Becky Dale, Composer
St. Paul, MN 55107 • 651/216-0060 • beckydale917 at gmail dot com
MUSIC-THEATER WORKS (Selected)
Wonderlust Productions, wrote, composed music for and co-directed great great grand performed in St. Paul Parks as part of Hopscotch: Pandemic Popup Plays, September 2021; composed music and served as music director for Look Again: The Normandale Play Project, performed at Normandale Community College, 2019, and, Our House: The Capitol Play Project, performed at the Minnesota State Capitol, 2018.
Nautilus Music Theater various projects 1995-2019 including the following RoughCuts readings: grif (2019), homeward (2018), Cantata for Belarus (2011); and the fully produced Fruit of the Family Tree, scene 1 of Sister Stories (2000, 2010); and participating in the Wesley Balk Opera-Music Theater Institute (2010) and Composer-Librettist Studio (1995); Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN.
Cornerstone Theater Company, composed music and served as music director for production for California the Tempest which toured 9 California cities and towns during 2014-2015; and fo AtTraction, Los Angeles, CA, 2009.
West Side Theater Project, founder, producer and composer. Composed music and served as music Director for Once Upon a River (2012), Phantom of the Kitchen (2010), and The West Side on the South Side (2009), St. Paul, MN.
The Plawright’s Center PlayLabs commissioned sound design and music for Dan O’Brien’s The House at Hydesville, July, 2007. The Playwright’s Center and Playwright Elizabeth Wong commissioned music for a workshop and reading of Wong’s The Happy Prince, Minneapolis, MN, Januay 2007.
Macalester College Theater Department commissioned 9 songs and incidental music for their production of Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children, (2004) a “sound scape” including several short songs for Naomi Wallace’s Slaughter City, and songs and underscoring for Brecht’s Caucasian Chalk Circle (1998, using some of the 1996 score above, but mostly new work), St. Paul, MN,
Ten Thousand Things Theater commissioned songs for their productions of Brecht’s Caucasian Chalk Circle (1996) and Aeschylus’ The Furies, (2001), Twin Cities, MN.
SteppingStone Theater for Youth Development commissioned three songs for production of Historic Fort Snelling: Wilderness End, St. Paul, MN, 1997.
CONCERT MUSIC MUSIC COMMISSIONS AND RESIDENCIES (Selected)
Connected by Nature, three songs for mezzo soprano, piano and cello, premiered June 2006.
Jolly Jumping Meteor Notes in Spring, commissioned and performed by the Suzuki violin program of the St. Paul Conservatory of Music, premiered June 2006.
Composer-in-Residence, Byron High School Choral Department, Byron, MN. Composed It’s All Here, Now for mass SATB choir, piano and percussion. October 2005-February 2006.
Decorah United Methodist Church Coral Department commissioned Watch, Listen, Wait for SATB choir and piano, premiered December 2005.
Dick and Nancy Nicholson commissioned Dove Hill Ball for pipe organ. Premiered July, 2005.
Elizabeth Melton commissioned It’ll All Be OK for voice and piano, November 2005.
Music St. Croix commissioned Winter River, Still and Moving for orchestral winds. Premiered Stillwater, MN, Feb. 2000.
Soprano Lisa Habeck commissioned The Gamut, a cycle of songs for soprano, cello, and flute which expresses the range of emotions and the intensity of feeling in parenthood. Early excerpts premiered Landmark Center, St. Paul, MN, Mar. 1999.
Composer-in-Residence, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church, and Chapel Hills United Church of Christ through the American Composers Forum Church-Synagogue Residency Program. Six new works, composed and premiered 1996-1998.
Calliope Women’s Chorus commissioned Calliope for their 20th Anniversary, 1997; commissioned an arrangement of Tracy Chapman’s Rape of the World, February 1998.
One Voice Mixed Chorus commissioned A Rhyme, A Story, and a Lullaby, through the Walker Art Center’s Choral Commissioning Project, 1995.
