Robert De Cormier

Robert De Cormier
Birth name Robert Romeo De Cormier Jr.
Also known as Bob Corman
Born (1922-01-07)January 7, 1922
Farmingdale, New York, U.S.
Died November 7, 2017(2017-11-07) (aged 95)
Rutland, Vermont, U.S.
Occupation(s) Conductor, director, music teacher
Associated acts

Robert Romeo De Cormier Jr. (January 7, 1922 – November 7, 2017) was an American musical conductor, arranger, and director. He arranged music for many singers and groups, including Harry Belafonte and Peter, Paul and Mary, and worked with Milt Okun.

Biography

De Cormier attended, and graduated from, the Juilliard School.[1] He was the music teacher and chorus director at Elisabeth Irwin High School on Charlton Street, New York City, part of the Little Red School House on Bleecker Street, New York City. He was there at least from 1954 to 1957. He and his wife, singer, Louise De Cormier collected and recorded folksongs from the Catskill Mountains of New York. He arranged the music in The Weavers Songbook. He also arranged for Peter, Paul and Mary.[2]

Robert De Cormier has composed music for chorus as well as ballet and Broadway scores, but is perhaps most famous for his spiritual arrangements. . His ballet score Rainbow ‘Round My Shoulder is in the active repertoire of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. He has directed concerts and recordings for television specials, and was choral director for a television special and recording starring Jessye Norman and Kathleen Battle, conducted by James Levine.

De Cormier was the conductor and leader of The Belafonte Folk Singers during most of its lifetime from 1957 to 1965. He also headed The Robert De Cormier singers, who performed extensively in the mid-1960s and then sporadically until the mid-1990s.

Robert De Cormier was Music Director and Conductor of the New York Choral Society from 1970–1987 and was a Music Director Emeritus.[3] In 1993, De Cormier helped to found the Vermont Symphony Orchestra Chorus, which he conducted until his retirement in 2014. He founded Counterpoint, a Vermont-based choral group which consists of eleven members. He has conducted music for the operas Der Kaiser von Atlantis and Brundibár. He has also recorded several Christmas albums with his choral group, The Robert De Cormier Singers.

De Cormier taught a class at Saint Michael's College in Colchester, Vermont entitled "Songs of Resistance: Music in Struggle" in 2008. Recently De Cormier conducted at the Vermont International Music Festival in the summer of 2009. In the Winter of 2012 he directed the Chorus at the Vermont High School Honors Music Festival held at Castleton State College.

De Cormier died of kidney failure in Rutland, Vermont, at the age of 95.[4]

Memberships and honors

De Cormier served on the New York State Council on the Arts, and was a member of the choral panel for the National Endowment for the Arts. He was presented the 2002 Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts by the Vermont Arts Council, and Lifetime Achievement Awards from the New York Choral Society and Choral Arts New England.

He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Arts degree from Middlebury College in 2007, and an honorary degree from the University of Vermont in 2012.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "Robert De Cormier, Founder & Director Emeritus". Counterpoint. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
  2. ↑ Barron, James (September 26, 2016). "Everyone Knows Peter, Paul and Mary. But What About Bob?". The New York Times.
  3. ↑ Elder-Connors, Liam (November 7, 2017). "Robert De Cormier, Composer And Renowned Music Director, Dies At 95". Vermont Public Radio.
  4. ↑ Barron, James (November 10, 2017). "Robert De Cormier, Arranger for Folk and Pop Stars, Dies at 95". The New York Times.
  5. ↑ Weaver, Thomas James (January 27, 2012). "Nickelodeon President to Speak at UVM's May Commencement Ceremony". University of Vermont.
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