Carl Fischer Music Publishing

Conventional wisdom has it that the most difficult thing for a contemporary composer to get is a second performance. Samuel Jones is one contemporary composer who has happily never had to face that fate: his works are immediately scheduled for additional performances by other orchestras and are frequently repeated by the same orchestra. Virtually his entire catalogue, early music as well as later, is active and vital, filled with compositions, which have immediate appeal and artistic gratification for audiences as well as performers.

Direct, passionate, straightforward, this is music which has its own voice and which has something to say. It has that indefinable yet unmistakable sense of life and flow. Always consummately orchestrated, Jones' music reflects a practicality and a sure knowledge of the orchestra born of his vast experience as a conductor.

We hope this brochure will help acquaint you with works by Samuel Jones you may not yet know, and that you will share our pleasure in the growing acclaim for one whom we consider to be a major compositional voice of our time.

Samuel Jones first came into prominence as a conductor, one of the few Americans to advance through the ranks of the smaller American orchestras to become conductor of one of the majors (the Rochester Philharmonic). He then achieved national recognition in another field as he founded a significant new music school and served as its dean for six years (Rice University's Shepherd School of Music). All this time he has continued to compose, quietly amassing what has become an impressive catalogue of works.

Now continuing as Professor of Composition and Conducting at the school he founded, Jones focuses most of his considerable energies on composition, yet he still manages to direct the graduate program in conducting and to spend significant time as a teacher of conducting, for which he is also developing a wide reputation. As an officer of the Conductor's Guild and as a frequent master teacher of the Guild's Conducting Workshops, Jones is making a strong contribution to the advancement of the American conductors.

Samuel Jones is the recipient of numerous awards and prizes for his compositions, including a Ford Foundation Recording/Publication Award, a Martha Baird Rockefeller Grant, repeated ASCAP Awards, and the 1986 Prize in Music from the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters. His compositions have been commissioned and performed by many of the nation's leading musical organizations.