Edward Markward, Music Director
Equally
at home as conductor of orchestral, opera, and choral music, Edward Markward
has served as Music Director/Conductor of the Rhode Island Civic Chorale and
Orchestra since 1987. He has enjoyed a distinguished and varied career as a
conductor and educator since joining the faculty of
Rhode Island College
in 1973, where he conducts the Symphony Orchestra, teaches conducting and serves
as co-director of the Opera Workshop. Guest conducting engagements have included
the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Oratorio Choir,
the Newport Music Festival, the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra,
the Brooklyn Heights Symphony Orchestra, Festival Ballet Providence,
and the Perrysburg (Ohio)
Symphony Orchestra. Markward
has served as Music Director for the Bel Canto Opera Company, Music
Director/Conductor for Opera Rhode Island, Associate Conductor of the
Providence Opera Theater, principal guest conductor for the Brooklyn
Heights Symphony, and was founding conductor of the Festival
Chamber Orchestra of Rhode Island. Prior to his Rhode Island appointments,
he was Music Director/Conductor of the Ann Arbor Cantata Singers and
Chamber Orchestra and Musical Director for the Ann Arbor Civic Theater
in Michigan.
A champion of contemporary music, he has been praised by such composers as Elie
Siegmeister, Paul Cooper, Paul Nelson, and Richard Cumming and has received
numerous accolades, both from music colleagues and the press: composer Paul
Cooper called him”...a miracle worker;” while Elie Siegmeister stated, “the
world should get around to discovering him.” According to the Providence
Journal-Bulletin, “Edward Markward led a musical performance that possessed
subtleties, a fine beat and generous fizz,” and “...a reading that provided
nuance, steady organization and a remarkable feeling for style.” The
Providence Journal-Bulletin also described Edward Markward as, “a pillar of
the music community.”
During the past several seasons, he has led performances of Rhode Island
premieres of Carl Ruggles’s Men and Mountains, Richard Danielpour’s
Toward a Splendid City, and Leonard Bernstein’s Symphony No. 3 (“Kaddish”)
among others. He has collaborated with such international artists as Maria
Spacagna, Dominic Cossa, Enrico di Giuseppi, Gary Glaze and Cynthia Munzer (all
of the Metropolitan Opera) as well as Joseph Silverstein, Walter Trampler,
Samuel Baron, Michael Boriskin, Arturo Delmoni, Frederick Moyer, Judith Lynn
Stillman and Eric Ruske. In February, 1999, Markward served as conductor for
the world premiere performances of Richard Cumming’s opera The
Picnic and in July of that year, made his acclaimed conducting debut
at the internationally renowned Newport Music Festival, leading
performances of Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat and Wagner’s Siegfried
Idyll. In September 2004, he led the world premiere performances of John
Sumerlin’s opera Air.
In addition to his duties
at Rhode Island College
and with the Rhode Island Civic Chorale and Orchestra, Markward also
serves as Conductor for Festival Ballet Rhode Island. He made his
debut with that company in 2002-2003 conducting performances of Giselle
and The Nutcracker, and in October, 2004 led world premiere performances
of The Widow’s Broom with a score by Aleksandra Vrebalov. In December,
he again led performances of The Nutcracker for that company. In March
2007, he led the Rhode Island Civic Chorale & Orchestra in a world premiere
performance of Aleksandra Vrebalov’s Stations, commissioned in honor of
the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Chorale and of Markward’s
20th anniversary as Music Director.
Markward is the recipient of numerous awards including the Rhode Island College Alumni Association Outstanding Faculty Award, the Rhode Island Choral Directors Association’s first Outstanding Conductor Award, and the Rhode Island Civic Chorale and Orchestra’s first President’s Award. He is the recipient of the 2006 Martha & Ronald Ballinger Distinguished and Sustained Scholarship and Creativity Award given by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Rhode Island College. His Rhode Island College ensembles have appeared by invitation at three MENC Conventions, an Eastern Regional ACDA Convention, the 1982 World’s Fair and the Festival International de Musique in Québec