James Yannatos (March 13, 1929 – October 19, 2011) was a composer, conductor,
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...
ist and teacher. He was a senior lecturer at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
until his retirement in 2009.
"Federico Cortese Appointed Conductor of HRO"
Harvard University Department of Music. Retrieved March 11, 2011
Yannatos was born and educated in New York City. In 1943, he was invited to attend Camp Rising Sun, a tuition-free, international summer camp in upstate New York. He attended the High School of Music and Art and the Manhattan School of Music. Subsequent studies with Nadia Boulanger
Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher and conductor. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organist.
From a ...
, Luigi Dallapiccola
Luigi Dallapiccola (February 3, 1904 – February 19, 1975) was an Italian composer known for his lyrical serialism, twelve-tone compositions.
Biography
Dallapiccola was born in Pisino d'Istria (at the time part of Austria-Hungary, current ...
, Darius Milhaud
Darius Milhaud (; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer, conductor, 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 ...
, Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ' ...
, and Philip Bezanson
Philip Thomas Bezanson (January 6, 1916 – March 11, 1975) was an American composer and educator.
Life
Born in Athol, Massachusetts, he graduated from Yale University School of Music in 1940 and after war services enrolled in the graduate progr ...
in composition, William Steinberg
William Steinberg (Cologne, August 1, 1899New York City, May 16, 1978) 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, ...
and Leonard Bernstein in conducting, and Hugo Kortschak and Ivan Galamian on violin took Yannatos to Yale University (B.M., M.M.), the University of Iowa (Ph.D.), Aspen
Aspen is a common name for certain tree species; some, but not all, are classified by botanists in the section ''Populus'', of the '' Populus'' genus.
Species
These species are called aspens:
*'' Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (Chin ...
, Tanglewood
Tanglewood is a music venue in the towns of Lenox and Stockbridge in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. It has been the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1937. Tanglewood is also home to three music schools: the ...
, and Paris. As a young violinist, he performed at the Casals Festival and elsewhere in various professional ensembles, including a piano trio, a string quartet, and early music groups with Hindemith and Boulanger.
In 1964, he was appointed music director of the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, and led that group on tours to Europe, Russia, South America, and Asia. He organized and co-directed the New England Composers Orchestra and the Tanglewood Young Artists Orchestra, and taught conducting at Tanglewood. He appeared as guest conductor-composer at the Aspen, Banff, Tanglewood, Chautauqua, and Saratoga Festivals, and with the Boston Pops, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Baltimore, and San Antonio Symphonies and the Sverdlovsk, Leningrad, Cleveland, and American Symphony Chamber Orchestras.
Yannatos composed music for both stage and television in addition to chamber music, choral works, and art songs. Many of his compositions are for children. His only opera, ''Rockets' Red Blare'', to a libretto he wrote himself, premiered in 1971 in a student performance at Harvard University's Loeb Drama Center.
On October 1 and 2, 2011, a completely rewritten score to ''Rocket's Red Blare'' received its professional premiere by Intermezzo, The New England Chamber Opera Series at the Agassiz Theater in Radcliffe Yard
Radcliffe or Radcliff may refer to:
Places
* Radcliffe Line, a border between India and Pakistan
United Kingdom
* Radcliffe, Greater Manchester
** Radcliffe Tower, the remains of a medieval manor house in the town
** Radcliffe tram stop
* ...
, Cambridge, MA. In pre-performance talks, Yannatos revealed his dissatisfaction with virtually every element of the 1971 premiere, especially the stage direction, as well as his own music. After that production closed, he shelved the score until 2008, when he revised the libretto (mostly making cuts), and with the exception of a few vocal moments he liked, wrote an entirely new score. Intermezzo's production was directed Kirsten Z. Cairns, with Edward Jones conducting the Juventas New Music Ensemble; designers William Fregosi (scenery), Rebecca Butler (costumes), and Winston Limauge (lights); and Singers David Kravitz (King), D'Anna Fortunato (Queen), Gregory Zavracky (Prince), Natalie Polito (The Girl), and Charles Blandy (Jester).
Yannatos died of cancer on October 19, 2011, not quite three weeks after having seen his only opera finally produced successfully.
References
External links
* (accessed October 4, 2013).
Opera Glass
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yannatos, James
20th-century classical composers
American male classical composers
American classical composers
1929 births
2011 deaths
Aspen Music Festival and School alumni
Harvard University faculty
University of Iowa alumni
Yale School of Music alumni
Camp Rising Sun alumni
American opera composers
Male opera composers
American classical violinists
Male classical violinists
American male violinists
American male conductors (music)
The High School of Music & Art alumni
Manhattan School of Music alumni
Pupils of Darius Milhaud
20th-century American composers
20th-century American conductors (music)