are published by Selah Publishing Co., Pittsburgh, PA: Sing, My Soul: The Hymns of David Ashley White (1996), Songs for a New Creation (2002), and New Harmony: A Harp of Thousand Strings (2006).
Among White’s works performed in 2009 are Homages for mezzo-soprano, viola, and piano, included on a recital given in Japan by members of the faculty of Oberlin Conservatory of Music; Elegy and Exaltation for violin, cello, and piano, played by the American Piano Trio, Ball State University, on tour in Korea in May; and “I Saw Eternity” for mixed chorus, performed in July by the Moores School’s Concert Chorale, Betsy Cook Weber, conductor, at the International Musical Eisteddfod, Llangollen, Wales.
White holds a Bachelor of Music in oboe performance and a Master of Music in composition, both from the University of Houston, and earned the Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Texas at Austin. He is currently director of the University of Houston Moores School of Music, where he has taught theory and composition since 1978, and holds the Margaret M. Alkek and Margaret Alkek Williams Endowed Chair.
--www.uh.edu/class/music/faculty