Ronald Keith Parks, born in Waynesville, NC, is an active composer of acoustic and electronic music. His diverse output includes orchestral works, instrumental and vocal chamber music, choral music, electroacoustic music, and interactive computer music. He has written music for numerous professional ensembles and performers including the Red Clay Saxophone Quartet, the Charlotte Civic Orchestra, NeXT Ens, the Winthrop/Carolinas Wind Orchestra, the Bradner-Deguchi piano duo, pianist Tomoko Deguchi, flutist Jill O'Neill, the Winthrop University Wind Symphony, the Winthrop University Percussion Ensemble, the University at Buffalo Percussion Ensemble, the Sallie Fouse Flute Quartet, the University of Georgia Contemporary Ensemble, the North Carolina School of the Arts Symphony, the NCSA International Music Program Ensemble, the North Carolina School of the Arts String Orchestra, and many others.
Many of his compositions have been selected for inclusion at numerous national and international festivals and conferences including the Malgrat del Mar International Music Festival, the Florida Electroacoustic Music Festival, the Bowing Green State University Contemporary Ensemble Concert, the Society for Electroacoustic Music in the United States Conference, the International Computer Music Conference, the Electronic Music Midwest Festival, the National Flute Association Conference, The Australian Flute Festival, Society of Composers' National and Regional Conferences, the Two-Sided Triangle concert series in Essen Germany, the NextWave~ festival in Melbourne Australia, the Aural Archetectures, Earfest, and Computer Music at SUNY Stony Brook series, the Unbalanced Connection Concerts at the University of Florida, the Timara Faculty and Guests Concert Series at Oberlin College, Southeastern Composers' League Concerts, the College Music Society Composers' Concerts and numerous performers and composers concerts and recitals throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia.
Dr. Parks’ research into computer music techniques, including granular sampling, granular synthesis, and FFT-based spectral accumulation and evaporation, has been included in the Amsterdam Catalogue of Csound Computer Instruments and has been presented at SEAMUS conferences, SCI conferences, the SPARK Festival, and the Electronic Music Midwest Festival.
Select commissions have come from The Out of Bounds Ensemble, NeXT Ens, Forces of Nature, the Charlotte Civic Orchestra, the Red Clay Saxophone Quartet, the South Carolina Music Teachers Association, the North Carolina School of the Arts' International Music Program (to write a work for their European tour), and the North Carolina School of the Arts Orchestra.
His honors and awards include the Aaron Copland Award and Residency, the Outstanding Junior Professor Award at Winthrop University, Honorable Mentions in the Shepard Composer of the year award, the Minnesota Compsers Institute, and the MACRO/Truman State composition contest, two Giannini Scholarships for Music Composition plus the Chancellors Award for Excellence at the North Carolina School of the Arts, three Graeffe Memorial Scholarships for Composition, and the Presidential Recognition Award at the University of Florida. His flute quartet “Counterparts” was selected as the set piece for the 11th annual Australian Flute Festival quartet competition. He was awarded a grant from the Siemens Creative Arts Foundation. He has received a Meet the Composer grant and was nominated and elected to the Gamma Zeta Chapter of Pi Kappa Lambda, a national honor society for musicians. His music is available on the Electronic Music Foundation label (CD 031) and the Society of Composers, Inc. Student Chapter CD Volume 1 from the University of Florida. His electroacoustic works non divisi and Sul C are featured on the 2005 and 2006 60X60 CD. Torque, for orchestra, has been recorded by the Kiev Philharmonic with Robert Winstin conducting and will appear on Volume 17 of the forthcoming Masterworks of the New Era CD. Instances for piano and chamber wind ensemble has been recorded by pianist Tomoko Deguchi with the Winthrop University Wind Symphony, Lorrie Crochet conductor, for release on Eagel Edition Recordings.
Dr. Parks received the BA in composition from the North Carolina School of the Arts, an MM in composition from the University of Florida, and a Ph.D. in composition from the University at Buffalo. He is currently an assistant professor of music technology, theory, and composition and Director of the Winthrop Computer Music Labs at Winthrop University.
