Wayne Oquin
Biography
Wayne Oquin (b. 1977, Houston, Tex.) is an American composer and educator.
Dr. Oquin received his bachelor's at Texas State University, and his master's and DMA at The Juilliard School. He studied composition with Milton Babbitt and Samuel Adler, and was a teaching fellow for Mary Anthony Cox, 2001-2008. Dr. Oquin joined the Juilliard faculty in the fall of 2008. In January 2013 Oquin was named Chair of Juilliard’s long-standing Ear Training Department, succeeding Mary Anthony Cox after her forty-nine years of service.
Dr. Oquin has composed a body of work highly regarded for its craft and for its power to communicate a wide range of musical expression. The music’s critical acclaim attests to its diversity: “dreamlike spirit”; “tremendously exciting”; “unaffected simplicity”; “beautiful complexity”; “pulsating with urban power” — these among other enthusiastic reviews in The San Francisco Examiner, Time Out New York, and the Washington Post have earned Oquin recognition among today’s young composers. Oquin’s music has been premiered on five continents, fifteen countries, and in twenty-five states by The King's Singers, world-renowned virtuoso pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin, Grammy Award-Winning organist Paul Jacobs, The Jaspar Quartet, The Aspen Contemporary Ensemble (ACE), The United States Army Field Band, and The West Point Military Academy Band.
The Juilliard School commissioned A Time to Break Silence: Songs inspired by the Words of Martin Luther King Jr. Baritone Sidney Outlaw gave the world premiere at Saint Bartholomew's Church in New York City, a performance broadcast on New York's WQXR on the Marilyn Horne Foundation Debut Recital Series, The Song Continues. Outlaw has since performed the work in recitals for the San Francisco Grand Opera, Florida Grand Opera, North Carolina School of the Arts, Music Academy of the West, The Montreal International Musical Competition, in London’s Wigmore Hall, and, most recently, in Guinea, West Africa for three performances sponsored by the US State Department. Last season baritone Davone Tines performed the work in Castleton, Virginia at the home of Lorin Maazel with the composer at the piano.
Recent works include a flute concerto for Emi Ferguson, Détours for solo piano for nine-time Grammy nominated pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin, and Prism commissioned by the Lake Geneva Symphony Orchestra. Oquin’s latest work, O Magnum Mysterium, for unaccompanied chorus, commissioned by Robert Gehrenbeck for the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Chamber Singers, will be published by G. Schirmer.
An active composer, conductor, and pianist, Wayne Oquin is a Steinway Artist. He is the recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from Texas State University. He has been featured in the Texas Monthly, quoted in SYMPHONY Magazine, and interviewed by the San Francisco Classical Voice.
Works for Winds
- Affirmation (2014)
- Flashback (1996/2016)
- Horizon (2021)
- Momentum (1997)
- River Sanctuary (1998)
- A Solemn Place (2013)
- Song for Silent Voices (2018)
- Tower Ascending (2009)
Resources
- Butler, Michael S. "Affirmation." In Teaching Music through Performance in Band. Volume 11, Compiled and edited by Richard Miles, 475-488. Chicago: GIA Publications, 2018.
- Caldwell, Jonathan. "A Solemn Place." In Teaching Music through Performance in Band. Volume 11, Compiled and edited by Richard Miles, 303-314. Chicago: GIA Publications, 2018.
- Caldwell, Jonathan. "Songs for Silent Voices." In Teaching Music through Performance in Band. Volume 12, Compiled and edited by Andrew Trachsel, 460-471. Chicago: GIA Publications, 2021.
- Chamberlin, Reed. "Flashback." In Teaching Music through Performance in Band. Volume 12, Compiled and edited by Andrew Trachsel, 767-772. Chicago: GIA Publications, 2021.
- Wayne Oquin, Juilliard
- Wayne Oquin website Accessed 12 September 2017