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David A. Yeagley Dr. David Anthony Yeagley (b. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, September 5, 1951) is an American composer, pianist, conservative commentator, and portrait artist. He also writes poetry and fiction, plays the Native American flute, and Gourd Dances. He lives in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Early life Yeagley was born and grew up in Oklahoma City. He is an enrolled member of the Comanche Nation, based in Lawton, Oklahoma, and claims descent from Bad Eagle (1839-1906), a band headman among the Kwahadi (Antelope) Comanche of West Texas. He was born to a Comanche (and part Chickasaw) mother, Norma Juanita Portillo Yeagley (1922-2005)(who was Bad Eagle's great-granddaughter), and a white father, Ned Carlton Yeagley. He began playing the piano at the age of eleven. By age thirteen, he performed the Anton Rubinstein Piano Concerto No. 4 with the Oklahoma Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Guy Fraser Harrison. In his teenage years, Yeagley composed a volume of works ranging from solo piano sonatas to choral and chamber works. Education Yeagley received a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance and Composition from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, a Master of Divinity in Biblical Studies and History from Yale University, a Master of Arts in Literature and History from Emory University (1981), an Artist Diploma in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the Hartt School of Music, and a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Piano Performance and Composition from the University of Arizona (1994). For his senior recital at Oberlin Conservatory, Yeagley performed a program of his own solo piano compositions. This program was aired on radio in Connecticut, California, Michigan, Tennessee and Texas. During his college career, Yeagley studied piano with Fernando Laires, John Perry, James Mathis, Dadi Mehta, Louis de Moura Castro, Paul Rutman, Nicholas Zumbro, Ruth Slenczynska, Alexander Uninsky, and Frank Mannheimer. He has studied composition with Daniel Asia, Krzysztof Penderecki, Richard Hoffman, and Joseph Wood. Compositions In 1997 Yeagley was commissioned by the New Jersey Chamber Music Society for his duo for oboe and bassoon entitled Three Spirit Dances on the Bark of an Ancient Stump, which premiered in the Jersey City Museum as part of a concert featuring works by American Indian composers. In 1998 this work was performed in Caesarea, Israel as part of a benefit concert, including a guest appearance/lecture by Yeagley himself. In 1999 he was commissioned by James Pellerite for a new solo sonata for traditional Northern Plains Native American flute, which was premiered at the Annual Native American Symposium at Southeastern Oklahoma State University. This, along with his 10 Etudes for Native American Flute, can be found on his 2004 album Awakenings. He was also commissioned by José Cordero, Founder and President of the Native Sun Symphony Orchestra, to compose that organization's anthem. Also in 1999, Yeagley was commissioned by the late Jack P. Eisner for the world's first grand opera about the Jewish Holocaust of World War II, entitled Jacek. Eisner was one of the last surviving leaders of the Warsaw Resistance. During a recent visit to Israel, Yeagley was appointed by Eisner to depict his published autobiography, entitled The Survivor of the Holocaust, through the medium of a grand opera. A portion of the opera was released on CD by the Opus One label in 2005. In October 2006, his music was performed in the Elmer and Mary Louise Rasmuson Theater at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. |
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