Peter K. Winkler


Peter K. Winkler is an American composer and a musicologist specializing in the theory of popular music. His compositions include both concert works and music for the theater; many of his works involve a synthesis of popular and classical styles.

Biography

While a high school student, Winkler studied composition and theory with Howard Brubeck, and at Aspen Music School with Darius Milhaud. He earned a B.A. in music at the University of California, studying with David Lewin and Seymour Shifrin, and an M.F.A. at Princeton University, where his principal teacher was Earl Kim. He continued studying with Earl Kim as a Junior Fellow in the Society of Fellows at Harvard University He then joined the music faculty of Stony Brook University, where he taught for 42 years, retiring in 2014.
As a pianist, Winkler was the accompanist for Rhoda Levine's improvisational opera group, Play it by Ear from 1996 to 2012, and appears with his wife, violinist Dorothea Cook, in the duo Silken Rags. Their CD of original works was described by the Seattle Times as "a lovely and inventive disc of genre-bending compositions... rhythmically complex, harmonically rich music with influences extending from gospel and Caribbean to samba and tango."
He was a pioneer in teaching university courses in popular music, and was one of the founding members of the U.S. Branch of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, editing its newsletter RPM from 1984 to 1989 and its Journal of Popular Music Studies from 1992 to 1995.

Music

The composer William Bolcom has written of Winkler's music: "in our tragic and unsettling age, his music actually makes a listener feel better about life, curing the soul."
Winkler's principal concert works include:
  • String Quartet Humoresque for solo piano, a winner of the 1976 League of Composers-ISCM piano music competition
  • Symphony written for the opening of the Fine Arts Center at Stony Brook UniversityClarinet Bouquet written for Jack Kreiselman Recitativo e Terzetto, No Condition is Permanent commissioned by the Stony Brook Contemporary Chamber PlayersSolitaire for solo clarinet Waterborne for violin and electronic sounds Nine Waltzes commissioned by the Guild Trio
  • Serenade for String Orchestra commissioned by the Kammergild Chamber Orchestra
  • Partita commissioned by the Stony Brook Baroque EnsembleFantasy written for Colin CarrSeven Bagatelles commissioned by pianist Jeffrey Marcus
  • Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano commissioned by Chamberosity.Nottamun Town written for Rachel Schutz
Theatrical Works:

Published articles

  • "Honey in the Rock: Ways of Knowing and the Historical Imagination" The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 104 Issue 3-4, Fall-Winter 2021, pages 271-304
  • "Toward a Theory of Popular Harmony", in Moore, Alan, ed. Critical Issues in Popular Musicology
  • "Randy Newman's Americana", in Middleton, Richard, ed. Reading Pop : Approaches to Textual Analysis in Popular Music, p. 27-57, p. 169-203
  • "In Search of Yaa Amponsah" in Straw, Will, et al., ed., Popular Music - Style and Identity
  • "Pop Music's Middle Years", Music Educator's Journal, Vol. 66 No. 4, December 1979

Discography

  • Chamberosity : Peter Winkler: Trio for Horn Violin and Piano, 2016, self-published
  • Colin Carr et al.: Stony Brook Soundings, Bridge Records 9319, 2010
  • Jody Karin Applebaum and Marc-Andre Hamelin: Serious Fun! Albany Records TROY 744, 2005
  • Dorothea Cook and Peter Winkler: Silken Rags Music for violin by Peter Winkler. 2004; self-published
  • Philip Rehfeldt, clarinet: Philip Rehfeldt plays new music, Advance Recordings FGR-81, 2001
  • The Connecticut Gay Men's Chorus, Winston Clark, director: Out! Original Cast Recording Nutmeg Records CD 2001, 1998
  • Michael Lowenstern, Bass Clarinet Spasm New World Records CD 80468–2, 1996
  • Joan Morris and William Bolcom: Lime Jello- An American Cabaret RCA AM4-5830, 1986