Robert Beaser
Encyclopedia
Robert Beaser is an American composer
.
and mother was a chemist
. He grew up in Newton
, Massachusetts
where he distinguished himself at a young age as a percussionist, composer and conductor. He made his debut with the Greater Boston Youth Symphony at Jordon Hall when he was 16, conducting the premiere of his own orchestral work, Antigone. He went on to study with Yehudi Wyner
and Jacob Druckman
at Yale College
, graduating summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa in 1976, and later received his Master of Music, M.M.A. and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the Yale School of Music
. He studied conducting with Otto-Werner Mueller and William Steinberg
. Other teachers included Toru Takemitsu
, Arnold Franchetti, Goffredo Petrassi
and Earle Brown
. He studied with Betsy Jolas on a fellowship at Tanglewood
. In 1977 he became the youngest composer to win the Rome Prize
from the American Academy in Rome
. Residence in Rome proved a watershed in his development, and he embraced more tonal language, synthesizing a variety of diverse influences from jazz to folk into his writing.
Beaser has received numerous awards and commissions from orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic
and the Chicago Symphony. He was appointed Professor and Chairman of the Composition Department at the Juilliard School
in New York
in 1993. In 1999, Beaser was co-commissioned by Glimmerglass Opera
, the New York City Opera
and WNET-TV to compose The Food of Love, with Terrence McNally
as Librettist, which was performed at both venues, aired on PBS, and was nominated for an Emmy Award
in 2000.
From 1978-1990 he served as co-Music Director and Conductor (along with Daniel Asia) of the innovative contemporary chamber ensemble Musical Elements at the 92nd Street Y
, bringing premieres of over two-hundred works to Manhattan
. From 1988-1993 he was the Meet the Composer
/Composer-in-Residence with the American Composers Orchestra
at Carnegie Hall
, and served as the ACO’s artistic advisor until January 2001, when he assumed the role of Artistic Director. Beaser founded the Whittaker New Music Readings (currently the Underwood New Music Readings) with the ACO in the early 1990s, providing an opportunity for young composers to receive hearings of their orchestral works. Along with Tania Leon
, Beaser spearheaded the Sonidos de Los Americas Festival from 1993–99, bringing composers and works from the Americas to Carnegie Hall
. He currently serves as trustee for the American Academy in Rome
, the MacDowell Colony
, and the American Composers Orchestra
. He was elected to the membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2004.
His works are published by Schott Music
.
, David Zinman
, and Dennis Russell Davies
. His incorporation of extant folk materials came in the 1980s though his widely performed Mountain Songs nominated for a Grammy award in 1986, and continues to the present decade with works such as Souvenirs for piccolo
and piano
and Evening Prayer—an orchestral tone poem which incorporates and deconstructs a Hungarian folk tune. His orchestral music draws from a wide and diverse palette, and he has made dramatic vocal works using texts from poets such as Anthony Hecht
, Eugenio Montale
and Gjertrud Schnackenberg
in The Heavenly Feast, which creates ‘a striking fusion of literary and musical poetic images’. His Four Dickinson Songs written for Meagan Miller and the Marilyn Horne Foundation is acrobatic in its demands for the soprano/piano duo and opens the recent Americans in Rome compendium on Bridge records performed by Hila Plitmann
and Donald Berman. Recent works include Guitar Concerto for Eliot Fisk
, his classmate at Yale
, which mixes Andalucian flamenco
with bluegrass
picking techniques, and was premiered by the Albany Symphony, with David Alan Miller
conducting.
A complete work list can be found at Schott Music's website (http://www.schott-music.com/shop/persons/featured/1639/products/).
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
.
Biography
Beaser was brought up in a non-musical family. His father was a physicianPhysician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
and mother was a chemist
Chemist
A chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...
