Douglas B. Moore

Photo of Douglas B. Moore

Mary A. and William Wirt Warren Professor of Music, Emeritus

Biography

Cellist Douglas Moore, a native of Iowa, was the Mary A. and William Wirt Warren Professor of Music. He was at Williams from 1970 to 2007, and served as department chairman from 1979 to 1986, 1995 to 1997 and 2001-2002. He was cellist with the Williams Chamber Players and The Williams Trio, and keeper of the Willem Willeke Collection of Music and the Arthur Foote Collection. He holds the Bachelor of Music degree from Indiana University where he studied cello with Fritz Magg and chamber music with Janos Starker. His Master of Music (1970) and Doctor of Musical Arts (1977) degrees are both from Catholic University in Washington, DC.

Douglas Moore has appeared with orchestras and in recitals throughout the United States. He has played at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, and at the Great Music West (Utah), Saratoga Baroque, Music Mountain, and Newport music festivals. Moore is an artist/teacher at the Manchester (VT) Music Festival. Concerti by Beethoven, Brahms, Dvorak, Schumann, Lalo, Shostakovich, Saint-Saëns, Arthur Foote, Charles Wakefield Cadman, Bloch and Hindemith are in his repertoire. He has been principal cellist with the Great Music West Festival, Albany (NY) Symphony, Berkshire Symphony and Lake George Opera Festival orchestra. He served the national College Music Society as Vice-President from 1987 through 1990 and as Special Projects Committee chair from 1991 through 1993.

In 1976 Douglas Moore played the world premiere of Cello Sonata by the American composer Arthur Foote. His edition of the complete music for cello and piano by Foote was published by A-R Editions on the Recent Researches in American Music series in 1982. The first modern-day performance of Foote’s Cello Concerto took place in 1981 with Douglas Moore as soloist; since then he has performed the work with orchestras in Connecticut, Minnesota, Virginia, Massachusetts, Vermont, Illinois and Iowa. He has performed and/or read papers at regional and national meetings of the College Music Society and Sonneck Society for American Music.

Douglas Moore has made five recordings. The first was a 1979 Musical Heritage Society release of the complete cello/piano music of Arthur Foote. Another, with music by Arthur Farwell and Charles Wakefield Cadman, was issued in 1981 and was selected Best of the Month by Stereo Review magazine. Both discs were world premiere recordings of the repertoire. The Williams Trio’s recording of the two piano trios of Arthur Foote was issued by MHS in 1983; their disc of trios by Rachmaninoff and Arensky (including the premier recording of the Trio No. 2 by Arensky) appeared in 1985 on Grand Prix Records. His recording of Winter Branches: Sonata for Cello and Piano by David Kechley appears on a Liscio Records compact disc.

Douglas Moore publishes over three dozen arrangements for from two to eight cellos, including Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever and overtures by Mozart and Rossini. His arrangements have been recorded by Yo-Yo Ma, the Boston Cello Quartet (see them on YouTube) and the Saito Cello Ensemble. He also publishes new editions of violin and cello duos from rare sheet music from about 1800. They are available at http://www.playmoorecello.com/.