Michael Colgrass
Encyclopedia
Michael Colgrass is an American-born Canadian musician, composer, and educator.
His musical career began in Chicago as a jazz musician (1944 - 49). He graduated from the University of Illinois (1954) with a degree in percussion performance and composition, including studies with Darius Milhaud
at the Aspen Festival and Lukas Foss
at Tanglewood
. He served two years as timpanist in Seventh Army Symphony in Stuttgart, Germany and then spent eleven years supporting his composition activities as a free-lance percussionist in New York City where his performance experiences included such varied groups as the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, The Metropolitan Opera
, Dizzy Gillespie
, the Modern Jazz Recording Orchestra's Stravinsky Conducts Stravinsky series, and numerous ballet, opera and jazz ensembles. He organized the percussion sections for Gunther Schuller
's recordings and concerts, as well as for recordings and premieres of new works by John Cage
, Elliott Carter
, Edgard Varèse
and Harry Partch
. During his New York period he continued to study composition with Wallingford Riegger (1958) and Ben Weber (1958–60).
Colgrass has received commissions from the New York Philharmonic
and The Boston Symphony (twice). Also the orchestras of Minnesota
, Detroit, San Francisco, St.Louis, Pittsburgh, Washington
, Toronto
(twice), the National Arts Centre Orchestra (twice), The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
, The Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, the Manhattan and Muir String Quartets, The Brighton Festival in England, The Fromm and Ford Foundations, The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and numerous other orchestras, chamber groups, choral groups and soloists.
He won the 1978 Pulitzer Prize
for Music for his symphonic piece Déjà vu, which was commissioned and premiered by the New York Philharmonic
. In addition, he received an Emmy Award
in 1982 for a PBS documentary Soundings: The Music of Michael Colgrass. Other awards include two Guggenheim Fellowship
s, a Rockefeller Grant, First Prize in the Barlow and Sudler International Wind Ensemble Competitions, and the 1988 Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music
. He is a National Patron of Delta Omicron
, an international professional music fraternity.
Among recent works are Crossworlds (2002) for flute piano and orchestra commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra
and premiered with soloists Marina Piccinini
and Andreas Heafliger. In 2003 he conducted the premiere of his new chamber orchestra version of the Bach-Goldberg Variations with members of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Most recent premieres are Side by Side (2007) for harpsichord, altered piano (one player) and orchestra, commissioned by the Esprit Orchestra
, The Boston Modern Orchestra Project and The Richmond Symphony featuring soloist Joanne Kong. The Toronto premiere took place on 13 May 2007 under conductor Alex Pauk, and the Boston premiere on 2 November 2007 under Gil Rose. Also Pan Trio, for steel drums, harp and percussion (marimba/vibraphone), commissioned and premiered in Toronto on 21 May 2008 by Soundstreams Canada and featuring pans virtuoso Liam Teague.
Recently, he devised a system of teaching music creativity to children which he has taught to middle and high school music teachers who have used his techniques to teach children to write and perform new music of their own. His articles on these activities have appeared in the Music Educator's Journal (September 2004) and Adultita, an Italian education magazine. He has also written a number of works for children to perform.
As an author, Colgrass wrote, My Lessons with Kumi, a narrative/exercise book, outlining his techniques for performance and creativity. He also gives workshops throughout the world on the psychology and technique of performance.
He has performed with the ensemble of Harry Partch
.
Colgrass lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and makes his living internationally as a composer. His wife, Ulla, is a journalist and editor who writes about music and the arts, and his son Neal is an editor, journalist and screenwriter.
He is an associate composer of the Canadian Music Centre
.
Raag Mala- Indian Music Through Western Ears (2005)
His musical career began in Chicago as a jazz musician (1944 - 49). He graduated from the University of Illinois (1954) with a degree in percussion performance and composition, including studies with Darius Milhaud
Darius Milhaud
Darius Milhaud was a French composer and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as The Group of Six—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions are influenced by jazz and make use of polytonality...
at the Aspen Festival and Lukas Foss
Lukas Foss
Lukas Foss was a German-born American composer, conductor, and pianist.-Music career:He was born Lukas Fuchs in Berlin, Germany in 1922. His father was the philosopher and scholar Martin Fuchs...
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...
. He served two years as timpanist in Seventh Army Symphony in Stuttgart, Germany and then spent eleven years supporting his composition activities as a free-lance percussionist in New York City where his performance experiences included such varied groups as the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, The Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
, Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...
, the Modern Jazz Recording Orchestra's Stravinsky Conducts Stravinsky series, and numerous ballet, opera and jazz ensembles. He organized the percussion sections for Gunther Schuller
Gunther Schuller
Gunther Schuller is an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, and jazz musician.- Biography and works :...
's recordings and concerts, as well as for recordings and premieres of new works by John Cage
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
, Elliott Carter
Elliott Carter
Elliott Cook Carter, Jr. is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer born and living in New York City. He studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris in the 1930s, and then returned to the United States. After a neoclassical phase, he went on to write atonal, rhythmically complex music...
