Robert Beaser (born May 29, 1954,
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
) is an American
composer.
Biography
Beaser was brought up in a non-musical family. His father was a
physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
and mother was a
chemist
A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe t ...
. He grew up in
Newton,
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
, where he distinguished himself at a young age as a percussionist, composer and conductor. He made his debut with the Greater Boston Youth Symphony at Jordan Hall when he was 16, conducting the premiere of his orchestral work ''Antigone''. He went on to study with
Yehudi Wyner and
Jacob Druckman
Jacob Raphael Druckman (June 26, 1928 – May 24, 1996) was an American composer born in Philadelphia.
Life
A graduate of the Juilliard School in 1956, Druckman studied with Vincent Persichetti, Peter Mennin, and Bernard Wagenaar. In 1949 and 1 ...
at
Yale College
Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...
, graduating
summa cum laude,
Phi Beta Kappa
The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...
in 1976, and later received his Master of Music, M.M.A. and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the
Yale School of Music
The Yale School of Music (often abbreviated to YSM) is one of the 12 professional schools at Yale University. It offers three graduate degrees: Master of Music (MM), Master of Musical Arts (MMA), and Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA), as well as a join ...
. He studied conducting with
Otto-Werner Mueller and
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, ...
. Other teachers included
Toru Takemitsu TORU or Toru may refer to:
* TORU, spacecraft system
* Toru (given name), Japanese male given name
* Toru, Pakistan, village in Mardan District of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
*Tõru
Tõru is a village in Saaremaa Parish, Saare County in western ...
, Arnold Franchetti,
Goffredo Petrassi
Goffredo Petrassi (16 July 1904 – 3 March 2003) was an Italian composer of modern classical music, conductor, and teacher. He is considered one of the most influential Italian composers of the twentieth century.Petrassi, Goffredo. (2008). ...
and
Earle Brown
Earle Brown (December 26, 1926 – July 2, 2002) was an American composer who established his own formal and notational systems. Brown was the creator of "open form," a style of musical construction that has influenced many composers since ...
. He studied with
Betsy Jolas
Elizabeth Jolas (born 5 August 1926) is a Franco-American composer.
Biography
Jolas was born in Paris in 1926. Her mother, the American translator Maria McDonald, was a singer. Her father, the poet and journalist Eugene Jolas, founded and edited ...
on a fellowship at
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 ...
. In 1977, Beaser became the youngest composer to win the
Rome Prize
The Rome Prize is awarded by the American Academy in Rome, in Rome, Italy. Approximately thirty scholars and artists are selected each year to receive a study fellowship at the academy. Prizes have been awarded annually since 1921, with a hiatus ...
from the
American Academy in Rome
The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo (Janiculum Hill) in Rome.
The academy is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.
History
In 1893, a group of American architects, ...
. Residence in Rome proved a watershed in his development, and he embraced more tonal language, synthesizing a variety of diverse influences from jazz to folk into his work.
Beaser has received numerous awards and commissions from orchestras such as the
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is ...
the
Baltimore Symphony
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Baltimore SO has its principal residence at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, where it performs more than 130 concerts a year. In 2005, it bega ...
and the
Chicago Symphony. He was appointed professor and chairman of the Composition Department 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 elit ...
in
New York in 1993. In 1999, Beaser was co-commissioned by
Glimmerglass Opera
The Glimmerglass Festival (formerly known as Glimmerglass Opera) is an American opera company. Founded in 1975 by Peter Macris, the Glimmerglass Festival presents an annual season of operas at the Alice Busch Opera Theater on Otsego Lake eight ...
, the
New York City Opera
The New York City Opera (NYCO) is an American opera company located in Manhattan in New York City. The company has been active from 1943 through 2013 (when it filed for bankruptcy), and again since 2016 when it was revived.
The opera company, du ...
and
WNET-TV
WNET (channel 13), branded on-air as "Thirteen" (stylized as "THIRTEEN"), is a primary PBS member television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area. Owned by The WNET Group (formerly known as the ...
to compose ''The Food of Love'', with
Terrence McNally
Terrence McNally (November 3, 1938 – March 24, 2020) was an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter.
Described as "the bard of American theater" and "one of the greatest contemporary playwrights the theater world has yet produced," ...
as librettist, which was performed at both venues, aired on
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
, and was nominated for an
Emmy Award in 2000.
From 1978 to 1990 Beaser served as co-music director and conductor (with
Daniel Asia
Daniel Asia (born June 27, 1953) is an American composer. He was born in Seattle, Washington (U.S. state), Washington, in the United States of America.
Biography
He received a B.A. degree from Hampshire College and a M.M. from the Yale School of ...
