Paul Moravec
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Paul Moravec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Background information | ||
| Born | November 2, 1957, Buffalo, New York | |
| Occupation(s) | Composer | |
| Website | PaulMoravec.com | |
Paul Moravec (born November 2, 1957, in Buffalo, New York) is an American composer and the Music Department Chair at Adelphi University on Long Island, New York. Already a prolific composer, he has been described as a "new tonalist." [1] He is best known for his work Tempest Fantasy, which received the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Music.
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[edit] Biography
Moravec was born in Buffalo, New York and subsequently attended the Lawrenceville School. He received his B.A. in composition from Harvard University in 1980; while there, he performed with the Holden Choirs. He won Prix de Rome and studied at the American Academy in Rome after graduating. He then received the Master of Music (1982) and Doctor of Musical Arts (1987) in composition, both from Columbia University.[2]
Moravec has taught at Dartmouth College (1987-96) and Hunter College (1997-98). He is currently the chair of the music department at Adelphi University, and has contributed to what the New York Times has called a "renaissance" in a college that went through academic and financial difficulties in the 1990s.[3]
In addition to his Pulitzer Prize, Moravec has received a Composer Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Rockefeller Foundation fellowship, and the Charles Ives and Goddard Lieberson Awards in American Composition.[2]
[edit] Musical career
Moravec has been placed into a group called "new tonalists" by the critic Terry Teachout, who describes them as composers who are "neither embarrassed nor paralyzed by tradition. Rather they accept it as a given."[1] Thus his style is primarily tonal and neo-classical. His best known pieces include the Pulitzer-winning, Shakespeare-inspired Tempest Fantasy, a 30-minute chamber work scored for clarinet, violin, violoncello, and piano, written for David Krakauer and Trio Solisti, who premiered the composition on May 2, 2003 at the Morgan Library in New York City; Northern Lights Electric, a 1994 work that combines a musical illustration of the Northern Lights with a musical depiction of electric light; and the cantata Fire/Ice/Air (1998) contrasts the journeys of Captain Robert Falcon Scott, on his expedition to the Antarctic, and Charles Lindbergh, on his trans-Atlantic flight.[1] His first opera, Blizzard Voices, was commissioned by Opera Omaha and will be premiered there in 2007.[4]
He has been commissioned by such ensembles as the Dessoff Choirs, the Albany Symphony Orchestra, and the Harvard Glee Club.
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c Page, Tim. "Paul Moravec." Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy. (Accessed 15 January 2007). http://www.grovemusic.com.
- ^ a b Curriculum Vita at PaulMoravec.com
- ^ Lambert, Bruce. "University Enjoys a Renaissance After 90's Strife." New York Times online, retrieved 15 January 2007. Available here.
- ^ Midgette, Anne. "In Search of American Opera." New York Times online. Retrieved 15 January 2007. Available here.