COMPOSING WORKSHOPS/Teaching
Ordway Music Center and nautilus music-theater: one of 4 composers who led an intensive weekend-long music-theater composing workshop for high school music theater teachers and students, MN, Fall 2001.
St. Paul Community Education Summer Arts Camp: Led two groups of upper elementary-jr. high school aged youth in a workshop that resulted in group compositions, St. Paul MN, summer 2000.
Expo Elementary School: Led composing workshop with kindergarteners, winter 2000-2001.
Dodge Nature Preschool: Composed school song with class of pre-schoolers, Spring 2000.
GRANTS AND AWARDS
ASCAP Standard Award, 1996-2011.
Winner, Concord Singers 95/96 Composition Competition, 1996.
Second Place, 1995 Composers Guild Choral Composition Contest, 1995.
Margaret Fairbanks Jory (American Music Center) copying assistance; 1995.
Jerome, Dayton Hudson, and General Mills Foundations, 1994.
Minnesota State Arts Board Career Opportunity Grant, 1993.
Chorus America Choral Works Performance Grant 1993.
SELECTED ADDITIONAL PREFORMANCES
GLASS Youth performed “One Dad, Two Dads, Brown Dad, Blue Dads” Port Coquitlam BC, Canada, 2002.
One Voice Mixed Chorus performed “One Dad, Two Dads, Brown Dad, Blue Dads” in St. Paul, MN and at the GALA Chorus Festival in San Jose, CA, July, 2000.
Concert Theater-Music on the Landmark New Music Series premiered “Squirrels” and “Baby Dance” and presented Study #1 for One Cello, Four Hands, “Promised Land,” “Tango,” “Fischer’s,” “Dance!” After a Dance, and Fair Fowl, St. Paul, MN March 1999.
Nautilus Music-Theater RoughCuts series presented Chalk Circle Songs for violin, and percussion, St. Paul, October, 1998.
Jubilee Partners premiere of Study #1 for One Cello, Four Hands, Comer, GA, May 1998.
Minneapolis Vocal Consort performed A Rhyme, a Story, and a Lullaby; MN, May, 1996.
Row Twelve (a flute and oboe duo) premiered Fair Fowl; Massachusetts, March, 1996.
Home Remedy (women’s sextet) premiered Upper Iowa, March 1994; Iowa, March, 1996.
University of Virginia New Music Ensemble performed And Ain’t I a Woman and These Hands; Virginia, December, 1995, and April 1996.
New Inventions, the Unicorn Ensemble (string quartet) premiered Laserlight; Minnesota, April, 1995.
A Collage for Voice, Soprano Harriet McCleary performed 3 pieces from Artsongs; Minnesota, January and February (two concerts), 1995.
New Music/New Composers, After A Dance (solo harp) performed; New York, NY, November 1994.
A Tribute to William Cullen Bryant, Summer Wind premiered; New York, October, 1994.
Friendship Haven, The Gifts You Gave Me (solo tape) premiered; Iowa, October, 1994.
Words and Music: an InterAmerican Composers Workshop: Summer Wind read; Life, Death and Advertising, and Art Songs presented; Indiana University, July, 1994.
MusicAlaskaWomen, These anHands performed; University of Alaska, August, 1993.
Five Fabulous Fables, Washington Singers performed Life, Death and Advertising; DC, May, 1993.
EDUCATION
Private Compositional Study with Libby Larsen, August 1990-1998.
Music-Theater and Community-Engaged Theater Training Nautilus Music-Theater Composer-Librettist Studio, 1995; Cornerstone Theater Company Summer Institute, 2008; Wesley Balk Opera/Music-Theater Institute, 2011.
Bachelor of Arts in Music, History, and Spanish, Macalester College, 1988; Compositional studywith J. Michele Edwards and Carelton Macy. Choral and vocal performance study with Dale Warland, Kathy Romie, Emma Small and Rick
ADDITIONAL SKILLS
Proficient engraving scores using Finale; Fluency in Spanish;Extensive experience working with children, youth and families; child abuse and neglect prevention trainer.
Becky Dale, Composer and Coach 