“David Macbride, a longtime professor at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School, a composer and a community builder, was found dead Friday morning,” writes Mikaela Porter in Sunday’s (9/9) Hartford Courant (CT). “Macbride, 66, lived in Bloomfield and taught for decades at the Hartt School, which he had attended as a student, according to Dean Larry Alan Smith. Macbride was a professor of composition and music theory, and he wrote numerous works, ranging from solo, chamber and orchestral music to music for film, TV, dance and theater, with an emphasis on percussion, according to his biography on the school website. Smith said that he had few details on Macbride’s unexpected death… Macbride was known internationally for his musical work, but in the Hartford area he was a community builder, [Smith] said…. Macbride grew up in Berkley, Calif., attended the University of Hartford, and then earned his doctorate at Columbia University in New York City…. Macbride’s community-building efforts reached to Elizabeth Park, Smith said, where he hosted various events…. ‘He just had a knack of bringing people together and using his music in order to do that. It actually was really powerful.’ … A tribute at the school has not been organized yet.”
Posted September 10, 2018
