Background
Paul Nelson was born in Phoenix, Arizona on January 26, 1929.
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Paul Nelson
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Education
He attended public elementary school there, and graduated from Phoenix Union High School in 1947. From Harvard, having studied at the latter with composers Walter Piston and Randall Thompson.
Career
His compositions—in all genres except opera—have been performed on four continents. Preserved portions of the PUHS campus were named Phoenix"s first official historic landmark in 2002, as noted in an article in a local newspaper serving the city"s historic residential districts, The Midtown Messenger. The campus is now the site of a University of Arizona medical school.
He held a Bachelor of Surgery from Teachers College, Columbia University and an Master of Arts He was awarded the coveted Rome Prize at the American Academy in Rome from 1960-1963.
A professional trumpet player, he also had sung in well over 20 choruses from Los Angeles to New York and Boston, as well as in Vienna and Paris, where he was a professional chorister in 1959-1960. He went to Providence, Rhode Island in 1964 upon invitation to teach at Brown University, where he was associate professor of music theory and composition until 1983.
He also taught privately in the area. Nelson died from congestive heart failure on April 11, 2008 at Rhode Island Hospital.
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Born
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Died
April 11, 2008 (aged 79)