) of the contemporary chamber ensemble
Musical Elements at the
92nd Street Y, premiering over 200 works. From 1988 to 1993 he was the
Meet the Composer
New Music USA is a new music organization formed by the merging of the American Music Center with Meet The Composer on November 8, 2011. The new organization retains the granting programs of the two former organizations as well as two media progra ...
/Composer-in-Residence with the
American Composers Orchestra at
Carnegie Hall, and served as the ACO’s artistic advisor until January 2001, when he assumed the role of artistic director. In 2013 he became the ACO's artistic director laureate. Beaser founded the Whittaker New Music Readings (now the Underwood New Music Readings) with the ACO in the early 1990s, providing an opportunity for young composers to receive hearings of their orchestral works. Along with
Tania Leon, Beaser spearheaded the Sonidos de Los Americas Festival from 1993 to 1999, bringing composers and works from the Americas to
Carnegie Hall. He serves as trustee for the
MacDowell Colony
MacDowell is an artist's residency program in Peterborough, New Hampshire, United States, founded in 1907 by composer Edward MacDowell and his wife, pianist and philanthropist Marian MacDowell. Prior to July 2020, it was known as the MacDowel ...
and the
American Composers Orchestra. He was elected to the membership in the
American Academy of Arts and Letters
The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...
in 2004.
His works are published by
Schott Music.
Allegations of sexual misconduct
On December 12, 2022, after a six-month investigation
VAN Magazinereported multiple alleged incidents of sexual harassment and misconduct by Beaser in an investigative article covering Juilliard’s composition department, where Beaser has been a faculty member since 1993 and was chair from 1994 to 2018.
On December 22, 2022, ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' reported that Beaser had been put on paid leave as of December 16, pending a full investigation by Juilliard of the multiple allegations against him. The ''Times'' also referenced comments by Paola Prestini, a composer and the co-founder and artistic director of the Brooklyn music nonprofit National Sawdust, who said she had experienced gender discrimination while studying composition at Juilliard beginning in 1994 when Beaser was chair of the composition department as well as her instructor, and that she believed she was far from the only woman there who did. "Beaser was responsible for creating a toxic environment", she said, also calling it "predatory" and adding that he "definitely hindered my career".
Works
Beaser was one of the first composers to embrace "New Tonality." Early works such as ''The Seven Deadly Sins'' and ''Variations for flute and piano'' show his proclivity for dramatic vocal writing as well as continuous variation technique. Conductors who have championed his work include
Leonard Slatkin
Leonard Edward Slatkin (born September 1, 1944) is an American conductor, author and composer.
Early life and education
Slatkin was born in Los Angeles to a Jewish musical family that came from areas of the Russian Empire now in Ukraine. His fat ...
,
David Zinman
David Zinman (born July 9, 1936, in Brooklyn, NY) is an American conductor and violinist.
Education
After violin studies at Oberlin Conservatory, Zinman studied theory and composition at the University of Minnesota, earning his M.A. in 1963. H ...
,
Dennis Russell Davies
Dennis Russell Davies (born April 16, 1944 in Toledo, Ohio) is an American conductor and pianist, He is currently the music director and chief conductor of the Brno Philharmonic.
Biography
Davies studied piano and conducting at the Juilliard Sch ...
, and
José Serebrier
José Serebrier (born 3 December 1938) is a Uruguayan conductor and composer. He is one of the most recorded conductors of his generation.
Early life
Serebrier was born in Montevideo to Russian and Polish parents of Jewish extraction. He fi ...
. His incorporation of extant folk materials came in the 1980s though his widely performed ''Mountain Songs'', nominated for a
Grammy Award
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 pr ...
in 1986, and continues with works such as ''Souvenirs'' for piccolo and piano/clarinet and piano and ''Evening Prayer''—an orchestral tone poem which incorporates and deconstructs a Hungarian folk tune. His orchestral music draws from a wide and diverse palette, and he has made dramatic vocal works using texts from poets such as
Anthony Hecht
Anthony Evan Hecht (January 16, 1923 – October 20, 2004) was an American poet. His work combined a deep interest in form with a passionate desire to confront the horrors of 20th century history, with the World War II, Second World War, in which ...
,
Eugenio Montale
Eugenio Montale (; 12 October 1896 – 12 September 1981) was an Italian poet, prose writer, editor and translator, and recipient of the 1975 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Life and works
Early years
Montale was born in Genoa. His family were che ...
and
Gjertrud Schnackenberg in ''The Heavenly Feast''. His ''Four Dickinson Songs'', written for
Meagan Miller and the Marilyn Horne Foundation, opens the ''Americans in Rome'' compendium on Bridge Records, performed by
Hila Plitmann and
Donald Berman.
[ ] Recent works include ''Guitar Concerto'' for
Eliot Fisk
Eliot Hamilton Fisk (born August 10, 1954) is an American classical guitarist.
Music career
Education and teaching
Fisk was born into a Quaker family in Philadelphia. He finished high school in DeWitt, New York, and then studied music at Yale Un ...
