Alice Parker Popular Books

Alice Parker Biography & Facts

Alice Stuart Parker Pyle (December 16, 1925 – December 24, 2023), known professionally as Alice Parker, was an American composer, arranger, conductor and teacher. Early life and education Parker was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 16, 1925, to Gordon Parker, who worked in the hardwood business, and Mary Shumate Stuart, who founded and directed a plastics laminate company. She grew up in Boston and Winchester, Massachusetts.After studying music theory with Mary Mason at the New England Conservatory in Boston, Parker attended Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, graduating in 1947 with a double major in organ and composition. She then spent a summer at Tanglewood, studying with the conductor Robert Shaw, with whom she went on to have a long and prolific association, and Julius Herford, before beginning a graduate program in choral conducting at the Juilliard School in New York City. Career Having begun her career as a high school teacher, Parker also collaborated with Robert Shaw on arrangements of materials to be recorded by the Robert Shaw Chorale, and was featured alongside other singers on the front cover of Newsweek on December 29, 1947.In addition to her work with the Chorale, Parker wrote a total of 5 operas, 11 song-cycles, 33 cantatas, 11 works for chorus and orchestra, 47 choral suites, and more than 40 original hymns. She also arranged spirituals, hymns, and folk songs, including French, Spanish, Hebrew, and Ladino folk songs, many of which have become part of the repertoire of choirs around the world.Having divided her time between a New York apartment and her home in Hawley, Massachusetts, Parker decided, at the age of 70, to move permanently to Singing Brook Farm in Hawley, which her father had purchased in 1920 and where she had spent her childhood summers. In Hawley she founded the professional choir Melodious Accord in 1985, with which she released 14 albums and established a fellowship program to enable mid-career musicians to study with her. Parker attended the Federated Church in nearby Charlemont, Massachusetts, and assisted with its music program. Honors and awards Parker served on the Board of Directors of Chorus America and was their first Director Laureate. She received the Distinguished Composer of the Year award from the American Guild of Organists in 2000, the 2014 Brock Commission from the American Choral Directors Association, the Harvard Glee Club Foundation Medal in 2015, six honorary doctorates, and the Smith College Medal, as well as many other awards. She was a Fellow of the Hymn Society of the United States and Canada, and was awarded grants from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, and the American Music Center. She was also honored by the International Emily Dickinson Society for her choral suite Heavenly Hurt. In 2020 a documentary film by Eduardo Montes-Bradley was released, entitled Alice: At Home With Alice Parker. Produced by HFP in association with Melodious Accord, Inc., it focuses on Parker's formative years and her collaboration on texts by Martin Luther King Jr., Archibald MacLeish, Eudora Welty and Emily Dickinson. It was selected for the 2020 Virginia Film Festival. Personal life and death In 1954 Parker married Thomas F. Pyle (1918−1976), a baritone soloist and member of the Robert Shaw Chorale, with whom she had two sons and three daughters. Following his death from a heart attack, a choir made up of 400 of his acquaintances sang Brahms's A German Requiem at his memorial service at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York.Parker died at her home in Hawley on December 24, 2023, at the age of 98. Selected works Operas Original songs or arrangements Books References External links Alice Parker's official homepage Alice Parker papers, Special Collections in Performing Arts, University of Maryland Libraries Alice Parker discography at Discogs Alice Parker at IMDb. Discover the Alice Parker popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Alice Parker books.

Best Seller Alice Parker Books of 2024

  • Taken By The Cowgirl synopsis, comments

    Taken By The Cowgirl

    Alice Parker

    Libby is a small town girl who has her dream job as manager of the Dixon Ranch. She loves the country life, even though, most people in her town dream of moving away. Libby and her...

  • The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle synopsis, comments

    The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle

    Arthur Conan Doyle

    Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world's greatest writers, designed by the awardwinning Coralie BickfordSmith....

  • About Love synopsis, comments

    About Love

    Anton Chekhov & Ronald Wilks

    Introducing Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world's greatest writers, designed by the awardwinning Coralie Bi...

