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Lukas Foss "I think it's questionable to claim: 'I'm a twelve-tone composer' or 'I'm a minimal composer'. Why limit myself to one technique? Can we imagine Bach saying, 'I'm a fugue composer,' and writing nothing but fugues? That's ridiculous ... The richer the vocabulary, the richer the music. The trick is, of course, to make all these techniques your own. I didn't just use these influences; I made them my own, which means I completely transformed them." Lukas Foss is a celebrated composer, conductor, and pianist. His music has been performed throughout the world by every major orchestra, ensemble, and soloist. He has received numerous honors, including a Pulitzer scholarship before he turned 20, the New York Critics' Circle Award ... At twenty-three, he was the youngest composer ever to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship. He is a Vice Chancellor of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters and holder of eight honorary doctorates. His 'Time Cycle' was honored by conductor Leonard Bernstein who, in an unprecedented gesture of respect, performed the entire work twice the same premiere evening. As a conductor, he has been Music Director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Buffalo Philharmonic, and Milwaukee Symphony, championing the work of living composers, and he has appreared as guest conductor of major orchestras as the Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Tokyo Philharmonic ... He succeeded Arnold Schoenberg as professor of composition at the University of California at Los Angeles, where he founded the experimental Improvisation Chamber Ensemble. He has taught at Tanglewood, been composer-in-residence at Harvard, the Manhattan School of Music, Carnegie Mellon University, Yale University, and Boston University. In 1986, he delivered the prestigious Mellon Lectures at the National Gallery in Washington, DC. Foss lives in New York, where he actively composes, conducts, and teaches. Available CDs |
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