Alfred Reed (born as Alfred Friedman) (January 25, 1921 – September 17, 2005) was an American neoclassical composer, with more than two hundred published works for concert band, orchestra, chorus, and chamber ensemble to his name. He also traveled extensively as a guest conductor (most notably for the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra after the retirement of Frederick Fennell) and served as a professor at the University of Miami School of Music.

Life

Alfred Freidman was born on January 25, 1921, in Manhattan, New York City, to Austrian immigrants Carl Friedemann von Mark and Elizabeth Strasser. Because of anti-German sentiment during World War I, Carl changed the family surname to Friedman shortly before having Alfred. Alfred began his formal music training at the age of ten studying cornet at the New York Schools of Music. In 1938, he started working in the Radio Workshop in New York as a staff arranger and assistant conductor. In the early 1930s, Reed hired an agent to help market himself around the New York circles. The agent suggested changing his original surname to something less Jewish- and German-sounding to help avoid discrimination. The agent took a syllable from "Friedman", shortening it to "Reed". Reed used this surname for the remainder of his life, legally changing it in 1955. In 1944 during World War II, he enlisted with the 529th US Army Air Force Corps in Atlantic City, New Jersey as their radio production director and associate conductor producing over 150 weekly broadcasts, and writing scores for over 100 original compositions and arrangements. Following his military service, he attended the Juilliard School of Music, studying under Vittorio Giannini but left without completing in 1948 to instead pursue a career composing music for film and television as a staff composer and arranger first for NBC and then for ABC. In 1953, he became the conductor of the Baylor Symphony Orchestra at Baylor University, where he received his Bachelor of Music in 1955 and his Master of Music in 1956. His master's thesis, Rhapsody for Viola and Orchestra, was awarded the Luria Prize in 1959. From 1955 to 1966, he was the executive editor of Hansen Publications, a music publisher. Afterward, he was appointed professor of music at the University of Miami School of Music, where he worked with composer Clifton Williams from 1966 until the latter died in 1976. Reed was the director of the Music Industry Program at the time of his retirement in 1993. During his tenure, he established the Bachelor of Music and Music Merchandising (B.M.M.M) degree and the first college-level music business curriculum in the country.

Works and arrangements

Works for concert band

Works for orchestra

Works for choir and orchestra

Chamber music