She was a composer, arranger, artistic director, conductor, author and teacher born in Boston, Massachusetts, who began her compositions from a very early age with her first piece for orchestra written as a high school student.
She took her further education in music at Smith College and went on to Juilliard School of Music where she was a student of Robert Shaw for choral conducting. Her association with Robert Shaw continued for much of her career where she arranged many songs, spirituals, hymns and carols for his various choirs to perform as well as many other national and international ensembles. She got married in 1954 to the baritone Thomas F. Pyle who was a member of the Robert Shaw Chorale.
Her work as a composer saw her writing many styles of music that range from string quartets to operas to cantatas and many of her works came from commissions by North American ensembles that include The Atlanta Symphony Chorus, Chanticleer and the Vancouver Chamber Chorus among others.
As a conductor she was regularly called on to be lead many choirs throughout North America and she was also a much sought after teacher for master classes and workshops. To this end she was the founder of Melodius Accord, Inc. in 1985 which provides training for composers and conductors, holds workshops and symposiums and puts on choral concerts.
No stranger to the recording studio, her work has been heard on countless recordings by various ensembles and she also worked with the professional chorus Musicians of Melodius Accord to record her own albums. These include Angels and Challengers, The Family Reunion, Listen, Lord, My Love and I, O Sing The Glories and Songs for Eve. Some of the other recordings her work appears on are American Sampler by The Atlanta Singers, Wondrous Love by Chanticleer, Folk Songs by the Choir of Westminster Abbey, Folksongs, Spirituals & Hymns by The Concordia Choir, Christmas from the Heart by The Louisville Chorus, Songs of the Civil War & Stephen Foster Favorites by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Appalachian Sketches by Mark O’Connor, Angels on High, Christmas with the Robert Shaw Chorale, Festival of Carols, Irish Folk Songs, Sea Shanties and Songs of Angels by Robert Shaw, Of Bells and Angels by The Texas Boys Choir, Songs of Our Nation by The Turtle Creek Chorale and Blue Wheat by Dale Warland.
Not content with just sticking to performances and recordings, she wrote several acclaimed books that include the publications The Anatomy of Melody and Alice Parker’s Melodious Accord Hymnal. There have also been five videos released which present her work.
Recognised for her contribution to music by many choral societies and guilds, she received the Smith College Medal and five honorary doctorates.
She died at her home on Christmas Eve in 2023. She was 98 years old.
Robert Shaw Chamber Singers recordings
Adeste Fidelis (John Frances Wade)
Telarc 80461 (CD: A Robert Shaw Christmas: Angels On High)
Arranger – Alice Parker
El can dels ocells (Carol of the Birds/The Song of the Birds) (Traditional Catalonian)
Soprano – Janice Chandler
Conductor – Robert Shaw
Arranger- Alice Parker/Robert Shaw
Telarc 80461 (CD- A Robert Shaw Christmas/Angels on High)
Robert Shaw Chorale and Orchestra recordings
Angels We Have Heard on High (Traditional French/James Chadwick/Edward Barnes)
RCA 6429 (CD: A Festival of Carols)
Away in a Manger (William J Kirkpatrick/James Ramsey Murray)
RCA 6429 – 2 – RG (CD: A Festival of Carols)
(Arrangers – Robert Shaw/Alice Parker)
Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella (Traditional/Emile Blemont/Marc-Antoine Charpentier/Louis-Denis Seguin)(English Translation: Edward Cuthbert Nunn)(Alternate Version: Nicolas Saboly)
RCA 6429 – 2 – RG (CD: A Festival of Carols)
(Arrangers – Robert Shaw/Alice Parker)
Deck the Halls (Traditional Welsh)
RCA 6429 – 2 – RG (CD: A Festival of Carols)
(Arrangers – Robert Shaw/Alice Parker)
The First Nowell (Traditional/Anonymous)
RCA 6429 – 2 – RG (CD: A Festival of Carols)
(Arrangers – Robert Shaw/Alice Parker)
Go Tell It On the Mountain (African-American spiritual/John Wesley Work Jr.)
RCA 6429 – 2 – RG (CD: A Festival of Carols)
(Arrangers – Robert Shaw/Alice Parker)
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (Traditional/Anonymous)
RCA 6429 – 2 – RG (CD: A Festival of Carols)
(Arrangers – Robert Shaw/Alice Parker)
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (Charles Wesley/George Whitefield/Martin Madan/Felix Mendelssohn/William Hayman Cummings)
RCA 6429 – 2 – RG (CD: A Festival of Carols)
(Arrangers – Robert Shaw/Alice Parker)
I Saw Three Ships (Traditional/Anonymous)
RCA 6429 – 2 – RG (CD: A Festival of Carols)
Arrangers – Robert Shaw/Alice Parker
It Came Upon The Midnight Clear (Edmund Sears/Richard Storrs Willis/Uzziah Christopher Burnap/Sir Arthur S. Sullivan)
RCA 6429 – 2 – RG (CD: A Festival of Carols)
Arrangers – Robert Shaw/Alice Parker
Joy to the World (Isaac Watts/George Frideric Handel/Lowell Mason)
RCA 6429 – 2 – RG (CD: A Festival of Carols)
(Arrangers – Robert Shaw/Alice Parker)
Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming (Traditional Anonymous German)
(Revisions and translations – Michael Praetorius/Melchior Vulpius/Friedrich Layriz/Harried Reynolds Kraugh/Theodore Baker/John C. Mattes)
RCA 6429 – 2 – RG (CD: A Festival of Carols)
(Arrangers – Robert Shaw/Alice Parker)
March of the Kings (Traditional/Joseph-Francois Domergue)
RCA 6429 – 2 – RG (CD: A Festival of Carols)
(Arrangers – Robert Shaw/Alice Parker)
O Come All Ye Faithful (John Francis Wade/Frederick Oakeley)
RCA 6429 – 2 – RG (CD: A Festival of Carols)
Arrangers – Robert Shaw/Alice Parker
O Little Town of Bethleham (Phillips Brooks/Lewis Redner)
RCA 6429 – 2 – RG (CD: A Festival of Carols)
(Arrangers – Robert Shaw/Alice Parker)
The Shepherd’s Carol
RCA 6429 (CD: A Festival of Carols)
(Arrangers – Robert Shaw/Alice Parker)
Conductor – Robert Shaw
Organ – Robert Arnold
We Three Kings (Rev. John Henry Hopkins Jr.)
RCA 6429 – 2 – RG (CD: A Festival of Carols)
(Arrangers – Robert Shaw/Alice Parker)
Sources:
- http://melodiousaccord.org/aliceparker/biography.htm
- http://melodiousaccord.org/aliceparker/main.htm
- http://melodiousaccord.org/
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Parker
- http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/aliceparker
- http://new.music.yahoo.com/alice-parker/
- http://www.allmusic.com/artist/alice-parker-p223046/credits