  • The Lagoon synopsis, comments

    The Lagoon

    Joseph Conrad

    Introducing Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world's greatest writers, designed by the awardwinning Coralie Bi...

  • The Cossacks synopsis, comments

    The Cossacks

    Leo Tolstoy

    Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world's greatest writers, designed by the awardwinning Coralie BickfordSmith....

  • This Is How I Save My Life synopsis, comments

    This Is How I Save My Life

    Amy B. Scher

    “A heartwarming and inspiring story that will change the way you look at life.” Vikas Swarup, New York Times bestselling author of Slumdog Millionaire“An Eat Pray Lovelike memoir.”...

  • Leaner, Fitter, Stronger synopsis, comments

    Leaner, Fitter, Stronger

    Tom Exton, James Exton, Max Bridger & Lloyd Bridger

    Ditch the fads, ditch the fat and get lean for life let Max, Lloyd, James and Tom show you how.This book is not a quick fix – it's a new way of life. Leaner, Fitter, Stronger is a...

  • Silver Wattle synopsis, comments

    Silver Wattle

    Belinda Alexandra

    A dazzling novel about two exceptional sisters set in the Australian film world of the 1920s, from the author of WHITE GARDENIA and TUSCAN ROSE.A dazzling novel about two exception...

  • Sapphire Skies synopsis, comments

    Sapphire Skies

    Belinda Alexandra

    A love greater than war. A beautiful woman lost. A mystery unsolved ... until now. The epic new saga from one of Australia's best loved storytellers.2000: the wreckage of a downed ...

  • Diet Cheats Cookbook synopsis, comments

    Diet Cheats Cookbook

    Heather Thomas

    Cheat your way to weight loss with this brilliant book.With 100 easy recipes, including Diet Cheat versions of your favourite dishes from Caesar Salad to Pizza this is the perfec...

  • The Gift of the Magi synopsis, comments

    The Gift of the Magi

    O. Henry

    Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world's greatest writers, designed by the awardwinning Coralie BickfordSmith....

  • Good Loo Hunting synopsis, comments

    Good Loo Hunting

    Luke Barclay

    Lake Titikaka! Canterbury Cathedral!Elephants crossing the Zambezi! Baseball! The Atacama Desert! Goats! These are just some of the sights you can see from the comfort of a conveni...

  • The High Fat Diet synopsis, comments

    The High Fat Diet

    Zana Morris & Helen Foster

    This groundbreaking new book rewrites the rules of effective weight loss to reveal the real secret to rapid and sustained weight loss: quite simply, to burn fat, you need to eat fa...

  • Hell Screen synopsis, comments

    Hell Screen

    Ryūnosuke Akutagawa & Jay Rubin

    Introducing Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world's greatest writers, designed by the awardwinning Coralie Bi...

  • Passing synopsis, comments

    Passing

    Nella Larsen

    Clare Kendry has severed all ties to her past. Elegant, fairskinned and ambitious, she is married to a white man who is unaware of her AfricanAmerican heritage. When she renews her...

  • The Viking Method synopsis, comments

    The Viking Method

    Svava Sigbertsdottir

    The Viking Method uses Svava's strong mental practices inspired by her Icelandic upbringing to help the reader build the lean, powerful and toned physique they desire. It'll render...

  • Street Haunting synopsis, comments

    Street Haunting

    Virginia Woolf

    Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world's greatest writers, designed by the awardwinning Coralie BickfordSmith....

  • Moonlight synopsis, comments

    Moonlight

    Sian Miles & Guy de Maupassant

    Introducing Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world's greatest writers, designed by the awardwinning Coralie Bi...

  • White Nights synopsis, comments

    White Nights

    Fyodor Dostoyevsky & Ronald Meyer

    'My God! A whole minute of bliss! Is that really so little for the whole of a man's life?'A poignant tale of love and loneliness from Russia's foremost writer.One of 46 new books i...