In childhood
an organist, like his father, who had emigrated from Italy, Norman Dello Joio
had his musical education in New York at the Institute of Musical Art and the Juilliard Graduate School, and briefly at Yale under Hindemith, an important influence on his
approach...
(more info)
In childhood
an organist, like his father, who had emigrated from Italy, Norman Dello Joio
had his musical education in New York at the Institute of Musical Art and the Juilliard Graduate School, and briefly at Yale under Hindemith, an important influence on his
approach to composition. He won early success as a composer, achieving
performances under leading conductors and a number of awards, with music that
drew largely on his own Catholic Italian background and on the music he
heard in New York, in particular jazz. He has enjoyed an active teaching
career, with positions at Mannes College and later at Boston University.
Orchestral
Music
Dello
Joio’s Triumph of Saint Joan Symphony was drawn from his opera on the
subject of the French saint, and later presented by Martha Graham as a ballet.
His orchestral compositions range from his Piano Concertino of
1938 to his more recent Lyric Dances, generally in a tonal idiom, while
including a contemporary use of dissonance and irregular rhythms, with some
unusual instrumentation.