Lyndol Mitchell

American composer, educator and conductor (16 February 1923, Itta Bena, Miss. – 19 February 1963, Rochester, N.Y). Lyndol Mitchell was born in Mississippi in 1923. In September 1941 he entered Western Kentucky State College on a music scholarship. However in January of 1943 he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force and served in the European theater of operations as a member of the Military Intelligence Division of the 394th Bomber Group of the 9th Air Force. After the war, he returned to WKSC to complete his Bachelor's Degree. In 1949 he entered the Eastman School of Music where he earned a Master's Degree in Composition and began work a doctorate as a teaching fellow. He was appointed to the ESM faculty in 1952. He was active in church music and served as composer, conductor, and consultant on music to the Informational Films Division of the Eastman Kodak Company. He composed and recorded approximately 30 motion picture film scores. In 1961 he composed and submitted the “Concerto Grosso for 3 Trombones and Orchestra” in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Musical Arts. His thesis director was Howard Hanson. Unfortunately he died in 1962. The only performance of the work was given in a memorial concert in his honor at the Eastman School in 1963. Since then it lay unperformed and unheard until 2011.