Early in 1982 the Detroit Symphony Orchestra premiered Hartway's
concerto for jazz quartet and orchestra Cityscapes , with
the composer at the piano. The work has had many subsequent
performances, and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Kenneth
Jean conducted.
Monuments,
commissioned by the Meadow Brook Music Festival for its 20th
Anniversary, was introduced by Sixten Ehrling and the Detroit
Symphony.
Fanfare and Hymn
specially
commissioned to help celebrate the Papal Mass and visit of John
Paul II to the United States was given its world premier at the
Silverdome in
Pontiac,
Michigan by a 1200 voice choir and orchestra and
was nationally televised.
The
one act opera Ke-Nu and the Magic Coals written for the
Michigan Opera Theater was first performed and toured
Michigan
in 1987, it was then restaged for a three week run at the
Hilberry Theater in Detroit.
The
piano trio City Sketches was commissioned and premiered
by the Great Lakes Trio in 1988 and has been performed by
several trios throughout the United States and Japan.
Detours
for flute and harp premiered in Japan and China with the Larson/Allvin
Duo. A compact disc recording, a Carnegie Hall performance, and
a European and Scandinavian tour of Detours all occurred
in 1990.
Songs for Ronnie
also had
New York performances and a European tour.
The
Grant Park Symphony gave the premier performance of Hartway's
Freedom Festival July of 1991 in
Chicago. Ten subsequent performances by the
Warren, Flint,
and Saginaw Symphonies have since taken place.
Six
of Hartway's chamber pieces were recorded and released on the
compact disc City Sketches. His music is included on
twelve other CDs.
In
1994 both Three Myths for Piano and Echoes from
the Lord's Valley received their premiers.
Hartway has received Creative Artist Grants from the Michigan
Council for the Arts and the Detroit Council for the Arts and a
WSU Board of Governor's Recognition Award.
In
1995 Dr. Hartway was chosen as the Michigan Music Teacher's
Association Commissioned Composer.
Also in 1995 Dr. Hartway was chosen as the Michigan Music
Teacher's Association Commissioned Composer. He has won
research, international travel grants; and, a Humanities Center
Fellowship from WSU to compose the orchestra piece Star
Dancer for the dedication of the University's new arts
complex.
Hartway was selected as a Charles Gershenson Distinguished
Faculty Fellow for 1996 and 1997.
The
'96-'97 concert season saw the premier performances of four new
works including Hodie Christus Natus Est for soprano,
chorus, strings, harp, and organ commissioned by the Archdiocese
of Detroit for its Christmas celebrations, and Message from
Garcia which was first performed at the Carnegie Center for
the Arts in Three Rivers Michigan by the Allvin/Delury Duo.
In 1999, 2004 and 2005 he was named Outstanding Classical
Composer at the Detroit Music Awards Ceremony.
The
Last Blackbirds
for bass voice and piano was premiered in 2001, and in the
spring of 2002, the world premier of the harp trio Images of
Mogador took place in Essaouira, Morocco.
During the 2002-03 season, the premier of Processional
for brass quintet and organ was written and performed to
celebrate the renovation of the Cathedral of the Most Blessed
Sacrament; and, A Living Land was premiered for the
opening of the Center for Citizenship at WSU.
Five Postcards from Michigan
was commissioned and premiered by the Verdehr Trio and included
in their concert repertoire during the 2002-2003 season. This
piece has since been recorded by the trio and is available on
Crystal Records and released in spring of 2007. Portrait of
a Man was premiered by the Detroit Chamber winds in 2004;
and, Island Dances, a concerto for two harps and
orchestra, was given its first performance by the Warren
Symphony in 2005.
In
2004 An Affair of the Harp CD was released that featured
harpist Kerstin Allvin performing all of Hartway’s chamber and
solo pieces for harp. The CD was named the Detroit Music
Awards “Outstanding Classical Recording” for 2005.
The
Naxos American Classics CD “Imaginary Creatures” devoted
exclusively to four of Professor Hartway’s chamber works was
released in December of 2007.
Hartway received two commissions for original music in 2007. The first “Echoes from a Disappearing Planet” for symphonic wind ensemble and multi-media was requested by Professor Douglas Bianchi for the WSU Symphonic Wind Ensemble. This work had its premiere in April of 2008. The second, for viola, percussion and harp, “. . .of birds, bears and butterflies” commissioned by violist Laura Roelofs was premiered in 2009.
“Urban Pictures” a concerto for jazz quintet and symphony orchestra was commissioned by saxophonist Christopher Collins and was premiered in Torino, Italy in the spring of 2011 by the Filarmonia 900 orchestra of the Teatro Regio. Chris Collins and Emanuele Cisi were the soloists and Maestro Damian Iorio conducted. The string quartet “Dream Cruise – a City Re imagined” was written for Detroit Symphony Orchestra violinist Marian Tanau and his Fusion Project to introduce classical music performance and lecture into area school systems. It will premiere in March of 2012 on Hartway’s “To Detroit with Love” concert at Wayne State University.
Hartway was chosen as the first recipient of the Murray E. Jackson University Creative Scholar in the Arts for the academic year 2011-2012. During this time period he has been recording the “Urban Pictures” concerto, composing, and giving guest lectures on the creative process in music.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND AWARDS
Professor Hartway is involved in a variety of professional
activities that include guest appearances with symphony
orchestras, composing music for film and television commercials,
artist residencies, and a jazz history television series. He
has been music component coordinator for the Michigan Department
of Education's Summer Institute for Gifted and Talented, and
co-founded and is consultant to the Wayne State University Music
Department's Jazz and Contemporary Media Program, and Electronic
Music Studio. Former chair of the Michigan Council for the Arts
Music Advisory Panel, Hartway has also been a project director
for the Young Audiences national program.
He
received both the Young Musicians Foundation of Los Angeles
Composition Award and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra's American
Music Competition Award for his Seven Ways of Looking at a
Blackbird .
