Former KSC Music Professor Named 2004 N.H. Commissioned Composer

KEENE, N.H. 11/4/04 - William D. Pardus of Marlborough, N.H., a former professor of music at Keene State College, has been named 2004 New Hampshire Commissioned Composer by the New Hampshire Music Teachers’ Association (NHMTA).

Pardus’s commission, “Suite for Woodwind Quintet,” also sponsored by the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA), had its premiere performance at the NHMTA’s fall conference in Manchester in October. The NHMTA, the New Hampshire affiliate of the Music Teachers National Association, is an organization of private music teachers from throughout the state.

This commission is Pardus’s second from the NH Music Teachers’ Association, who was also the NHMTA’s commissioned composer in 2001. His composition for symphonic band, “The Mills of New England (A Symphonic Portrait),” was written for and premiered at the Eastern Division Convention of the Music Educators National Conference in Providence, R.I., in 2003, and has since been performed by college and community concerts bands across New England. It was recorded on CD by The American Band (of Providence), directed by Gene Pollart.

Since his retirement form Keene State in 1998 after 32 years at the College, Pardus has been active as a composer, arranger and publisher as well as a keyboard performer. He is the owner of Creation Station, a music publishing company in Marlborough.