SPOTLIGHT SUMMER 2004
Roland Davis graduated at the top of his class with a double
major in Philosophy and Music Composition from the University
of Hawaii. He also earned Highest Honors for his Bachelor
of Arts in Music Composition, all while performing and teaching
in Hawaii and in 12 other countries.
This fall he will begin studying composition with jazz legend
Bob Brookmeyer at the prestigious New England Conservatory,
which won a DownBeat Award for Best Jazz Orchestra this year.
During his undergraduate studies, Roland won over 30 awards
and scholarships in Philosophy and Music including two UH
Composer of the Year Awards, Philosophy Departmental Award, Music Departmental Award, Heidi Research
in Music Scholarship, and FM/AM Music Scholarship.
He is a Presser Scholar as well as an All-American Scholar,
and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Lambda, and the
Golden Key National Honors Society.
When Roland was not performing or teaching or studying for
simultaneous degrees at UH, he was composing.
In 2002, he won the ASCAP Classical Composition Contest,
West Coast, for his string quartet, "Ex Nihilo."
"The multi-movement piece," according to
Roland, "is a musical metaphor conveying the creation,
expansion, and the excitement over the perpetual existence
of something, anything, the universe, art, love...which seems
to come into existence 'out of nothing.'"
Roland is also this year's winner of the coveted DownBeat
National Award in the category of Best Jazz Soloist, College.
The DownBeat Award, considered one of the most prestigious
music awards in the country, is a nationwide competition in
which the jurors do not know the performers' names or their
colleges. The applicants submit 10 minute, anonymous recordings
for the competition.
Roland calls his entry, "A representation of the history
of jazz improvisation...in 10 minutes! I played a Swing solo,
a Bebop solo, an original arrangement for unaccompanied jazz
guitar, containing true polyphony, a Contemporary solo, and
a performance of a Keith Jarrett solo," which he transcribed.
Roland has studied for the last year with jazz legend Charlie
Banacos. "Without Charlie, the DownBeat Award would have
remained just a dream!"
Roland's view of the UH Honors Program: "It was so exciting
to meet and work with students who were the leaders in different
areas of study at UH and who were well on their way to becoming
leaders in their fields.
Not only did the Honors Program gave me the chance
to work with some of the best and brightest students at UH,
it allowed me access to amazing faculty members who went out
of their way to create opportunities and support for each
of us. The camaraderie
I felt and the striving for excellence I saw around me in
the Honors Program is something I'll never forget and something
I wish all students could feel."
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