An Emerging International Composer

During the week of May 8, 2006, composer Gary Belshaw’s ninth commission, Victory Day [День Победы] Overture for Symphonic Wind Ensemble, received three performances in Russia. The composer toured with the Wayland Baptist University Pioneer Band during Victory Day celebrations by invitation of the International Fine Arts Institute and the Russian Ministry of Culture. The Russian premiere of the work was presented in the Grand Hall of the Moscow (State) Conservatory, where Tchaikovsky, Glazunov, Khachaturian, and Shostakovich taught composition, and on the same stage where Van Cliburn won the first Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in 1958.

The premiere of Victory Day in Moscow and St. Petersburg marked the second time this composer’s music has been performed in Russia. Don Lucas took Belshaw’s Weekend Stories on a tour of Russia and England. Belshaw’s compositions have also been heard in Spain and in concert and recital venues from Maryland to Nevada, including Texas Music Educators Association and Texas Bandmasters Association. He has twice served as Composer in Residence for the Big Twelve Area Universities Trombone Conference.

The list of performers and ensembles on whose programs his works have appeared includes:

• U. S. Naval Academy Band and the U. S. Naval Academy Band Trombone Quartet
• Don Lucas, Associate Professor of Music, Trombone, Boston University
• Trombones de Costa Rica
• The Texas Tech Trombone Choir
• Gary Lewis, Director of Orchestral Studies, Texas
• Tech University School of Music
• Lubbock Symphony Orchestra, Albert George Schramm, Conductor
• Texas Tech University Symphony Orchestra, Eric Fried, Conductor
• Texas Tech University Wind Ensemble, John Cody Birdwell, Director
• Houston Symphonic Band, Robert McElroy, Director
• Plainview Symphony Orchestra, Boyce Wyrick, Conductor

His credentials and credits include:

• Who’s Who in America 2005, 2006
• A.S.C.A.P.
• Society of Composers Incorporated
• American Music Center
• College Music Society

The Composer as Educator
Dr. Belshaw (B.M. Music Composition, Texas Tech University; M.M., Music Theory and Composition, Texas Tech University; Ph.D., Fine Arts, Music Composition, Texas Tech University) is an Associate Professor at Wayland Baptist University in Plainview. He has begun his eighth year teaching Composition, Orchestration, Music Technology, Class Piano, Piano, and Piano Pedagogy. He studied composition with Dr. Mary Jeanne van Appledorn and with Dr. Steven Paxton.

Personal
Dr. Belshaw and his lovely bride of 31 years, Renée, have three beautiful children: son and daughter-in-law Ben and Kristen Belshaw, Lufkin, TX; Son-in-law and daughter Chris and Bethany Reinecke, Abilene, TX, with their three beautiful children, Caitlan, Juliana, and Alex; and son Micah, Longmont, CO. The composer is a native of Washington D.C. and Maryland.