John Craton

John Douglas Craton (born August 6, 1953) is an American classical composer. His works have been performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan. While his compositions cover a diverse range, he is best known for his operas, ballets, and works for classical mandolin.

Biography Craton was born August 6, 1953, in Anniston, Alabama. Though neither of his parents was musical, his extended family included many musicians, both amateurs and professionals, among them his cousin, concert pianist and composer Barbara Gallagher. He began his formal musical training at age 10 studying violin under retired violinist and conductor, Robert Louis Barron. After graduating from Saks High School, he studied violin and piano at Jacksonville State University before transferring to Lipscomb University, where he earned his B.A. Craton studied theory and composition under John Maltese, Gerald Moore, and Henry Fusner. His graduate degree from Indiana University Bloomington was in audiology, and Craton practiced as a clinical audiologist for several years in Indiana before returning to his musical roots and devoting his full-time to teaching and composing.

Craton's music is highly tonal and in general reflects a style of English pastoralism, often incorporating onomatopoeic elements sometimes described as "nature music." His music has been variously characterized as "atmospheric," "dramatic and challenging," "largely traditional ... playful," and occasionally even reflecting "a medieval/Renaissance flavor." He has been performed by such artists and ensembles as Sebastiaan de Grebber, Gertrud Weyhofen, Sinella Aghasi, Ljubomir Velickovic, Takumi Mamiya, Lisa Ferrigno, Het CONSORT, the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, Filarmonica Mandolini Alba Sapporo, Townsend Opera, and the Bloomington and Amsterdam Symphony Orchestras. Romanian opera composer and conductor Leonard Dumitriu has described Craton's music as "coming from some other time and planet," stating that although he "may be an American living in the present... [his] music comes from the time of Haydn and Mozart, or, better, from a world without time, where ... even the cares are easy and bright ... a musical world of sonorous peace and joy." Many of Craton's works are published by Wolfhead Music.

While in his early years Craton often performed on violin, piano, recorder, and other instruments, he abandoned public performance after a hand injury and has since devoted himself completely to teaching and composing. He currently operates a private music studio in Bedford, Indiana.

Works

Opera The Curious Affair of the Count of Monte Blotto Defiance: A One-minute Opera The Fashionable Lady Gilgamesh Inanna: An Opera of Ancient Sumer The Parliament of Fowls The Reconciliation Saint Mary of Egypt Tom Ojos Azules Vasya Whitefeet

Ballet L'Atelier du tailleur de pierre Les chats du Bagarreau Dans les ténèbres La Boîte à musique Le Grenier Le Cimetière The Dartmoor Pixies Emilia Les gentilles sirènes The Huluppu Tree (from Inanna) The Jumblies Labyrinth (pas seul) Mother Goose The Muleshoe Marathon Nefertiti Pierrot & Pierrette ( Le mime solitaire) La Soirée des animaux The Tattered Slippers Through the Looking-Glass Voyageur de temps : un ballet électronique

Orchestral Ann Putnam Overture Apologetic Waltz for string orchestra Assyrian Fantasy for violin, strings & percussion Ava's Vignettes for string orchestra Beowulf: The Orchestral Suite Bloemen van Spanje (Flowers of Spain) for two guitars & strings Cantique des montées A Christmas Card Coronach for the Martyrs of Our Lady of Salvation Danseries anciennes for mandolin orchestra Gilgamesh Overture Inanna Orchestral Suite Lassitude for string orchestra with solo violin & violoncello The Legend of Princess Noccalula for mandolin & orchestra Mongolian Folk Songs for viola & chamber orchestra Niños Jugando for guitar & mandolin orchestra Pagan Festivals for string orchestra A Silly Jig for mandolin orchestra Three Paintings by Nikolai Blokhin for violin & strings Triptych for string orchestra

Concertos Concerto for 2 Mandolins & Orchestra ("Rromane Bjavela") Flute Concerto Mandolin Concerto No. 1 in D Minor Mandolin Concerto No. 2 in D Major Mandolin Concerto No. 3 in E Minor Mandolin Concerto No. 4 in G Major Tuba Concerto in G Minor

Chamber Les Adieux for violin & piano Antebellum Suite for violin & piano Autumn Leaf for flute & harp Beowulf: A Suite for Ancient Instruments Berceuse for violin & piano Charon Crossing the Styx for mandolin & double bass Dance of the Fey Folk for violin & piano Dioses aztecas for mandolin & piano Divertissements médiévaux for violin & piano Duettino No. 1 in A for two violins Duettino No. 2 in D for two violins Duettino No. 3 in B-flat for two violins Elementals for flute & piano Five Apothegms for violin, horn & trombone Five Observations for five to six instruments & voice Four Cornish Sketches for violin & piano Four Little Moments for violin & piano Four Little Pastorales for violin & piano Four Whimsies for mandola & mandocello Gorillas for two violins Les gravures de Gustave Doré for mandolin & guitar The Gray Wolf for mandolin solo In Memoriam: George Kirles for violoncello & piano Kalimba Maya for kalimba solo L'Ombre de la tour d'horloge for violoncello & piano Perpetuum Mobile for mandolin solo Petite Suite for violin & piano Processional for string quartet Quatuor pour les jeunes for string quartet Ricordando Pi for violin & piano Romanza for clarinet & piano Scherzo for violin & piano Seven Pieces in First Position for violin & piano Seven Variations on "What If a Day, or a Month, or a Yeare" for lute or guitar Six Easy Pieces for viola & piano Six Pantomimes for two mandolins Sonata Colloquia for marimba & piano Sonata for Solo Violin Sonate for violin, clarinet & piano ("Trois petites filles") Sonatina for saxophone & piano Sonatina in F for recorder & harpsichord Sonatina No. 1 for violin & piano Sonatina No. 2 in A Major for violin & piano Sonatina No. 3 in G Major for violin & mandolin Sonatina No. 4 ("Sonatina semplice") for violin & piano Sonatina No. 5 in E Major for violin & piano Sonatina No. 6 ("Israeli Sonatina") for violin & piano String Quartet Tango for four guitars & chitarrone Three Tableaux from George MacDonald for recorder, mandolin & violoncello Tombeau for Richard Dohrmann for violin & piano Triosatz for three violins Trois sœurs assyriennes for flute & piano Twelve Variations on La Follia for violin & piano Valse-Caprice for violin & piano Variations from Der Fluyten Lust-hof of Jakob Van Eyck for mandolin solo Variations on a Traditional Theme for solo violin The Visitation for violin & piano

