Dorothy Young Riess, M.D., performed the world premiere of her original composition, Fantasy and Passacaglia on Ein Feste Burg for organ, in concert at Pasadena Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, California, on May 17. The work was originally written for a competition in which no winners were selected, so, free of restrictions, she revised it for concert performance.
Dr. Riess studied composition with her father, a concert violinist and composer, and Harrison Kerr and Spencer Norton at the University of Oklahoma, where she composed music for several ballets, which were performed by the School of Modern Dance. She then studied with Pulitzer Prize winner and former jazz pianist, Mel Powell, at Yale University, embracing atonal aural selection and jazz rhythms.
She is a member of American Composers Forum, and samples of her work are available on www.youtube.com and www.soundcloud.com. Scores will soon be posted on her website, www.dyriessmd.com.