, Edgard Varèse
Edgard Varèse
Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse, , whose name was also spelled Edgar Varèse , was an innovative French-born composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States....
and Harry Partch
Harry Partch
Harry Partch was an American composer and instrument creator. He was one of the first twentieth-century composers to work extensively and systematically with microtonal scales, writing much of his music for custom-made instruments that he built himself, tuned in 11-limit just intonation.-Early...
. During his New York period he continued to study composition with Wallingford Riegger (1958) and Ben Weber (1958–60).
Colgrass has received commissions from 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 Boston Symphony (twice). Also the orchestras of Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, Detroit, San Francisco, St.Louis, Pittsburgh, Washington
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
(twice), the National Arts Centre Orchestra (twice), The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
, The Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, the Manhattan and Muir String Quartets, The Brighton Festival in England, The Fromm and Ford Foundations, The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and numerous other orchestras, chamber groups, choral groups and soloists.
He won the 1978 Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
for Music for his symphonic piece Déjà vu, which was commissioned and premiered by 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"...
. In addition, he received 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 1982 for a PBS documentary Soundings: The Music of Michael Colgrass. Other awards include two Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
s, a Rockefeller Grant, First Prize in the Barlow and Sudler International Wind Ensemble Competitions, and the 1988 Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music
Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music
The Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music is a Canadian contemporary classical music award given to composers in recognition of quality new works of chamber music. Granted annually since 1978 , the prize is won through a competition administered by the Canadian Music Centre...
. He is 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.
Among recent works are Crossworlds (2002) for flute piano and orchestra commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra
Boston Symphony Orchestra
The Boston Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1881, the BSO plays most of its concerts at Boston's Symphony Hall and in the summer performs at the Tanglewood Music Center...
and premiered with soloists Marina Piccinini
Marina Piccinini
Marina Piccinini is an Italian American virtuoso flautist. She is noted for her performances of compositions by Mozart and Bach, and has performed with many of the world's top orchestras and conductors.-Biography:...
and Andreas Heafliger. In 2003 he conducted the premiere of his new chamber orchestra version of the Bach-Goldberg Variations with members of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Most recent premieres are Side by Side (2007) for harpsichord, altered piano (one player) and orchestra, commissioned by the Esprit Orchestra
Esprit Orchestra
The Esprit Orchestra is a Canadian orchestra based in Toronto dedicated to the performance of new classical works. It was established in 1983 by director Alex Pauk and is Canada's only full-sized orchestra devoted exclusively to new music. Currently, there are 45 full time members...
, The Boston Modern Orchestra Project and The Richmond Symphony featuring soloist Joanne Kong. The Toronto premiere took place on 13 May 2007 under conductor Alex Pauk, and the Boston premiere on 2 November 2007 under Gil Rose. Also Pan Trio, for steel drums, harp and percussion (marimba/vibraphone), commissioned and premiered in Toronto on 21 May 2008 by Soundstreams Canada and featuring pans virtuoso Liam Teague.
Recently, he devised a system of teaching music creativity to children which he has taught to middle and high school music teachers who have used his techniques to teach children to write and perform new music of their own. His articles on these activities have appeared in the Music Educator's Journal (September 2004) and Adultita, an Italian education magazine. He has also written a number of works for children to perform.
As an author, Colgrass wrote, My Lessons with Kumi, a narrative/exercise book, outlining his techniques for performance and creativity. He also gives workshops throughout the world on the psychology and technique of performance.
He has performed with the ensemble of Harry Partch
Harry Partch
Harry Partch was an American composer and instrument creator. He was one of the first twentieth-century composers to work extensively and systematically with microtonal scales, writing much of his music for custom-made instruments that he built himself, tuned in 11-limit just intonation.-Early...
.
Colgrass lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and makes his living internationally as a composer. His wife, Ulla, is a journalist and editor who writes about music and the arts, and his son Neal is an editor, journalist and screenwriter.
He is an associate composer of the Canadian Music Centre
Canadian Music Centre
The Canadian Music Centre holds Canada's largest collection of Canadian concert music. The CMC exists to promote the works of its Associate Composers in Canada and around the world....
.
Works
- Winds of NagualWinds of NagualWritten in 1985, Winds of Nagual is one of North American composer Michael Colgrass's works for Wind Ensemble. Considered a beautiful yet highly challenging piece to perform, it has become a standard of the wind ensemble/concert band repertoire...
(1985) - for Wind Ensemble. - Snow Walker for Organ and Orchestra (1990)
- Urban Requiem for Saxophone Quartet and Wind Ensemble
Raag Mala- Indian Music Through Western Ears (2005)
External links
- Official site
- Canadian Encyclopedia article
- Works of Michael Colgrass at Carl Fischer, music publishers.