James Di Pasquale (born April 7, 1941) is an American musician and composer of
contemporary classical music and music for television and films.
Biography
Pasquale was born on April 7, 1941 in Chicago to Hugo and Lucille (née Ciccone) Di Pasquale, James Di Pasquale is a graduate of St. Mel's High School in Chicago. He graduated from
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
and the
Manhattan School of Music. His teachers included
David Diamond and
Ludmila Uhlela.
Before turning full-time to composition, he had a varied career as a woodwinds performer with the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) was founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891. The ensemble makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival. The music director is Riccardo Muti, who began his tenu ...
, the
Bolshoi Ballet, and the
Royal Ballet
The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded in ...
.
He performed as a jazz musician with
Gerry Mulligan
Gerald Joseph Mulligan (April 6, 1927 – January 20, 1996), also known as Jeru, was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger. Though primarily known as one of the leading jazz baritone saxophonists—playing the instrum ...
,
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, in ...
,
Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini ( ; born Enrico Nicola Mancini, ; April 16, 1924 – June 14, 1994) was an American composer, conductor, arranger, pianist and flautist. Often cited as one of the greatest composers in the history of film, he won four Academy Award ...
, and
Barbra Streisand
Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers awar ...
as well as many others. He was one of the original members of the
Paul Winter Consort
The Paul Winter Consort is an American musical group. Bassist Eliot Wadopian has been a member.
Discography
Films
*''Canyon Consort'' (1985)
References
External linksLiving Music- Paul Winter's record label
{{Authority control
American j ...
.
In 1984, he served as the Organizing Chairman and first President of the
Society of Composers and Lyricists. He also served as a member of the Board of Governors of the
Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and on the Writer’s Advisory Committee at the
American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers
The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...
(ASCAP).
Music for television
He wrote the musical scores to made-for-TV movies such as: ''
Sarah T. – Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic'' (1975), ''Fantasies'' (1982), ''
Two of a Kind'' (1982), ''
Quarterback Princess
''Quarterback Princess'' is a 1983 American made-for-television fact-based sports drama film by 20th Century Fox that chronicles the courage and determination of a teenage girl who struggles against sexism and fights to play on her high school f ...
'' (1983), ''
The Shell Seekers'' (1989), ''The Killing Mind'' (1991), ''Runaway Father'' (1991), ''
In the Best Interest of the Children
''In the Best Interest of the Children'' is a 1992 American made-for-television fact-based drama film starring Sarah Jessica Parker who plays a woman struggling with manic-depression while raising her five children. This leads to the children e ...
'' (1992), ''Seduction: Three Tales from the "Inner Sanctum"'' (1992); and television series such as: ''
Columbo'', ''
Lou Grant
Lou Grant is a fictional character played by Ed Asner in two television series produced by MTM Enterprises for CBS. The first was ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' (1970–1977), a half-hour light-hearted situation comedy in which the character ...
'', ''
Switch
In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type of ...
'', ''
Hawaii Five-O
Hawaii Five-O or Hawaii Five-0 may refer to:
* ''Hawaii Five-0'' (2010 TV series), an American action police procedural television series
* ''Hawaii Five-O'' (1968 TV series), an American police procedural drama series produced by CBS Productio ...
'', ''
McClain's Law
''McClain's Law'' is an American crime drama television series that aired on NBC during the 1981–1982 season. New episodes ended on March 20, and rebroadcasts continued until August 24, 1982.
Summary
The series starred former ''Gunsmoke'' le ...
'', ''
Chicago Story'', ''
Cutter to Houston'' and ''
Trauma Center
A trauma center (or trauma centre) is a hospital equipped and staffed to provide care for patients suffering from major traumatic injuries such as falls, motor vehicle collisions, or gunshot wounds. A trauma center may also refer to an emergen ...
''.
He has received three
Emmy Awards, six Emmy nominations, and a
CableACE Award
The CableACE Award (earlier known as the ACE Awards; ACE was an acronym for "Award for Cable Excellence") is a defunct award that was given by what was then the National Cable Television Association from 1978 to 1997 to honor excellence in Am ...
nomination for his work in television.
Music for films
His motion picture scores include ''
Fast Break
Fast break is an offensive strategy in basketball and handball. In a fast break, a team attempts to move the ball up court and into scoring position as quickly as possible, so that the defense is outnumbered and does not have time to set up. The ...
'' (1979) and ''
Rad
RAD or Rad may refer to:
People
* Robert Anthony Rad Dougall (born 1951), South African former racing driver
* Rad Hourani, Canadian fashion designer and artist
* Nickname of Leonardus Rad Kortenhorst (1886–1963), Dutch politician
* Radley R ...
'' (1986).
Classical works
His compositions for the concert hall include:
*Sonata for
tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while ...
and
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...
*Quartet for
trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...
,
tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while ...
,
viola
; german: Bratsche
, alt=Viola shown from the front and the side
, image=Bratsche.jpg
, caption=
, background=string
, hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71
, hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow
, range=
, related=
*Violin family ...
, and
cello
The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G ...
*Symphony in one movement
*In Absentia: Elegy for
Stan Getz
*Monologia for solo horn (for
Dale Clevenger
Dale Clevenger (July 2, 1940 – January 5, 2022) was an American musician who was the Principal Horn of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1966 until his retirement in June, 2013. , principal
horn
Horn most often refers to:
*Horn (acoustic), a conical or bell shaped aperture used to guide sound
** Horn (instrument), collective name for tube-shaped wind musical instruments
*Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various ...
of the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) was founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891. The ensemble makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival. The music director is Riccardo Muti, who began his tenu ...
)
*Interplay and Showing Great Restraint (for
Chicago Current, a jazz–fusion ensemble of Chicago Symphony players.)
Recordings
He has also worked as a record producer. His credits include:
*With You, I'm Born Again (
Billy Preston and
Syreeta
Syreeta Wright (February 28, 1946 – July 6, 2004), who recorded professionally under the single name Syreeta, was an American singer-songwriter, best known for her music during the early 1970s through the early 1980s. Wright's career heights we ...
), a top five single
*Glider (
Auracle), a top ten jazz album
His "Sonata for Tenor Saxophone and Piano" has been recorded by saxophonists such as
James Houlik James Houlik ( ; born December 4, 1942 in Bay Shore, New York) is an American classical tenor saxophonist and saxophone teacher.
Family life
Houlik is married for the third time, and has fathered four children.
He has four grand children and four ...
,
Frederick Hemke
Fred Hemke, DMA ''(né'' Frederick Leroy Hemke Jr.; July 11, 1935 – April 17, 2019) was an American virtuoso classical saxophonist and influential professor of saxophone at Northwestern University. Hemke helped raise the popularity of clas ...
and
Steven Mauk, saxophone instructor at Ithaca College in Ithaca, NY.
Personal life
He married Donna McNeely in 1995. They were divorced in 2003. One son, Marco James Di Pasquale, was born in 1998.
External links
NY Times filmography*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Di Pasquale, James
1941 births
Living people
American male classical composers
American classical composers
American film score composers
American television composers
Male television composers
Male film score composers
Manhattan School of Music alumni
Primetime Emmy Award winners
20th-century classical composers
21st-century classical composers
21st-century American composers
20th-century American composers
20th-century American male musicians
21st-century American male musicians