Composer: HAYDEN WAYNE

Information:
Hayden Wayne (b. 1949) may be one of the first in his generation to take the rare route through pop/rock music's highest levels to reach where he is today. He began playing piano at hte age of four and by the age of 11 had won awards in New York for his performances. The '70s saw him performing in the pop/rock world for such major-label backed bands as Man and Jobriath. He toured with the likes of Sly Stone, the Yardbirds, Billy Joel, Jimmy Page, Gordon Lightfoot, Gladys Knight and the Fifth Dimension. Tired of touring, he took (or rather went back) to composing. In his unique position - with a classical training and a wealth of pop/rock experience - he began experimenting with a synthesis of various genres/styles. To keep food on the table he dabbled in composing music for television commericals - and won awards and accolades in that arena.
Today, there are over 400 hundred works from Mr. Wayne's pen. These include a highly successful Piano Concerto ("The Rock 'n' Roll" Concerto), a Cello Concerto, ballets, operas and his famoous symphonic trilogy: Symphony No. 2 - Reggae; Symphony No. 3 - Heavy Metal and Symphony No. 4 - Funk. In 1993 he released his Symphony No. 5 'Africa', dedicated and inspired by Africa rhythm - the source of so much music in American culture of the past 100 years.
This release takes us to the chamber music of Hayden Wayne. The main work here is a set of 15 variations - a form the composer sees as interesting and daunting, with Bach's Goldberg standing at the summit. It was composed in 1998 and the name of the theme and variaitons bears that of a special woman. Irmgard Hess Rosenberger is an octagenaria whose father, Alfred Hess, was the concert master of the Frankfurt Philharmonic Orchestra; her uncle, Frederick, was the principal cellist of the original Chicago Orchestra which was to change its name to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; and her other uncle, Willy, was the director of the Royal High School for Music in Berlin. It is not surprising that notables such as Max Bruch and Richard Strauss stayed in her home. This Renaissance woman befriended me (and my music). She has a deep passion about the arts and was to ultimately donate the million- dollar Judaica collection of her late husband, Ludwig, to the University of Chicago library. She feels it is her job as a teacher, let alone her duty as a humanitarian, to connect the wisdom of her generation and give prospective to later generations.
After completeing this work, Wayne had the postpartum depression of moving on to another piece. His wife, cunningly, sugested he start work on another string quartet. After a few weeks he gave in to this advice and The ROMANTIC Quartet was composed...for a truly derserving spouse.