, his classmate at Yale, which mixes
Andalucian flamenco
Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and ...
with
bluegrass picking techniques, and was premiered by the
Albany Symphony, with
David Alan Miller
David Alan Miller (born 1961) is a multi-Grammy Award-winning American symphony orchestra conductor, and since 1992, music director of the Albany Symphony Orchestra. Miller served as assistant and associate conductor of the Los Angeles Philharm ...
conducting, and ''The End of Knowing'', a consortium commission from 27 wind ensembles, for soprano and baritone and wind ensemble on texts by poets including
Seamus Heaney
Seamus Justin Heaney (; 13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature. ,
Joseph Brodsky, Schnackenberg,
Theodore Worozbyt and
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...
.
Discography
* "Guitar Concerto" (
Linn Records
Linn Records is a Glasgow-based record label which specialises in classical music, jazz and Scottish music. It is part of Linn Products.
History
While Linn engineers were testing their flagship product, the Sondek LP12 turntable, they became fr ...
)
* "Notes on a Southern Sky" (
Linn Records
Linn Records is a Glasgow-based record label which specialises in classical music, jazz and Scottish music. It is part of Linn Products.
History
While Linn engineers were testing their flagship product, the Sondek LP12 turntable, they became fr ...
)
* "Evening Prayer" (
Linn Records
Linn Records is a Glasgow-based record label which specialises in classical music, jazz and Scottish music. It is part of Linn Products.
History
While Linn engineers were testing their flagship product, the Sondek LP12 turntable, they became fr ...
)
* "Ground O" (
Linn Records
Linn Records is a Glasgow-based record label which specialises in classical music, jazz and Scottish music. It is part of Linn Products.
History
While Linn engineers were testing their flagship product, the Sondek LP12 turntable, they became fr ...
)
* ''The Seven Deadly Sins'' (
Phoenix
Phoenix most often refers to:
* Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore
* Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States
Phoenix may also refer to:
Mythology
Greek mythological figures
* Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...
,
London/Argo)
* ''Chorale Variations'', and ''Piano Concerto'' (
Phoenix
Phoenix most often refers to:
* Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore
* Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States
Phoenix may also refer to:
Mythology
Greek mythological figures
* Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...
, London/Argo)
* ''The Heavenly Feast'' (
Milken Archives)
* ''Song of the Bells'' (
New World
The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...
)
* ''Notes on a Southern Sky'' (
EMI
EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...
-
Electrola
Electrola is a German record label and subsidiary of Universal Music Group. Based in Munich, its roster has included Chumbawamba, Matthias Reim, Helene Fischer, Brings, Höhner and Santiano.
History
On 8 May 1925 the British Gramophone Compan ...
)
* ''Mountain Songs'' (
Musicmasters,
Naxos
Naxos (; el, Νάξος, ) is a Greek island and the largest of the Cyclades. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture. The island is famous as a source of emery, a rock rich in corundum, which until modern times was one of the best ab ...
,
Koch,
Gajo,
Siemens,
Nimbus
Nimbus, from the Latin for "dark cloud", is an outdated term for the type of cloud now classified as the nimbostratus cloud. Nimbus also may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Halo (religious iconography), also known as ''Nimbus'', a ring of ligh ...
, HM Records Venezuela)
* ''Landscape With Bells'' (
Innova)
* ''Psalm 119/Psalm 150'' (
New World
The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...
, Divine Grandeur)
* ''Brass Quintet'' (ABQ,
Summit,
Capriccio)
* ''Souvenirs'' (
Albany)
* ''Variations'' for flute and piano (Musicmasters,
Koch,
Albany)
* ''Four Dickinson Songs'' (
Bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
)
* ''Shenandoah'' (
Sonora,
Golden Horn
The Golden Horn ( tr, Altın Boynuz or ''Haliç''; grc, Χρυσόκερας, ''Chrysókeras''; la, Sinus Ceratinus) is a major urban waterway and the primary inlet of the Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey. As a natural estuary that connects with t ...
)
* ''Minimal Waltz'' (
Capstone
CAPSTONE (Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment) is a lunar orbiter that will test and verify the calculated orbital stability planned for the Lunar Gateway space station. The spacecraft is a 12- ...
,
Guild Music)
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
*
Interview with Robert Beaser January 18, 1991
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beaser, Robert
1954 births
20th-century classical composers
21st-century classical composers
Living people
Yale School of Music alumni
Juilliard School faculty
American opera composers
Male opera composers
Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
Musicians from Boston
Musicians from Newton, Massachusetts
Pupils of Goffredo Petrassi
Pupils of Jacob Druckman
American male classical composers
American classical composers
21st-century American composers
20th-century American composers
Classical musicians from Massachusetts
20th-century American male musicians
21st-century American male musicians
Yale College alumni