. He grew up in Newton
Newton, Massachusetts
Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States bordered to the east by Boston. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the population of Newton was 85,146, making it the eleventh largest city in the state.-Villages:...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
where he distinguished himself at a young age as a percussionist, composer and conductor. He made his debut with the Greater Boston Youth Symphony at Jordon Hall when he was 16, conducting the premiere of his own orchestral work, Antigone. He went on to study with Yehudi Wyner
Yehudi Wyner
Yehudi Wyner is an American composer, pianist, conductor, and music educator.Wyner, who grew up in New York City, was raised in a musical family. His father, Lazar Weiner, was an eminent composer of Yiddish art songs. Wyner attended Juilliard, Yale, and Harvard...
and Jacob Druckman
Jacob Druckman
Jacob Druckman was an American composer born in Philadelphia. A graduate of the Juilliard School, Druckman studied with Vincent Persichetti, Peter Mennin, and Bernard Wagenaar. In 1949 and 1950 he studied with Aaron Copland at Tanglewood and later continued his studies at the École Normale de...
at Yale College
Yale College
Yale College was the official name of Yale University from 1718 to 1887. The name now refers to the undergraduate part of the university. Each undergraduate student is assigned to one of 12 residential colleges.-Residential colleges:...
, graduating summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa in 1976, and later received his Master of Music, M.M.A. and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the Yale School of Music
Yale School of Music
The Yale School of Music is one of the twelve professional schools at Yale University and one of the premier music conservatories in the world....
. He studied conducting with Otto-Werner Mueller and William Steinberg
William Steinberg
William Steinberg was a German-American conductor.- Biography :Steinberg was born Hans Wilhelm Steinberg in Cologne, Germany. He displayed early talent as a violinist, pianist, and composer, conducting his own choral/ orchestral composition at age 13...
. Other teachers included Toru Takemitsu
Toru Takemitsu
was a Japanese composer and writer on aesthetics and music theory. Largely self-taught, Takemitsu possessed consummate skill in the subtle manipulation of instrumental and orchestral timbre...
, Arnold Franchetti, Goffredo Petrassi
Goffredo Petrassi
Goffredo Petrassi was an Italian composer of modern classical music, conductor, and teacher. He is considered one of the most influential Italian composers of the twentieth century.-Life:...
and Earle Brown
Earle Brown
Earle Brown was an American composer who established his own formal and notational systems...
. He studied with Betsy Jolas on a fellowship at Tanglewood
Tanglewood
Tanglewood is an estate and music venue in Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It is the home of the annual summer Tanglewood Music Festival and the Tanglewood Jazz Festival, and has been the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home since 1937. It was the venue of the Berkshire Festival.- History...
. In 1977 he became the youngest composer to win the Rome Prize
Rome Prize
The Rome Prize is an American award made annually by the American Academy in Rome, through a national competition, to 15 emerging artists and to 15 scholars The Rome Prize is an American award made annually by the American Academy in Rome, through a national competition, to 15 emerging artists...
from the American Academy in Rome
American Academy in Rome
The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo in Rome.- History :In 1893, a group of American architects, painters and sculptors met regularly while planning the fine arts section of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition...
. Residence in Rome proved a watershed in his development, and he embraced more tonal language, synthesizing a variety of diverse influences from jazz to folk into his writing.
Beaser has received numerous awards and commissions from orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...
and the Chicago Symphony. He was appointed Professor and Chairman of the Composition Department at the Juilliard School
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in 1993. In 1999, Beaser was co-commissioned by Glimmerglass Opera
Glimmerglass Opera
Glimmerglass Festival is an opera company which was founded in 1975 by Peter Macris and presents an annual season of operas at the Alice Busch Opera Theater on Otsego Lake eight miles north of Cooperstown, New York, United States.The summer-only season usually consists of four operas performed in...
, the New York City Opera
New York City Opera
The New York City Opera is an American opera company located in New York City.The company, called "the people's opera" by New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, was founded in 1943 with the aim of making opera financially accessible to a wide audience, producing an innovative choice of repertory, and...
and WNET-TV to compose The Food of Love, with Terrence McNally
Terrence McNally
Terrence McNally is an American playwright who has received four Tony Awards, an Emmy, two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Rockefeller Grant, the Lucille Lortel Award, the Hull-Warriner Award, and a citation from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has been a member of the Council of the...
as Librettist, which was performed at both venues, aired on PBS, and was nominated for an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
in 2000.
