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Bio and Resume
Forrest Covington (b.1957) began preparatory studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, studying piano with Sherrill Martin and composition with Thomas Brosh. He then attended the North Carolina School of the Arts, studying piano with Bela Nagy, Clifton Matthers, and Ann Epperson, and composition with Robert Ward and Sherwood Schaeffer.
Covington attended the Cleveland Institute of Music from 1977 until 1984, taking an undergraduate and a master's degree in composition. His teachers were Donald Erb and Eugene O'Brien in composition, and in piano, William Kurzban and Olga Radosaljevich. After graduation from the Cleveland Institute, Covington pursued post graduate studies at the University of Iowa from 1985 to 1987.
Covington was a recipient of a BMI Young Composer's Award in 1983 for his orchestral work Chthonic Mass, which was given its premiere in a joint concert of the North Carolina Symphony and the Piedmant Triad/Winston Salem symphony in 1991. In the late 1980's and 1990's, he operated a recording studio, Mouse Studios, in Burlington, NC, recording all kinds of popular and electronic music. He has performed as a pianist and composer at various venues and music festivals in North Carolina, including recitals at the Carrboro Arts Center and the Carrboro Music Festival.
Recently, two of his orchestral works, "A Winter's Poem", and "Anagoge", have been recorded and released as part of the "Masterworks of the New Era" series on the ERM label. In April 2007, "A Winter's Poem" was premiered by the UNL Symphony under the baton of Tyler White.
Premieres
Chthonic Mass - Winston-Salem Piedmont Triad Symphony with North Carolina Symphony, Peter Perret, conductor, October 29,1991
A Winter's Poem- UNL Symphony Orchestra, Tyler White, conductor, April 21, 2007
Deja Vu, for flute and piano, Composerworks Concert, June 6, 2005
Cameron Art Museum, Wilmington NC
Commissions
Summer Sonata for oboe, viola, and harp, 1983, commissioned by John Mack, principal oboe of Cleveland Orchestra
Music for touring production of Rumple Stiltskin, NC Children's Repertory Theater, 1992 (electronic score)
Commercial Recordings
A Winter's Poem, 2004, Philharmonica Bulgarica, Robert Winstin, conductor
Masterworks of the New Era Volume 1, ERM label
Anagoge, 2005, Kiev Philharmonic, Robert Winstin, conductor
Masterworks of the New Era Volume 5, ERM label
Simple Suite , 1983, Released in 2008 on the therapeutic CD “Things Go Better with Music” by Laura Janelle Royster
Awards
Finalist, National Symphony Orchestra Residency Commissioning Project 2005
BMI Young Composer's Award, 1983for Chthonic Mass
Education
Iowa University, Iowa City, IA
1984-87
Composition Student of Richard Hervig
Cleveland Institute of Music,
1977-84
Composition student of Donald Erb and Eugene O'Brien
Piano student of William Kurzban and Olga Radosaljevich
Electronic Music student of Ren Wiedenar
NC School of the Arts,
1975-77
Composition student of Robert Ward and Sherwood Schaeffer
Piano student of Bela Nagy, Clifton Matthews, and Ann Epperson
Chapel Hill High School
Graduated 1975
Partial list of works
Piano
Sonata #4 1995, f major
Suite in E 2004, nine movements
Orchestral
Anagoge 2004
A Winter's Poem 2003
Chthonic Mass (Symphony #1) 1982,
double orchestra with organ and electronics
BMI Young Composer's Award, 1983
Mixed ensemble
Sonata for Brass Quintet, Organ and Timpani
1981, three movements, revised 2006
Simple Suite for Dulcimer, Harp, Flute and Cello
1982, ten movements.
Electronic
Hyakutake
1996, SY99 Sequencer/Synthesizer