Malcolm Rector

Dr. Malcolm W. Rector is a composer, a writer, a director and an independent filmmaker. Having earned a doctoral degree from Rice University, he divides his time between the previous occupations and teaching at the university level. Dr. Rector has written, directed, produced and scored three short films and three music videos. His film The Stairwell was chosen for one of only sixteen highly coveted Official Selection slots at the 2002 Jamerican International Film & Music Festival -- one of the top ten international film festivals in the world, according to E! Entertainment. There it won the Final Draft Screenwriters Award for best short script. His film The Contest was also an Official Selection of the 2002 Jamerican International Film & Music Festival. His music video X-Man has been selected as an Official Finalist in the Canada International Film Festival, an Official Selection of the Hollywood Black Film Festival and an Official Selection of the San Diego Black Film Festival. It also won the Silver Remi Award for Creative Excellence at Worldfest - Houston International Film Festival. His music video That's Life was an Official Selection of the Toronto Online Film Festival. He is a prolific writer and has written over a dozen screenplays that range in genre from romantic comedy to horror and drama. Thus far his screenplays have won and been finalists in a number of international competitions, including: Sundance Feature Film Program, the Jamerican International Film & Music Festival, Screenwriting Showcase Awards and Scriptapalooza. He has also written several stage plays, from which he chose three to adapt into librettos for his operas. Dr. Rector's full-length novel The Suirlang Chronicles: Lee was a finalist in The Writers Network 7th Annual Screenplay and Fiction Competition. Dr. Rector earned a bachelor's degree in composition at the University of St. Thomas, followed by both master's and doctoral degrees from Rice University. His film scoring has drawn praise from such notable figures as Isaac Hayes and James Mtume. In 2001, Dr. Rector won the film scoring competition at the Acapulco Black Film Festival. He has scored a number of short films, feature films, a television pilot funded by ABC and movie trailers. His compositions have been commissioned and actively sought by a member of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Wilson Symphony Orchestra, the Durham Arts Council, and Rice University's choral conductor among others. His electroacoustic piece "Two" was included on the internationally distributed CD 60 X 60. It was also performed on the radio in Amherst, MA, in a weekly program that features the finest in contemporary classical and experimental music on WMUA FM 91.1. His piece Music for Clarinet and Piano was performed at the 2008 Society of Composers, Inc. National Conference. Additional recent performances include the world premiere of his multimedia piece SS St. Louis, which honors the passengers of the SS St. Louis and other holocaust victims, in April 2009's Composers Concert at the University of St. Thomas. It featured computer music and video and was performed by flautist Dr. Ann Fairbanks. Blitzkrieg was included in a lecture-recital entitled The Black Composer: Influence, Inspiration and Identity given by Dr. Marie-Louise Catsalis. It was performed at Brisbane, for the 2007 joint Australian/New Zealand musicological conference Islands, at Notre Dame de Namur University and at Santa Clara University. Other performances include Shabbat Shalom (for choir, piano and horn), performed at last year's conference of the Society of Composers, Inc., and Life and Silhouette (both for voice and piano), which were performed at the National Association of Negro Musicians conference, where Dr. Rector participated in a panel discussion of African-American art songs. A full concert of Dr. Rector's works entitled The Music of Malcolm Rector was presented by University of St. Thomas in Houston, TX, where Dr. Rector's string quartet S.q 2 (S dot q 2) was performed by the Enso String Quartet and two of his jazz pieces, Legend and Dancing Dare, were performed by the Tom Borling Quartet. Excerpts of two short films Dr. Rector wrote, directed, produced and scored, The Contest and The Stairwell, were also shown. Dr. Rector also has a solid background in jazz composition and has been performing (solo piano, small ensemble and big band) at public and private functions ever since he was a teenager. While a student, he studied jazz privately with Tom Borling and Ronnie Matthews. He was one of the featured entertainers at the Houston International Festival, where he performed both standards and originals.