From 1978-1990 he served as co-Music Director and Conductor (along with Daniel Asia) of the innovative contemporary chamber ensemble Musical Elements at the 92nd Street Y
92nd Street Y
92nd Street Y is a multifaceted cultural institution and community center located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, at the corner of E. 92nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Its full name is 92nd Street Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Association...
, bringing premieres of over two-hundred works to Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. From 1988-1993 he was the Meet the Composer
Meet the Composer
Meet the Composer is an American organization founded in 1974 by the composer John Duffy as a project of the New York State Council on the Arts. It seeks to assist composers in making a living through writing music by sponsoring commissioning, residency, education, and audience interaction...
/Composer-in-Residence with the American Composers Orchestra
American Composers Orchestra
The American Composers Orchestra is an American orchestra based in New York City. It is the only orchestra in the world dedicated solely to the creation, performance, preservation, and promulgation of music by American composers...
at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
, and served as the ACO’s artistic advisor until January 2001, when he assumed the role of Artistic Director. Beaser founded the Whittaker New Music Readings (currently the Underwood New Music Readings) with the ACO in the early 1990s, providing an opportunity for young composers to receive hearings of their orchestral works. Along with Tania Leon
Tania Leon
Tania León is a Cuban composer and conductor who has been recognized as an educator and advisor to arts organizations.-León's Music:...
, Beaser spearheaded the Sonidos de Los Americas Festival from 1993–99, bringing composers and works from the Americas to Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
. He currently serves as trustee for the American Academy in Rome
American Academy in Rome
The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo in Rome.- History :In 1893, a group of American architects, painters and sculptors met regularly while planning the fine arts section of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition...
, the MacDowell Colony
MacDowell Colony
The MacDowell Colony is an art colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire, U.S.A., founded in 1907 by Marian MacDowell, pianist and wife of composer Edward MacDowell. She established the institution and its endowment chiefly with donated funds...
, and the American Composers Orchestra
American Composers Orchestra
The American Composers Orchestra is an American orchestra based in New York City. It is the only orchestra in the world dedicated solely to the creation, performance, preservation, and promulgation of music by American composers...
. He was elected to the membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2004.
His works are published by Schott Music
Schott Music
Schott Music is one of the oldest German music publishers. It is also one of the largest music publishing houses in Europe and is currently the second oldest music publishing house. The company headquarters of Schott Music was founded by Bernhard Schott in Mainz, Germany in 1770.Established in...
.
Works
Beaser was one of the first composers to embrace the “New Tonality.” Early works such as The Seven Deadly Sins and Variations for flute and piano show his proclivity for dramatic vocal writing as well as continuous variation technique across a broad canvas. Conductors who have championed his work include Leonard SlatkinLeonard Slatkin
Leonard Edward Slatkin is an American conductor and composer.-Early life and education:Slatkin was born in Los Angeles to a musical family that came from areas of the Russian Empire now in Ukraine. His father Felix Slatkin was the violinist, conductor and founder of the Hollywood String Quartet,...
, David Zinman
David Zinman
David Zinman is an American conductor and violinist.After early violin studies at the Oberlin Conservatory, Zinman studied theory and composition at the University of Minnesota and took up conducting at Tanglewood...
, and Dennis Russell Davies
Dennis Russell Davies
Dennis Russell Davies is an American conductor and pianist. He studied piano and conducting at the Juilliard School where he received his doctorate...
. His incorporation of extant folk materials came in the 1980s though his widely performed Mountain Songs nominated for a Grammy award in 1986, and continues to the present decade with works such as Souvenirs for piccolo
Piccolo
The piccolo is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the standard transverse flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written...
and piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and Evening Prayer—an orchestral tone poem which incorporates and deconstructs a Hungarian folk tune. His orchestral music draws from a wide and diverse palette, and he has made dramatic vocal works using texts from poets such as Anthony Hecht
Anthony Hecht
Anthony Evan Hecht was an American poet. His work combined a deep interest in form with a passionate desire to confront the horrors of 20th century history, with the Second World War, in which he fought, and the Holocaust being recurrent themes in his work.-Early years:Hecht was born in New York...
