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Biography Program Notes Contact Download Joseph Dangerfield
 
Crux Orthodoxa (2008)
Joseph Dangerfield
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Joseph Dangerfield has lived and worked professionally in Germany, Russia, Holland, and the United States. Over the past several years his creative voice has been garnering much attention, with performances of his works throughout the United States and abroad. Recent American presenters include the Society of Composers Inc., the MusicX Festival at the Cincinnati Conservatory, the San Francisco New Music Festival, and the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music. His instrumental and chamber compositions have also been performed at such international venues as the Moscow Conservatory, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Frankfurter KuenstlerKlub, the Conservatorio di Giuseppe Tartini (Trieste, Italy) and in Cairo, Egypt.
 
Born in 1977, he began his composition studies at Marshall University (BFA 1999) with Michael Golden. He completed his master’s degree at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, working with Marilyn Shrude and Mikel Kuehn, and received a doctorate in 2005 from the University of Iowa, following studies under David Gompper.
 
Dangerfield is the recipient of many awards and recognitions, including the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra's Composition Competition (2010), the Henry and Parker Pelzer Prize for Excellence in Composition (2005), the Young and Emerging Composers Award (2002), and ASCAP Standard Awards (2002 - 09). Most recently, he was awarded a Fulbright Lecture/Research Award to the Russian Federation and the Netherlands for the 2009-10 academic year, where he served as composer-in-residence with the Ensemble Studio New Music at the famed Moscow Conservatory, and lectured at Maastricht Conservatorium. In 2008, he was selected for a three-week independent senior residency in the Leighton Studios of the prestigious Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada. Recordings of his works are available on the Albany Records label, and many are published by European American Music and PIP Press Music Publications.
 
Originally trained as a pianist, Dangerfield is active as a performer and conductor throughout the United States. He has conducted various concerts (chamber and orchestral) of music, both new and from the canon in New York, Vienna, Prague, and others.
 
He currently resides in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he is Assistant Professor of music composition and theory, as well as the director of orchestral activities at Coe College.
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In the words of the composer:
 
Crux Orthodoxais the musical representation of a Russian Orthodox Cross. Structurally, the work is representative of my proportional analysis of the Orthodox cross. I measured between five points on the cross and then translated all of measurements into temporal units that I could use as event markers. As the piece progresses, the arrival of each juncture signals the unveiling of a new part of the principle theme, revealed in full once the crux of the cross is reached. I also took the letters INRI (the acronym of the latin phrase IESVS.NAZARENVS.REX.IVDAEORVM - Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews), and applied the musical alphabet to the letters. I then utilized the resultant intervals to create a pitch series of fourths and thirds, which serve as the melodic and harmonic basis for the work.
 
Joseph Dangerfield
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Joseph Dangerfield
www.josephdangerfield.com
+1 319 399 8638 (Phone)
jdangerf@coe.edu
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Crux Orthodoxa: Score (pdf)
 
Crux Orthodoxa: Violin Part (pdf)