write it for the 21st Century. I use the same melodies and some of the same harmonies, but without any singing. The whole thing is electronic. I did everything in my apartment for the whole cd and it works fine. It has been doing very well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Click to Listen”

 

RV: Choctaw Nights was another CD that you have released. Jupiter was a really moving composition; could you please tell me a little bit about it?

George Quincy: Well the whole piece is reminiscent of my growing up in a small town in Oklahoma. My mother and father were divorced when I was born. I have a brother and sister that are 10 and 11 years older than me. My mother divorced my father and part of the divorce was that he was never allowed in this town where we lived. When I was growing up, I was told that he was dead. I found out later that he was alive. When I was growing up, everybody in town evidentially knew what had happened. My father had come home one night, drunk and had done some bad things to my mother in front of my brother and sister. My mother decided that she couldn’t raise a small child in this environment and so she divorced my father who was never allowed back into this town. It’s unbelievable to grow up without a father. When the weather was good I used to go out at night and lay in the yard and watch the stars and I began to learn a lot about astronomy. I needed something to hang on to that was very far away. That’s what Choctaw Nights is about. I learned a lot about the stars and the planets, that’s why Jupiter is in there because that’s easy to see. Of course in those days, there wasn’t too much electricity. You could just lie out and see the stars, they were just beautiful. That’s what inspired me, of course I didn’t write it until much later. I came back and thought, I have this chamber music group  called The New York Five, and we were doing pretty well. Several people said, why don’t you have a cd? So I wrote these pieces for the cd and Albany Records fortunately wanted to put a label on it so we recorded it in Town Hall. It was really beautifully done. We have played it tons. It was used for  a dance and may be in a documentary for PBS.

 

RV: What is it like for you to have achieved so much in the form of recognition and endorsements after being reinforced in your life to stay away from music? I read where your mom didn’t want you to play the piano?

George Quincy:  She was just afraid that I was going to starve to death. When I grew up we lived on my grandmother’s ranch and she thought that I had to run the ranch because my brother was not there anymore. My brother had left for college and he wasn’t coming back to this town and later my sister got married. I was the only one left to take care of the ranch. Later, I went to Juilliard and said you don’t think that I’m coming back after doing that do you? I loved New York and just had to stay. She kind of anticipated that, and initially didn’t want me to go after music. She didn’t realize that I was born for it. After I graduated and got my first degree from Julliard she was very proud of me. I said we just got to find someone to take care of the ranch. There were guys that were taking care of the ranch but what I mean is that she wanted a family member to help; she wanted one of us, but no way! When I got my second degree she sent me this great telegram letting me know how excited and proud she was. She passed away a while ago, but while she lived she would read reviews in the New Yorker and was very proud.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Click to listen”

 

RV: I read where you are working on a piece right now for the Arizona Opera, can you please tell me a little bit about what you’re doing for them right now?

George Quincy: They found me through my website and I think through talking with other people. They emailed me and said that we would like to commission you to write a piece for us, it’s for the Navajo’s. There’s an old Navajo story called ‘Young Woman Warrior Who Came Home”, and anyway’s they sent me the book and it’s wonderful. I emailed the woman who wrote the book. My wife and I are working on this now trying to turn it into an opera. My wife has a lot to do with some of my work where when words are involved. I have other librettos that I work with too but if someone commissions me then I always use her because we know each other. This piece is supposed to open in October 2010.

 

RV: Could you explain the road of discovery regarding your Choctaw Heritage and the pull that you had within you to learn more?

George Quincy: I was 27 years old I think when my sister got drunk and told me that my father was alive, and I said you’re kidding!! She said “I can’t lie anymore”. So I went back to my little town and said to the people that lived around there that I grew up with, I got to find my father, I know that he’s alive. Everyone was like, oh my God, you found out! I couldn’t get over that these kids that I was growing up with were now grown ups and never said a thing to me about it. It was amazing that they did this, but anyway’s one of my mother’s best friends just came to me one day and said “George, you won’t believe this but my sister ran into your father, he lives in the Ozarks”. I said you’re kidding, get his address and she said “I did”. It turns out that he became a missionary and was building churches in the Ozarks.