, Eugenio Montale
Eugenio Montale
Eugenio Montale was an Italian poet, prose writer, editor and translator, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1975.- Early years :...
and Gjertrud Schnackenberg
Gjertrud Schnackenberg
Gjertrud Schnackenberg is an American poet.-Life:Schnackenberg graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1975. She lectured at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Washington University, and was Writer-in-Residence at Smith College and visiting fellow at St...
in The Heavenly Feast, which creates ‘a striking fusion of literary and musical poetic images’. His Four Dickinson Songs written for Meagan Miller and the Marilyn Horne Foundation is acrobatic in its demands for the soprano/piano duo and opens the recent Americans in Rome compendium on Bridge records performed by Hila Plitmann
Hila Plitmann
Hila Plitmann is an operatic soprano specializing in the performance of new works. She currently resides in Los Angeles with her husband, composer Eric Whitacre, and their son.- Career :...
and Donald Berman. Recent works include Guitar Concerto for Eliot Fisk
Eliot Fisk
Eliot Fisk is an American classical guitarist.-Biography:Fisk was the last direct pupil of Andrés Segovia and is the holder of all reproduction rights to Segovia's music, given to him by Segovia's wife, Emilia...
, his classmate at Yale
YALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
, which mixes Andalucian flamenco
Flamenco
Flamenco is a genre of music and dance which has its foundation in Andalusian music and dance and in whose evolution Andalusian Gypsies played an important part....
with bluegrass
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
picking techniques, and was premiered by the Albany Symphony, with David Alan Miller
David Alan Miller
David Alan Miller is a prominent American classical music symphony orchestra conductor, and for the past several years, the conductor of the Albany Symphony Orchestra.-Early career and education:...
conducting.
A complete work list can be found at Schott Music's website (http://www.schott-music.com/shop/persons/featured/1639/products/).
Discography
- The Seven Deadly Sins
- Chorale Variations, and Piano Concerto (Phoenix, London/Argo)
- The Heavenly Feast (Phoenix/Milken Archives)
- Song of the Bells (New World RecordsNew World RecordsNew World Records is a record label based in New York City specialising in American music. The label was established in 1975 through a Rockefeller Foundation grant to produce a 100 disc anthology covering 200 years of American music....
) - Notes on a Southern Sky (EMIEMIThe EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
-Electrola) - Mountain Songs (Musicmasters, NaxosNaxos RecordsNaxos Records is a record label specializing in classical music. Through a number of imprints, Naxos also releases genres including Chinese music, jazz, world music, and early rock & roll. The company was founded in 1987 by Klaus Heymann, a German-born resident of Hong Kong.Naxos is the largest...
, Koch, Gajo, Siemens, HM Records Venezuela) - Landscape With Bells (Innova)
- Psalm 119/Psalm 150 (New World Records, “Divine Grandeur”)
- Brass Quintet (ABQ, Summit records)
- Souvenirs (Albany recordsAlbany RecordsAlbany Records is an American classical music record label focusing particularly on contemporary classical music. It was established by Peter Kermani in 1987, and is based in Albany, New York.-External links:**...
) - Variations for flute and piano (Musicmaster, Koch, Albany)
- Four Dickinson Songs (Bridge records)
- Shenandoah (Sonora, Golden Horn)
- Minimal Waltz (Capstone records, Guild music Ltd)
External links
- http://www.juilliard.edu/degrees-programs/music/faculty/detail.php?FacultyId=21
- http://www.schott-music.com/shop/persons/featured/1639/
- http://www.americancomposers.org/bios.htm
- http://www.milkenarchive.org/artists/artists.taf?artistid=241