Paul Schoenfield, also spelled Paul Schoenfeld,
is a
classical 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 ...
. He is known for combining
popular
Popularity or social status is the quality of being well liked, admired or well known to a particular group.
Popular may also refer to:
In sociology
* Popular culture
* Popular fiction
* Popular music
* Popular science
* Populace, the total ...
,
folk
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, and classical music forms.
Schoenfield was born in 1947 in
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
,
Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
. He began to take piano lessons at the age of six, and wrote his first composition a year later. Among his teachers were Julius Chajes, Ozan Marsh and Rudolf Serkin. He holds a B.A. degree from
Carnegie-Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...
and a Doctor of Music Arts degree from the
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory.
T ...
.
Schoenfield was formerly an active concert pianist, as a soloist and with groups including Music from Marlboro. With violinist
Sergiu Luca he recorded the complete violin and piano works of
Béla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as H ...
. He gave the premiere of his piano concerto ''Four Parables'' with the Toledo Symphony in 1983.
Jeffrey Kahane
Jeffrey Alan Kahane (born September 12, 1956) is an American classical concert pianist and conductor. He was music director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra for 20 years, the longest of any music director in the orchestra's history. He is t ...
recorded the work in 1994 with
John Nelson and the
New World Symphony
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
. Also on the
Argo
In Greek mythology the ''Argo'' (; in Greek: ) was a ship built with the help of the gods that Jason and the Argonauts sailed from Iolcos to Colchis to retrieve the Golden Fleece. The ship has gone on to be used as a motif in a variety of sour ...
CD are ''Vaudeville'', Schoenfeld's concerto for piccolo trumpet, played by Wolfgang Basch, and ''Klezmer Rondos'', concerto for flute, baritone and orchestra, performed by flutist Carol Wincenc. Critic Raymond Tuttle called the CD: "Some of the most life-affirming new music I've heard in a long time", while he characterized ''Four Parables'' as "wild silliness in the face of existential dread."
Andreas Boyde
Andreas Boyde (born 13 November 1967) is a German pianist.
Biography
Boyde was born in Oschatz, Bezirk Leipzig.
He has appeared in recital as well as soloist with orchestras such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Sächsische Staatska ...
gave the European premiere of ''Four Parables'' in 1998 with the Dresdner Sinfoniker and
Jonathan Nott
Jonathan Nott (born 25 December 1962, in Solihull, England) is an English conductor.
Biography
The son of a priest at Worcester Cathedral, Nott was a music student and choral scholar at St John's College, Cambridge, and also studied singing a ...
, a live performance which was issued on the Athene Records label in 1999. In 2008 the work was released on Black Box Classics with
Andrew Russo
Andrew C. Russo (born October 22, 1975) is an American pianist. Russo was born in Syracuse, New York, and studied music in New York City and Europe. He started a nonprofit youth educational foundation in New York at the age of 25 and recorded albu ...
and the
Prague Philharmonia
The Prague Philharmonia (''Pražská komorní filharmonie'', abbreviation: PKF; literal translation, "Prague Chamber Philharmonia") is a Czech orchestra based in Prague. The orchestra gives concerts in several venues in Prague, including the Dvoř ...
led by
JoAnn Falletta
JoAnn Falletta (born February 27, 1954 in Queens, New York) is an American conductor.
Biography
Falletta was raised in the borough of Queens in an Italian-American household. She was educated at the Mannes College of Music and The Juilliard Sch ...
. Also on the CD Russo plays ''Four Souvenirs'' with violinist
James Ehnes
James Ehnes, (born January 27, 1976) is a Canadian concert violinist and violist.
Life and career
Ehnes was born in Brandon, Manitoba, the son of Alan Ehnes, long time trumpet professor at Brandon University (Canada), and Barbara Withey Ehnes, ...
and the piano trio ''Café Music'' with Ehnes and cellist Edward Arron. ''Café Music'' was commissioned by the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and inspired by Schoenfeld's turn as house pianist at Murray's steakhouse in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It received its premiere during an SPCO chamber concert in January, 1987 with Schoenfeld at the piano.
In 1994, the same year he was awarded the Cleveland Arts Prize, an evening of Schoenfield's pieces was presented at Reinberger Hall by violinist Lev Polyakin and other members of the
Cleveland Orchestra
The Cleveland Orchestra, based in Cleveland, is one of the five American orchestras informally referred to as the " Big Five". Founded in 1918 by the pianist and impresario Adella Prentiss Hughes, the orchestra plays most of its concerts at Sev ...
with the composer at the piano.
Cleveland Orchestra
The Cleveland Orchestra, based in Cleveland, is one of the five American orchestras informally referred to as the " Big Five". Founded in 1918 by the pianist and impresario Adella Prentiss Hughes, the orchestra plays most of its concerts at Sev ...
principal violist
Robert Vernon gave the world premiere of Schoenfield's viola concerto in 1998, and made the premiere recording, released on
Naxos Records
Naxos comprises numerous companies, divisions, imprints, and labels specializing in classical music but also audiobooks and other genres. The premier label is Naxos Records which focuses on classical music. Naxos Musical Group encompasses about 1 ...
in the same year.
Schoenfield's two-act opera, ''The Merchant and the Pauper'', was commissioned by the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and given its premiere there in 1999. Its libretto is adapted from a tale fashioned and first told in 1809 by one of the most significant personalities in Hassidic history, philosophy, and lore-
Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav (1772-1811), the founder of the Bratslaver Hassidic sect.
Schoenfield's song cycle ''Camp Songs'' was commissioned by Seattle's
Music of Remembrance
Music of Remembrance is a non-profit classical chamber music organization based in Seattle whose purpose is to find and perform music composed by victims of the Holocaust, irrespective of their background, as well as to perform related newly commi ...
(MOR). It was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2003.
The song cycle Ghetto Songs, commissioned by MOR, was recorded in 2009 by Naxos.
In 2010 Schoenfield's ''Sonata for Violin and Piano'' was premiered at Lincoln Center with Cho-Liang Lin, violin, and Jon Kimura Parker, piano.
Schoenfield is a Professor of Composition at the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
. He is also a dedicated scholar of the Talmud and of mathematics.
References
External links
University of Michigan bioMilken Archive of Jewish Music profile*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schoenfield, Paul
Living people
1947 births
University of Michigan faculty
American male classical composers
American classical composers
20th-century classical composers
21st-century classical composers
Musicians from Detroit
Carnegie Mellon University alumni
University of Arizona alumni
21st-century American composers
20th-century American composers
American classical pianists
Jewish American classical composers