Mark Edwards Wilson began his productive career as a musician in his native California. He studied with Henri Lazarof and Leon Kirchner at the University of California at Los Angeles, where he received a Ph.D. at the age of 25. He has received many prizes, awards and other honors for his orchestral and vocal works, his chamber music works and electro-acoustic compositions, many of which have been commissioned and performed by major performing organizations.
Of Wilson’s solo works and chamber music compositions, Time Variations (a string quartet premiered by the Left Bank Quartet at the Kennedy Center), Soliloquy (a work for violin written for David Salness) and Rituals (a work for piano commissioned by the William Kapell Competition) have been extensively performed in America, Europe, and Asia. His composition Aeolus (an electroacoustic work for flute) has received more than 100 performances worldwide by various artists. Another electroacoustic work, Sappho, was premiered and recorded for release on the Capstone label by internationally acclaimed soprano Phyllis Bryn-Julson.
Most of Wilson’s recent works reflect an emphasis on compositions for orchestra employing a new approach that he characterizes as “dramatic narrative.” Two scores composed for and introduced by the University of Maryland Symphony Orchestra, were premiered under the direction of James Ross and Jose Luis Novo: The Phoenix and the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra with faculty colleague Larissa Dedova, piano. Three commissions by the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra have been premiered by that orchestra: Four Sketches of Notre Dame de Paris, Gethsemane, and Morpheus, the last of which was awarded first prize in the Haubiel New Orchestral Music Competition.
The three-movement work The Phoenix quickly became one of Wilson’s most successful efforts, taking the Grand Prize in the Realize Music Challenge, an international competition held under the joint sponsorship of Notion Music, Inc., and the London Symphony Orchestra. His fellow composer John Corigliano, who headed the jury for that event, wrote of The Phoenix in a press release:
“Excellent piece. It really develops its materials and has a fine large shape. I felt a true symphonic mind at work. Beautiful orchestration, too. Bravo!”
As part of the prize, The Phoenix was recorded at Abbey Road Studios by the London Symphony Orchestra, Jack Jarrett conducting. Earlier in his career, in conjunction with his work at UCLA, Wilson was awarded the Henry Mancini Prize and the Mancini Production Award. Wilson has received numerous other awards for his compositions including the BMI Award, two Maryland State Arts Fellowships and no fewer than seven Creative and Performing Arts Awards from the University of Maryland.
Wilson’s creative emphasis on the orchestra at this point is by no means a matter of chance, but is motivated by his enthusiasm for the medium and his concern for its survival. This concern, one might say, has become a stimulus and empowerment for him, as he has stated clearly and frequently: “Although not all conductors readily perform new works, composers nevertheless must not give up on the orchestra as a medium that is both vital and relevant to a living culture. It would be a tragic loss if the role of the symphony orchestra were to be restricted solely to the musical equivalent of a museum. The talented creative artists who constitute a symphony orchestra should have a purpose beyond that of being curators of the great art of another era. I propose a renaissance in the field of music for symphony orchestra—a music that will capture the imagination of audiences—and, in this endeavor, American composers can lead the way.”
Wilson’s orchestral work, Meteora was awarded first prize in the New Orchestral Repertoire Project, an international competition to foster new music for orchestra sponsored by the Minneapolis Pops Orchestra. Since the recording of The Phoenix by the London Symphony Orchestra, Meteora and The Phoenix together have received a total of 19 additional performances nationwide including, to mention only a few, four performances as part of the regular season of the Austin Symphony Orchestra, Peter Bay, Music Director; performances by the Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic, Ulysses James, Music Director; the Lansing Symphony Orchestra and the Chautauqua Music Festival Orchestra, Timothy Muffitt, Music Director.
Recordings of Wilson’s compositions include Windows, on the Neuma label, and on Parma Recording’s Ravello label a collection of his works ranging from solo pieces, Time Variations for string quartet, and various chamber music works including a composition for chamber orchestra, Ancient Ways, in which the Hollywood Chamber Players are conducted by the composer. In 2023 a recording and video by the Sirius Quartet of Dream-Crossed Twilight was released on Parma Recording’s Navona label. Dream-Crossed Twilight, a string quartet commissioned by the Music Teachers’ National Association, was premiered by the Left Bank Quartet.
---Richard Freed