Piano (keyboard) L'anneau des fees (for celesta or piano) Bag o' Tails: A menagerie of (almost) 10 bagatelles for piano and unbreakable Native American medicine rattle A Cat's Life A Childhood Scrapbook Eight Little Vignettes Ffynnon Dyfnog (St. Dyfnog's Well) Five Psalms for Organ I Am Goya Morris Dance (piano, 4 hands) Nymphes (2 pianos, 4 hands) Passacaglia for Organ Pegasus Suite Piano Sonata in Free Form (Hilton Head, S.C.) Piano Sonata No. 2 in B Major The Rennab Delgnaps Rats Simple Pleasures Six Little Pastorals Six Miniatures Southern Indiana Sketches Where They Dwell

Vocal/choral An Aestuary (A Calm Evening) for voice & piano Arreglos de Canciones Tradicionales Españolas for voice & piano Berceuse (Dodo l'enfant do) for voice & piano A Child's Prayer at Evening for voice & piano Jardin sentimental : Cinq poèmes d'Émile Nelligan for voice & piano The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock for tenor & strings Lullaby for Aidan for voice & piano Messe en l'honneur des martyrs modernes for SSAATTBB choir & organ A Morning Prayer for voice & piano Six Japanese Songs for soprano & piano Songs for Children, Books 1, 2 & 3 for voice & piano The Way Everlasting for SATB choir

Arrangements/orchestrations Biber — Sonata Representativa (string orchestra) Craton — The Armadillo Races at Victoria, Texas (wind ensemble) Craton — Coronach for the Martyrs of Our Lady of Salvation (wind ensemble) Craton — Lullaby (from "Four Whimsies") (string orchestra) Daniel — Festival (soprano, mezzo-soprano & orchestra) Daniel — Maiden of Dreams (soprano & orchestra) Daniel — Memories of Fatherland (soprano & orchestra) Daniel — Nineveh (soprano & orchestra) Daniel — Spinning Wheel Song (soprano, mezzo-soprano & orchestra) Daniel — Tears of the Beloved (mezzo-soprano & orchestra) Dobyns — Three Rags (mandolin orchestra) Gianneo — Cinco Piezas (solo mandolin & string orchestra) Issabey — Qooyama (chorus & orchestra) Issabey — Roomrama (soprano & orchestra) Issabey — Ya Umta (chorus & orchestra) Khofri — The Nation Sacrifices (chorus & orchestra) Khofri — The Vacant Nineveh (chorus & orchestra) Kioulaphides — Four Souvenirs (string orchestra) Salieri — 26 Variazioni sulla Follia di Spagna (violin & piano)

Discography Excerpt from Gilgamesh: An Assyrian Opera — Tablet VII: "Enkidu's Death & Lament of Gilgamnesh." Gottschalk Music Center Orchestra, John Kendall Bailey, cond. Assyryt: The Assyrian Diamond CD and DVD. Assyrian Market, MN2009DVD/CD. Excerpts from Gilgamesh: An Assyrian Opera — Overture; Tablet VI: "The Bull of Heaven." Excerpts from Inanna: An Opera of Ancient Sumer — Aria: "I, the Lady"; Ballet: "The Huluppu Tree"; Drinking Song from beginning of Act III. Sibel Demirman, Donn Bradley, Lorraine Davis, Julie Anne Miller, Barbara Wesley, vocalists; Sarah Weaver, Joseph Adkins, David Riskin, dancers of the Central West Ballet; René Daveluy, choreographer; orchestra of the Townsend Opera Players; Chase Spruill, solo violin; Ryan Murray, cond. Mediterranean Night CD and DVD. Assyrian Market, mesc-001 (CD), mesd-001 (DVD). The Orchestral Music of John Craton. Ann Putnam Overture, Excerpts from The Parliament of Fowls, The Reconciliation, The Fashionable Lady, La Boîte à musique, and The Curious Affair of the Count of Monte Blotto; Orchestral Suite from Inanna. Wolfhead Music, 884501052672. "The Gray Wolf." Fantasia Romantica. Sebastiaan de Grebber, mandolin. Stemra, SDG001-07. "The Legend of Princess Noccalula." Music for Mandolin Orchestra. Sebastiaan de Grebber, solo mandolin. Het CONSORT. Alex Timmerman, conducting. Stemra ATSDG03-08.