Philip Thomas Bezanson was an American composer and educator.

Life

Born in Athol, Massachusetts

Athol, Massachusetts

Athol is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 11,584 at the 2010 census.-History:Originally called Pequoiag, the area was first settled by five families in September 1735. When the township was incorporated in 1762, the name was changed to Athol...

, he graduated from Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

 School of music in 1940 and after war services enrolled in the graduate program of composition at the State University of Iowa were he joined its faculty eight years later. In 1951 he received his Ph.D. and later became head of composition. He was made a professor in 1961.

A prolific and productive composer, Bezanson won several prestigious awards and received commissions from, among others, Dimitri Mitropoulos, who commissioned a piano concerto

Piano concerto

A piano concerto is a concerto written for piano and orchestra.See also harpsichord concerto; some of these works are occasionally played on piano...

 in 1952. His most famous work is perhaps the opera Golden Child, written in 1960 to a libretto by Paul Engle

Paul Engle

Paul Engle , noted American poet, editor, teacher, literary critic, novelist, and playwright. He is perhaps best remembered as the long-time director of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and as founder of the International Writing Program , both at the University of Iowa.-Life:Engle is often mistakenly...

 and first performed on television on the Hallmark Theatre. Several of his vocal and choral works use texts by Engle as well.

His notable students included Olly Wilson

Olly Wilson

Olly Woodrow Wilson, Jr. is a prominent American composer of contemporary classical music, pianist, double bassist, and musicologist. He is one of the preeminent living composers of African American descent.-Life:...

, M. William Karlins

M. William Karlins

Martin William Karlins was an American composer of contemporary classical music....

, and James Yannatos

James Yannatos

James Yannatos was a composer, conductor, violinist and teacher. He was a senior lecturer at Harvard University until his retirement in the spring of 2009....

.

He was a National Patron of Delta Omicron

Delta Omicron

Delta Omicron is a co-ed international professional music honors fraternity whose mission is to promote and support excellence in music and musicianship.-History:...

, an international professional music fraternity.

Stage works

• Golden Child, opera in 3 acts (1960)
• Stranger in Eden, opera in 3 acts (1963)

Orchestral works

• Symphony no 1 in b
• Symphony no 2
• Cyrano de Bergerac, overture
• Dance scherzo
• Fantasy, fugue and finale for strings (1951)
• Concerto for piano and orchestra (1952)
• Rondo-prelude for orchestra (1954)
• Anniversary Overture (1956)
• Capriccio Concertante (1967)
• Sinfonia Concertante (1971)

Chamber works

• Children's suite, piano (1946)
• Sextet for woodwinds and piano (1956)
• Divertimento for eight wind instruments
• Duo for cello and piano (1965)
• Brass sextet (1974)