 

I wrote my father a letter and couldn’t believe that he wrote back. It’s amazing to hear for the first time words from a father you never knew you had. I remember Christmas Eve, I called him. I said this is your son George and he said “I can’t believe it”. On Easter I flew up to the Ozarks from New York and he met me at the Airport. The first thing that he said to me was “tell me George is your mother still beautiful?” Oh course I said yes. He then drove me to his house and said ‘it’s unbelievable to see you”. It turns out that he was allowed to see me just after 2 hours or so after I was born and then he had to leave and that was it. He asked about my mother, brother and sister. It was an incredible experience I never had an experience like it, to meet your own father when you’re 27. I couldn’t believe it! I really loved him. I was amazed at how much I was like him, that I walked like him, talked like him, it just proves how much of this stuff is genetic. That kind of experience just really lit all the fires in me.

 

He told me what happened that after the divorce he said that he went to this farm he had in Kansas and he drug out this brass bed that he had and he laid in it for three days and dried out, and never had another drink. He said that he saw God, everything happened. He said he realized that he had to change his life or it was all over. He said that he met this Cherokee woman and married her but they didn’t have any children, so I was it. Over time we would talk over the phone and write letters to each other and then when my mother died he was allowed to come to this town where I grew up. He came the day after my mother’s funeral and I drove him to the grave and it was quite a thing. So anyways, this kind of thing is just in me. My road has been whatever it is.

 

The luckiest thing that ever happened to me was to get into Juilliard; they taught me all this stuff that I needed to learn. I had all this talent but didn’t know what to do with it and they taught me how to use it. For instance, I never studied composition with anyone because I wanted to be my own person and realized that I played the piano that way, even before I went to Julliard and then after that I learned all this academic stuff and it really helped me a lot. When I taught at Julliard it was a great kind of thing.

 

RV: What’s it like for you to work with children?

George Quincy: I always feel good about it. When I was a child I wasn’t allowed to do a lot of things. My sister was a great pianist. When I was 6 she was 16 and doing great. I was an imitator, I would just sit down at the piano when she finished and imitate what she just did. I didn’t know what I was doing but that’s what I would do. When I work with these kids I can see this in them sometimes, that kind of facility and it’s a really terrific thing to see kid’s talent coming out of them, it’s wonderful.

 

I would like to express my appreciation and thanks to Mr. Quincy for finding time to talk with me while composing a piece for the Arizona Opera. I’m certain that Mr. Quincy’s current project will be a marveled and an applauded masterpiece. Please visit Mr. Quincy’s website by clicking here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

George Quincy was born and raised in Oklahoma and is of Choctaw heritage. He earned two degrees at The Juilliard School, where he later taught. He became Musical Advisor to Martha Graham and went on to compose, orchestrate and conduct music for Theatre, Dance, Film, Opera, Television and Concert. He is published by Foxborough Jr. Music, New York City.

Mr. Quincy's music has been performed extensively on the East Coast, in Europe and across the country. In New York, his music has been heard in every venue from theaters and universities, to the Intrepid Museum to Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall. He has won ASCAP Awards in 13 straight years - 1997 through 2009 - and many awards from Meet the Composer. He also has received a commission from Arizona Opera for a composition to honor the Navajo people.

Throughout his childhood, his Juilliard years and later, Mr. Quincy believed his lyrical gift was rooted in his Choctaw blood while his analytical talent came from his white Western education. His music presents an emotional and cultural fusion of classical and Choctaw in a personal artistic journey. Mr. Quincy's album "Christmas" - a collection of favorite traditional carols rearranged for the 21st century - has been re-released and can be found on amazon.com.

Albany Records released Mr. Quincy's CD called "Choctaw Nights" based on his Choctaw background and the moons of Jupiter. The CD, also available on amazon.com, is performed by The New York Five, a chamber music group specializing in Quincy's music. This group has been performing together on the East Coast and in New York for a number of years. Their latest concert at Pen & Brush in New York heard them premiere "Voices from Ground Zero" for which Mr. Quincy received a Meet the Composer Grant.

The world premieres of Mr. Quincy's "Pocahontas at the Court of James I, Parts 1 and 2" were performed in May 2006 and May 2007. The piece, with libretto by Thayer Burch, was commissioned by the Queen's Chamber Band, an early music group founded by harpsichordist Elaine Comparone with support by Harpsichord Unlimited.

Lyrichord Classical released a CD version of "Pocahontas at the Court of James I" in June 2008, featuring performances by Roberta Gumbel, Marshall Coid and the Queens Chamber Band. The CD also includes "Choctaw Diaries," a work in four movements, featuring Timothy Archambault on native flute and the Bronx Arts Ensemble.

