Paul Dooley

Paul Dooley’s music has been described as “impressive and beautiful” by American composer Steve Reich. Dooley’s path has embraced not only his Western Classical heritage, but also a cross-cultural range of contemporary music, dance, art, technology and the interactions between the human and natural worlds.

Dooley is on faculty at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance. While at the University of Michigan, Dooley has taught courses in electronic music, co-directed the 2009 Midwest Composers Symposium and in 2010 was coordinator of the ONCE. MORE. Festival, a 50 year anniversary of the ONCE Festival of Contemporary Music. He studied composition primarily with composers Michael Daugherty, Bright Sheng, Evan Chambers, Frank Ticheli, Stephen Hartke, Charles Sepos and Doc Collins.

In addition to The Conductor’s Spellbook, Dooley’s recent orchestral work include: Northern Nights, a percussion concerto for acoustic and electronic drums, premiered by the Lansing Symphony and Lake George Music Festival Orchestra; Concerto Grosso, premiered by Trio Céleste and Chamber Music | OC in Carnegie Hall; Mavericks, inspired by the legendary surf break off the shore of Half Moon Bay in Northern California, premiered in Disney Hall by the American Youth Symphony; Run for the Sun, premiered by the New York Youth Symphony in Carnegie Hall; Point Blank, premiered by Santa Cruz’s Cabrillo Festival Orchestra and New York City-based new music ensemble Alarm Will Sound. In 2010, San Francisco Ballet Principle Dancers Muriel Maffre and Damian Smith commissioned him to create Making Visible for Marina Abramovic Institute West.

Dooley’s band compositions are widely performed across the United States. Point Blank and Masks and Machines were recently commissioned by consortiums organized by the University of Miami Frost Wind Ensemble conducted by Gary Green. Dooley’s Mavericks was recently commissioned by Eric Wilson and the Baylor Wind Ensemble, and Coast of Dreams was commissioned by a consortium led by Paula Holcomb at SUNY Fredonia. These works were performed at venues such as the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) National Conference, The Midwest Clinic, Texas Music Educators Association Convention and the American Bandmasters Association Annual Conference. Dooley’s Meditation at Lagunitas was commissioned by the American Bandmasters Association and the University of Florida, and premiered at the ABA Annual Conference. In 2012, Dooley was composer-in-residence with the Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings. This featured the premiere of Salt of the Earth for brass ensemble and percussion, conducted by H. Robert Reynolds.

Other performances of Dooley’s music include those by the Charlotte Symphony, Omaha Symphony, Charleston Symphony Orchestra, Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra, Chautauqua Festival Orchestra, American Philharmonic, Amarillo Symphony, YMF Debut Orchestra, the Atlantic Classical Orchestra, USC Thornton Symphony, and Nu Deco Ensemble.

Dooley is recipient of the following awards:  the 2016 Sousa/ABA/Ostwald Award and the 2015 William D. Revelli Prize for Masks and Machines; the 2013 Jacob Druckman Award for orchestral composition from the Aspen Music Festival for Point Blank; a 2010 BMI composer award for Gradus for solo cello and a 2008 ASCAP Morton Gould Composer Award for Dani’s Dance for piano trio.