Quick Facts
Biography
Samuel Robert Hazo (born 1966) is an American composer of primarily music for concert band.
(b. 1966) Samuel R. Hazo resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with his wife and children. In 2003, Mr. Hazo became the first composer in history to be awarded the winner of both composition contests sponsored by the National Band Association. His piece Mountain Thyme was an Honorable Mention for the 2013 CBDNA Composition Contest. He has composed for the professional, university and public school levels in addition to writing original scores for television, radio and the stage. His original symphonic compositions include performances with actors Brooke Shields, James Earl Jones, and Richard Kiley. Most recently, Mr. Hazo was asked by the Newtown School District to compose the memorial for the children and women who were lost in the tragedy at their Sandy Hook Elementary School. The result was a major work for Choir, Orchestra and Wind Band combined titled "Glorificare." It was premiered in May 2013 by the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and VOCE Singers performing side-by-side with the Newtown High School musicians. Mr. Hazo also composed "Bridges," which he was requested to write by Virginia Tech University following their tragic shootings. In 2012, two of Mr. Hazo's compositions were performed at the London Summer Olympic Games.
On the Internet, Mr. Hazo's music has compiled over four million hits on YouTube. His compositions have been performed and recorded worldwide, including performances by the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra (national tour), the Birmingham Symphonic Winds (UK) and the Klavier Wind Project’s recordings with Eugene Migliaro Corporon. Additionally, numerous titles of Mr. Hazo's works are included in the series "Teaching Music Through Performance in Band." He has served as composer-in-residence at Craig Kirchhoff’s University of Minnesota Conducting Symposium and has also lectured on music and music education at universities and high schools internationally. In 2004, Mr. Hazo's compositions were listed in a published national survey of the "Top Twenty Compositions of All Time" for wind band. He is a member of ASCAP and recipient of multiple ASCAPlus Awards. Dr. Jack Stamp, in his final year of teaching at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, produced a recorded compilation of Hazo’s music.
Samuel R. Hazo has been a music teacher at every educational grade level from kindergarten through college, including tenure as a high school and university director. He has been invited to guest conduct over 70 university ensembles and half of the All-State bands in America. Mr. Hazo was twice named “Teacher of Distinction” by the southwestern Pennsylvania Teachers’ Excellence Foundation. He received his bachelor's and master's degrees from Duquesne University where he served on the Board of Governors and was awarded as Duquesne’s Outstanding Graduate in Music Education. Mr. Hazo serves as a lecturer and clinician for Hal Leonard Corporation.
Partial list of composed works
- Arabesque (Commissioned by the Indiana Bandmasters' Association for the 2008 All-State Honor Band)
- Ascend (Movement III of Georgian Suite)
- As Winds Dance
- Autumn on White Lake ( premiered December 14, 2008 by Lakeland High School Wind Ensemble by whom the piece was commissioned. Publishing date has not been determined.)
- Blessings
- Blue and Green Music (Based on the painting by Georgia O'Keeffe)
- Books with Blank Pages: Clarinet Concerto (Commissioned by Robinson High School in memory of John "Jack" Stewart and Laura Onwudinanti)
- Bridges (Commissioned by Virginia Tech in memory of the victims of the Virginia Tech Massacre in 2007)
- Chorus Angelorum (Commissioned by Hereford High School in memory of Joey and Audrey Baseman)
- Diamond Fanfare
- Each Time You Tell Their Story
- Echoes
- Enchanted Spaces
- Everything Beautiful
- Exultaté
- Fantasy on a Japanese Folk Song
- From Gold
- ...GO
- In Flight
- In Heaven's Air
- Jubilateo (Commissioned February 2012 by the Calgary Stampede Showband)
- Keltic Variations
- Minuet
- Mountain Thyme
- Novo Lenio
- Olympiada
- Our Kingsland Spring (Movement I of Georgian Suite)
- Our Yesterdays Lengthen Like Shadows (Commissioned by the South Carolina Band Director's Association for the 2008 All-State Honor Band)
- Parkour (Commissioned by the East Winds Symphonic Band, premiered November 6, 2011)
- Perthshire Majesty— winner of the 2003 NBA William D. Rivelli Memorial Composition Contest
- Psalm 42
- The Quest
- Ride
- Rising Star
- Rivers (Movement II of Georgian Suite)
- Rush (Noted in the score by Hazo to be Ride Part II)
- Seconds Out (Hazo's Most Recent Piece Debuted May 4, 2012, it was Commissioned by Canon McMillon Middle School for the Symphonic Band in 2012)
- Sevens
- Síoraí September (Commissioned by the Notre Dame Concert Band, premiered May 11, 2010 at Carnegie Hall)
- Sky is Waiting
- Sòlas Ané (Yesterday's Joy)
- Southern Hymn (Commissioned by Providence High School Wind Ensemble, Charlotte, NC in memory of Neil Rasmussen)
- Their Blossoms Down
- Stella Maris (Commissioned by The Celia Cruz Bronx High School of Music [1] and the friends and family of Marissa Alp). World Premier Performance conducted by Samuel Hazo, December 10th, 2013, at the Lovinger Theatre, Lehman College [2], Bronx, NY.
- Today is the Gift
- Three Concert Fanfares
- Three Minnesota Portraits: (Commissioned by the Edina High School Concert Band)
- Movement One: Hennepin County Dawn (Shrouds of Snow)
- Movement Two: Rest
- Movement Three: Across the Halfpipe
- Themes from Handel's "Water Music"
- Themes from Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusick"
- Voices of the Sky
- Whisper to Their Souls (based on Greensleeves)