Daniel Pinkham

Daniel Pinkham was born in Lynn, Massachusetts on 5 June 1923. He studied organ and harmony at Phillips Academy, Andover, with Carl F. Pfatteicher; then at Harvard with A. Tillman Merritt, Walter Piston, Archibald T. Davison and Aaron Copland (A.B. 1942; M.A. 1944). He also studied harpsichord with Putnam Aldrich and Wanda Landowska, and organ with E. Power Biggs. At Tanglewood he studied composition with Arthur Honegger and Samuel Barber, and subsequently with Nadia Boulanger. Pinkham taught at Simmons College, Boston University, Dartington Hall (Devon, England), and was Visiting Lecturer at Harvard University (1957-58). In June 1994 the London Symphony Orchestra recorded his Symphony Number Three and Symphony Number Four, Serenades for Trumpet and Symphonic Wind Orchestra and Sonata Number Three for Organ and Strings with the American organist James David Christie as soloist. In 1995 Dr. Christie premiered his Organ Concerto Number Two with the Rheinland Philharmonic Orchestra in Koblenz, Germany. In May 1997 Ray Cornils premiered his Organ Concerto Number Three with the Portland (Maine) Symphony Orchestra. In 1990, Pinkham was named Composer of the Year by the American Guild of Organists. In 1996 Daniel Pinkham received the Alfred Nash Patterson Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award for contributions to the Choral Arts. Daniel Pinkham passed away on 18 December, 2006