Joseph Kreines is a respected composer, conductor and educator who has had an illustrious musical career in Florida and elsewhere. Born in Chicago in 1936, Kreines celebrates his 85th birthday this year. Reason enough to take a closer look at his life and work. After his musical education in his hometown, he came to Florida in the 1960s as Associate Conductor of the Florida Symphony Orchestra. Further professional conducting stints with the Brevard Symphony Orchestra, the Gulf Coast Symphony Orchestra and appointments as conductor of the Florida Symphony Orchestra Youth Symphony, the Pinellas Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Brevard Youth Symphony Orchestra marked the beginning of a successful freelance career as a guest conductor for hundreds of secondary programmes in Florida and elsewhere, including band, orchestra and chorus.
Kreines has long been known for his work with Florida’s young musicians, which was recognised by the Florida Bandmasters Association in 2004 with inclusion in their Roll of Distinction. Equally accomplished as a composer, arranger and adaptor of music, Kreines has composed and written over two hundred works in many musical genres. While his oeuvre is diverse, he is known as a master of composing and transcribing music for wind band. He is perhaps best known for his work on the music of Percy Grainger, the famous Australian composer who wrote many wind band pieces that, due to the publishing practices of the time, contained many errors that had to be corrected for public performance.
The study “A biographical sketch, an analysis of “American Song Set for Band” and a descriptive catalogue of his original compositions and transcriptions for wind band” provides an up-to-date biography, an analysis of one of his original wind band compositions, American Song Set for Band , and a catalogue of his collected works for wind band, complete through December 2011. There are also appendices containing an engraved digital copy of the score of American Song Set for Band , a chronological discography of recordings of Joseph Kreines’ music, and transcriptions of interviews with Kreines and others important to his personal and musical life.
Works for Symphonic Wind Orchestra
