George Tsontakis (born

Astoria, Queens Astoria is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City borough of Queens. Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to three other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City to the southwest, Sunnyside to the southeast ...

, New York City, October 24, 1951) is an American

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and conductor.

Early life and education

He was born in New York City, and is of Greek descent. Tsontakis studied composition with

Hugo Weisgall Hugo David Weisgall (October 13, 1912 – March 11, 1997) was an American composer and conductor, known chiefly for his opera and vocal music compositions. He was born in Ivančice, Moravia (then part of Austria-Hungary, later in his childhood ...

and

Roger Sessions Roger Huntington Sessions (December 28, 1896March 16, 1985) was an American composer, teacher and musicologist. He had initially started his career writing in a neoclassical style, but gradually moved further towards more complex harmonies and ...

at the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most el ...

from 1974 to 1978, and later with

Franco Donatoni Franco Donatoni (9 June 1927 – 17 August 2000) was an Italian composer. Biography Born in Verona, Donatoni started studying violin at the age of seven, and frequented the local music academy. Later, he studied at the Milan Conservatory ...

at the

Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia ( en, National Academy of St Cecilia) is one of the oldest musical institutions in the world, founded by the papal bull ''Ratione congruit'', issued by Sixtus V in 1585, which invoked two saints prom ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Career

His music has been performed and broadcast by major orchestras, chamber ensembles, and festivals throughout North and South America, Europe and Japan. Tsontakis was honored with the "Academy Award" in 1995 from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and was the fourth recipient of the coveted Ives Living Fellowship, in 2007. Pianist

Stephen Hough Sir Stephen Andrew Gill Hough (; born 22 November 1961) is a British-born classical pianist, composer and writer. He became an Australian citizen in 2005 and thus has dual nationality (his father was born in Australia in 1926). Biography Houg ...

's recording of Tsontakis's "Ghost Variations" on Hyperion Records was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition, and was the only classical recording among ''Time'' magazine's 1998 Top Ten Recordings. Tsontakis received the Berlin Prize from the

American Academy in Berlin The American Academy in Berlin is a private, independent, nonpartisan research and cultural institution in Berlin dedicated to sustaining and enhancing the long-term intellectual, cultural, and political ties between the United States and Germany ...

in 2002, and the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of ...

Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition The Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition () is an annual prize instituted by Henry Charles Grawemeyer, industrialist and entrepreneur, at the University of Louisville in 1984. The award was first given in 1985. Subsequently, the Grawemeyer Awar ...

for his Violin Concerto No. 2 in 2005. A proficient conductor of orchestral and choral music, Tsontakis has been a composer-in-residence with the Aspen Music Festival and conductor and the founding director of the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble at the Aspen Music School, where he teaches composition. He was an assistant professor at the

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus. Being New York City's first publ ...

Conservatory of Music, and has served on the faculty of

Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York. The college models its approach to education after the Supervision system, Oxford/Cambridge system of one-on-one student-faculty tutorials. Sara ...

. He is Distinguished Faculty, Composer-in-Residence of the

Bard College Conservatory of Music The Bard College Conservatory of Music is part of Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. Founded in 2005, the program is unique among music conservatories in the United States in that all undergraduate students are required to participa ...

in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. He was a Weil fellow at

Auburn University Montgomery Auburn University at Montgomery (AUM) is a public university in Montgomery, Alabama. Established by an act of the Alabama Legislature in 1967, it is governed by the Auburn University Board of Trustees as a member of the Auburn University system. ...

. Tsontakis's music has been recorded by KOCH International, New World, and Opus One, and is published by Merion Music and Poco Forte Music. In 2008, his Violin Concerto No. 2, recorded by violinist Steven Copes and the SPCO, was nominated for a

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

in the category of Best Classical Contemporary Composition, but lost to John Corigliano's ''Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan''. He served as composer-in-residence with the Albany Symphony (2007–2012) as well as the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (2009–10).

References

External links

George Tsontakis' page at Theodore Presser Company
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsontakis, George 20th-century classical composers 21st-century classical composers American male classical composers American classical composers American male conductors (music) Aspen Music Festival and School faculty Bard College faculty Brooklyn College faculty Sarah Lawrence College faculty Auburn University faculty Auburn University at Montgomery faculty Berlin Prize recipients Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia alumni Juilliard School alumni Musicians from Queens, New York People from Astoria, Queens American people of Greek descent 1951 births Living people Pupils of Roger Sessions 21st-century American composers 20th-century American composers 20th-century American conductors (music) 21st-century American conductors (music) 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians