Clement Reid

Clement Reid was born in New York City (1955), beginning piano and composition studies with Allen Brings in Connecticut and graduating from the Eastman School of Music and the University of Southern California, studying composition with Joseph Schwantner, Samuel Adler, Warren Benson, Earle Brown, Frederick Lesemann, and Leonard Rosenman. He has written varied works including compositions for band, orchestra, chorus, piano solo, ensembles, song cycles, and educational books for piano, guitar, and composition. Performances have included radio broadcasts, a modern dance concert at the Merce Cunningham Dance Studio in New York, works on the Washington Composers Forum Sound Now Series, Bumbershoot Arts Festival, and a US-Canada New Music Exchange Concert in Vancouver, BC (1990). Seascape #2 for Harp was premiered at the American Embassy in Paris, and later played at Yale University and on the Seattle Spring Festival of Contemporary Music (1991). Two performances of his pieces were featured at the Washington State History Museum as part of a conference and exhibit on memory and mourning, originating at the Strong Memorial Art Museum in Rochester, NY. Stillness for Chamber Orchestra was also premiered (Nov. 1997) by the Northwest Symphony Orchestra on a program of American composers.

Northwest Fanfare, commissioned by Harvey Felder and the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra, was premiered in Feb. 2001 as part of their Season of Fanfares. In 2001 he also received an Artist Initiative Grant from the Tacoma Arts Commission. Mr. Reid was a guest composer on a program featuring members of the Florida Symphony Youth Orchestra and the Orlando Philharmonic in 2002, and featured composer on a Tuesday Music Club program in Florida in 2005. In 2007, he traveled to China to participate in a composers exchange program at the Sichuan Conservatory in Chengdu, and had his works presented on the Pacific Lutheran University Artist Series, Orchestral Series, and Piano Ensemble Program in 2008-2013. In 2010 his Trio for Saxophone and Percussion was premiered on Classical Tuesdays, later played at the Juilliard School in 2012, and his music was featured at the Aspen Composers Conference. His Prelude for Piano Trio was also featured on the WSMTA 2011 Joy of Piano Trios Festival in October 2011, and the Seattle Composers Salon in March 2012. His Nonsense Songs for Women’s Chorus was featured on Lyrica’s summer tour (2015), and Dreams, Improvisations for Piano and Theater Piece #1(Monologue) for Cello were performed at the Seattle Composers Salon (2015-’16). The Seattle Times described one of his pieces on the Seattle Spring Festival of Contemporary Music as, “Thoughtful, lyrical.” Mr. Reid has served as panelist for Artist Trust, and presented lectures in composition and taught for St. Martin’s College, Pacific Lutheran University, and Stephen F. Austin University. In 1982 he joined ASCAP, and is a member of MTNA, SCI, American Music Center in New York, and has been a board member of the Washington Composers Forum (1986-’97).  Global Music Awards Bronze Medal Finalist and Silver Medal Outstanding Achievement (2017), in the category of Contemporary Classical. Clement was a Semi-Finalist for the American Prize in Composition for 2013,  and is included in Marquis Who’s Who In America.  In 1999, he was chosen as the Washington State Commissioned Composer of the Year by the Music Teachers National Association.