American composer
Raymond Wilding-White (also known as Ray Wilding-White); (9 October 1922 – 24 August 2001) was an American composer of contemporary classical music and electronic music, and a photographer/digital artist.
Biography
Wilding-White was born in Caterham, Tandridge, Surrey, England, and spent the first five years of his life in England before moving to Saint-Germain-en-Laye, outside Paris, France, where he had his first formal instruction in music at the Conservatoire Camille Saint-Saëns. In 1932 the family moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina, his mother's family home. By 1940 he had moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States.
Family
Wilding-White's father, Charles Dunning White was an American diplomat.[1] Raymond Wilding-White had a number of brothers including Henry, Charles, and Alexander. His wife Glennie was also an accomplished musician, composer and playwright, as was his son Charles.
Education & Work
In 1940, Wilding-White enrolled in the chemical engineering program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but dropped out to assist in the war effort as a civilian. After the war he was accepted at the Juilliard School in New York City, earning his bachelor's degree in piano performance.
Wilding-White earned his master's degree in composition from the New England Conservatory of Music. During this period he also sang in the Chorus pro Musica under Alfred Nash Patterson, and as a countertenor (male alto) in the choir at Church of the Advent in Boston.
While in Boston he worked at the radio station WGBH. He and Nancy Harper won a Peabody Award for their work on The Children's Circle.
Wilding-White left WGBH to pursue his doctorate in composition from Boston University. He was a student of Aaron Copland and Luigi Dallapiccola.
In 1956, Wilding-White married Glennie. By 1962 he had completed his doctorate and was appointed to the Kulas Chair at Case Institute of Technology. He taught in the humanities program and was director of the Case Glee Club as part of his academic duties and was instrumental in promoting contemporary music concerts and multi-media events in Cleveland, Ohio.
In 1967 Case Institute merged with Western Reserve University, and Wilding-White accepted an invitation from DePaul University to design and install an electronic music studio there. Also in 1967, he was awarded the Cleveland Arts Prize in Music.[2]
Wilding-White continued to teach humanities courses at DePaul until retiring in the mid-1980s.
In Chicago he founded the contemporary performing arts ensemble The Loop Group.
Wilding-White created new radio programming at WFMT in Chicago, Illinois. During the Bicentennial year 1976 he recorded the daily series Our American Music. He also recorded a history of music in Chicago, entitled Music Chicago Style, as a complement to the Chicago Historical Society's exhibit, and wrote and presented programming on composers Charles Ives, John Cage, and Arnold Schoenberg.
Wilding-White's creativity was not limited to music and the performing arts, he was also an avid photographer and visual artist, with exhibitions in the gallery of Darkroom Aids, Chicago (1981) and the Brown County Museum (Green Bay, Wisconsin).
Wilding-White composed over 100 works. He was influenced by the work of John Cage. His scores are archived at the Newberry Library in Chicago, and his photographic work will also be kept there.
Death
Wilding-White died at his home[3] in Kewaunee, Wisconsin, of liver failure at the age of 78 in 2001, leaving a huge body of musical and photographic work. His wife Glennie died thirteen years later, January 31, 2014, at the age of 81.
