Edward Markward's 25th Anniversary Season as 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, Montpelier (VT)
Chamber Orchestra Society 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, Richard Cumming and Aleksandra Vrebalov 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.” James Lowe of the Barre-Montpelier Times Argus wrote
recently of Markward’s guest appearance, “In
fact, the entire performance was a most satisfying and powerful experience”.
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, Judith Lynn Stillman, Frederick Moyer 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.
Markward also served for seven years 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 Aleksandra Vrebalov’s The Widow’s Broom. In March, 2007, he led the RI Civic Chorale & Orchestra and soloists in the much anticipated world premiere performance of Vrebalov’s Stations.
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. He has recently had his bio included in the 2011 Who’s Who in America. His ensembles at Rhode Island College have appeared by invitation at three MENC conventions, Eastern Regional ACDA convention, World’s Fair, Festival International de Musique (Québec, Canada) and toured thirteen states and the District of Columbia