Nick Raspa


Nick Raspa (b 1955) resides in the Fort Lauderdale, Florida area. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from The Catholic University of America and studied music composition privately, in New York City, with Fulbright scholar and Pulitzer Prize nominee, Frank Retzel, Ph.D. Raspa is an active composer of contemporary music and has had many works selected, through competition, for performance both in the United States and Europe. In 1988, Raspa’s work, “Three Poems for Soprano Voice and Piano”, a setting of three poems by Emily Dickinson, was selected for performance at the University of Wisconsin New Music Festival. The same work was selected for performance at the regional meeting of the Society of Composers, Inc. “Three Poems for Soprano Voice and Piano” has also been selected for inclusion in the Archives and Manuscript Division of the New York City Public Library. In 1992, The Audubon Symphony Orchestra premiered Raspa’s orchestral work, “Renewal”. In 1994, Raspa’s solo piano piece, “Dawning” was selected for a world premiere on Belgrade Television. “Dawning” has also been selected for inclusion in the Archives and Manuscript Division of the New York City Public Library. In 1999, Raspa’s solo piano work, “Spooky Waltz” was selected for performance at the ppIANISSIMO New Music Festival, Sofia, Bulgaria. Also in 1999, Raspa was commissioned to write a piece for string quartet based on the original hymn, Silent Night. The new piece, “Essay on Silent Night”, received a 1999 premiere in Lancaster, Pa. In 2005, two of Raspa’s pieces for string orchestra were selected for performance at the Living Composer’s Concert held in Glendale, Wisconsin. Those two pieces were “Bagatelle No. 1” and “On The Lake”. In 2012, Raspa’s trio work, “Dimension 20, Regeneration” was selected for performance in the program, "Access Contemporary Music" and performed in Chicago by members of the contemporary music ensemble "Anaphora". That program was broadcast over the Internet. Raspa’s educational music for the piano has received excellent reviews in the music trade journal, Clavier. His educational music for the string orchestra has received excellent reviews in The American String Teacher Journal. In addition to Raspa’s compositional activities, he was also the founding conductor of the Audubon Symphony Orchestra, located near Philadelphia, PA. Raspa was the music director and conductor until moving from Pennsylvania in 1993. Raspa also taught music privately for more than 25 years in Pennsylvania and Minnesota. Raspa also served on the Board of Directors of the Minnesota River Valley Music Teachers Association. The last three years, prior to moving back to the east coast, he served as President of that organization. Raspa was also a member of the Minneapolis Music Teachers Forum and served as state/national liaison for that group. Raspa is a freelance composer and has a number of works listed with the digital music publisher Sheet Music Plus in the United States and MusicaNEO in Switzerland. Raspa is also a freelance pianist performing locally in the South Florida area.

Works selected for performance through national and international competition Three Poems for Soprano Voice & Piano - Univ. of Wisconsin New Music Festival 1988
 (this piece is now included in the Archives and Manuscript Division of the NYC Public Library) Dawning Television Belgrade, Yugoslavia 1994 (this piece is now included in the Archives and Manuscript Division of the NYC Public Library) 
Spooky Waltz ppIANISSIMO New Music Festival, Sofia, Bulgaria 1999
 Bagatelle No.1 Living Composer Concert, Wisconsin 2005
 On The Lake Living Composer Concert, Wisconsin 2005 

Other performances Renewal Audubon Symphony Orchestra Audubon, PA 1992 
Essay on Silent Night Lancaster, PA 1999
 Dimension 20 Chicago 2012 

Music Reviews American String Teacher Journal August 1999 - Bagatelle No. 1 November 1999 - Essay on Silent Night 
August 2000 - The Kerry Dance February 2001 - Menuetto from Piano Sonata No.1 Op. 49 No. 2
 November 2001 - On The Lake Clavier
 May/June 2005 - Six Etudes for Hand over Hand Arpeggio September 2005 - My Very First Waltz September 2005 - I Think I Hear an Echo October 2005 - O Christmas Tree October 2005 - Essay on Silent Night II November 2006 - Christmas Swings

web site: http://njrmusicenterprises.com/

Compositions

Three Dances for Halloween
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This is a set of dances (Waltz, Tango & Gigue) for Halloween done in a tongue-in-cheek fashion. This is the music you might hear at a Halloween party attended by ghosts, goblins, witches and other worldly creatures. The pieces teeter between a tonal center and note centricity giving them a definite otherworldly feel. The duration for all three dances is about 6 minutes. The forces needed to do all three dances is: 22(dbl E.H.)2(B. Cl)2(C.Bsn.) 0210 perc glock vib mar str
Three Poems for Soprano Voice & Piano
A song cycle using the poetry of Emily Dickenson: Syllable; Word; Phrase. This work was selected for performance at The New Music Festival held by The University of Wisconsin in 1988 and The Society of Composers Region 1 meeting in 1991. "Three Poems for Soprano Voice and Piano" is now in the Archives and Manuscript Division of the New York Public Library.
3.4/20/34 Angstrom
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The title of this string quartet work is the spatial configuration of the DNA molecule (double helix). This molecule, singular in function, contains a multitude of information vital to each of us. Despite all our differences, this one fact separates us at the same time it unifies us. This work is divided into two sections each representing one half of the molecule. The piece is constructed as an audio representation of the molecule as seen by an outside observer. This work is currently in the (OLCL) "On Line Community Library System".
"Dimension 20" ("Regeneration")
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I undertook this work as an exercise writing in the dodecophonic style. My goal, in addition to dodecophony, was to soften the mood of the work to a more pastural feel. I used the occasion to pay tribute to my family members who immigrated to this country in the early 20th Century by utilizing family names as part of the algorithm. The title makes reference to both the dodecophonic movement in music and my family's immigration to the United States. The work was selected by "Access Contemporary Music" to be performed in one of their Chicago reading sessions by members of the contemporary music ensemble "Anaphora" and broadcast over the internet in February 2012.