The Dance Collective in New York premiered "Warp Redux" using "Voices from Ground Zero" from Mr. Quincy's CD "Choctaw Nights" and also premiered a ballet taken from "Choctaw Nights" in Taos, New Mexico, in August 2004.

RV: In June 2008, you composed Pocahontas at the Court of James I. Can you explain your creativity source, influences and inspirations when creating music like those found on your CD?

George Quincy: First of all it depends on if there are any words involved, if someone is singing in the composition, if I see the words or pictures in my thoughts, or from whatever source. In Pocahontas there’s a story. There she was, Native American who eventually converted to Christianity after she married this English man.  But not the one you’re thinking of.  

 

I was commissioned by a harpsichord group called the Queens Chamber Band that was created during the era of George the III in England. It’s made up of harpsichord, wonderful wind instruments and beautiful strings.

 

(In 1762 John Christian Bach, youngest son of the old master, Johann Sebastian, journeyed to London for a lucrative position with the King's Theatre. Shortly thereafter, he was appointed Music Master to Queen Charlotte Sophia (wife of "Mad" King George III) and the Royal Family. With a few close musical friends, the "London Bach" formed an ensemble to entertain Her Majesty in her private chambers: The Queen's Chamber Band)

 

The Queens Chamber Band asked me to write a piece for them so I had to think of something that I wanted to compose. The only person that I could think of was Pocahontas who was presented to the King of England.  That’s where I thought that these instruments would best come in to play. I was just putting together scenes of the royal palace in my mind and figuring out what the characters are going to do, what they are going to say and what would it sound like? That’s why the composition was written the way it was, plus I was born Choctaw and have all this stuff inside from where I went to Choctaw festivals when I was growing up. I don’t ever use any traditional Choctaw music or anything I want everything to be my own. I have these thoughts in my head like with Pocahontas. I read up on Pocahontas and tried to make something out of it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Click to listen”

 

RV: Which native composers do you have a lot of admiration for?

George Quincy: I have a lot of admiration for Raven Chacone, Jerod Tate is terrific! Brent Michael Davids, terrific! Dawn Avery she’s cellist, she’s a very good composer! Louis W. Ballard, he died a couple of years ago. He was wonderful and the thing is was that he was so nice to me in the sense that whenever I did something like in Washington he would always show up. I first met Mr. Ballard at a meeting of FNCI you know the First Nations Composers Initiative? (In 2002, Native composer Brent Michael Davids (Stockbridge-Munsee) suggested a virtual chapter as a program within the nurturing structure of ACF and FNCI was born!) He sat at my table and began talking with me which was very nice. I didn’t know that he knew anything about me, but he did. I’m sometimes surprised that a lot of people know me.  Usually, they have either been to my side or they’ve heard something at a concert. It floors me sometimes.

 

RV: I read where you composed music for television, theater and film could you please list a few works that you performed?

George Quincy: It’s interesting; when I first started composing I went to Juilliard and graduated as a pianist. For awhile I had a career playing the Piano and I realized that I didn’t like that kind of life. I much preferred working with people and having people around me. I didn’t care for getting on a plane, train, or bus and being on the road all the time. I started writing my own encores. When I started writing my own encores I got into electronic music and started using a synthesizer. I was working on a project with the woman who I fell in love with and now married to. By the ways, my wife is also a writer and a painter. My wife and me wrote this piece, and this guy who I knew in something that we did off, off Broadway had done something going on in Europe and called me to ask if I had anything else? I said sure, we have this piece that we’ve worked on. Anyway’s, the National Theater in Denmark decided to do it. Of course it was done in Danish and turned out great! It was done in three countries.

 

During this time I was doing a lot of synthesizer stuff and got a call like a year or so later by the same guy who was head of the theater in Denmark and he was now directing a movie and he was wanting to know if I could do the score for a feature film and I said sure 6-7 weeks. And it turned out to be the first electronic and I brought my synthesizer with me and it went first class, I went tourist and I worked on the score for the score for a feature film in Europe and so that helped everything.It won a prize in the Moscow film festival. I’ve done things all over the world for various reasons, people hear about me and this entire thing. It’s amazing because just by doing that film I get royalties now. It’s now become a sort of cult film in Europe. I’m up for the challenge they never ask me to do something like something else, ever because they know that’s not the way that I am. I’ve done things like Mandrake the Magician, the comic strip. My wife and I collaborated with the guy who made the comic strip and it worked out very well.

 

RV: I saw that you had a Christmas CD, could you please tell me a little about that?

George Quincy: With my Christmas CD I wanted to compose the same music that we all grew up with but