Stephen Jaffe (born December 30, 1954, in Washington, D.C.newsobserver.com
) 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 ...

contemporary classical music Contemporary classical music is classical music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included seria ...

. He lives in

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

, United States, and serves on the music faculty of

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

, where he holds the post of Mary and James H. Semans Professor of Music Composition; his colleagues there include composers

Scott Lindroth Scott Allen Lindroth (born 1958) is an American composer and teacher based near Durham, North Carolina. Lindroth joined the faculty of Duke University in 1990, where he is the Vice-Provost for the Arts and the Kevin D. Gorter Associate Professo ...

, John Supko, and

Anthony Kelley Anthony or Antony is a masculine given name, derived from the '' Antonii'', a ''gens'' ( Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were Heracleidae, being descendants of Ant ...

. Jaffe graduated

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

from the University of Pennsylvania in 1977; he received a master's degree the following year from the same institution. During his time in Pennsylvania, he studied with

George Crumb George Henry Crumb Jr. (24 October 1929 – 6 February 2022) was an American composer of avant-garde contemporary classical music. Early in his life he rejected the widespread modernist usage of serialism, developing a highly personal musical ...

, George Rochberg, and Richard Wernick. Jaffe's music has been performed across the United States, Europe, and China (including the Nottingham, Tanglewood, and Oregon Bach Festivals) by ensembles including the

National Symphony Orchestra The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1930, its principal performing venue is the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. It also performs for the annual National Mem ...

, the R.A.I. of Rome, the North Carolina Symphony, the

San Francisco Symphony The San Francisco Symphony (SFS), founded in 1911, is an American orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980 the orchestra has been resident at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall in the city's Hayes Valley neighborhood. The San Fr ...

, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, the

Miami String Quartet The Miami String Quartet is an American string quartet. The group was founded in 1988 at The New World School of the Arts by John de Lancie in Miami, Florida. The Quartet was in Residence at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, where all four mem ...

, and the

Ciompi Quartet The Ciompi Quartet is a string quartet at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, United States, where they were founded in 1965 by Italian violinist Giorgio Ciompi. The Quartet has produced twelve recordings (half collaboratively with other ar ...

. He has received awards and commissions, and recordings of his works are available, including a three-volume retrospective of his work ''The Music of Stephen Jaffe'' from Bridge Records. Jaffe's notable students include

Jeremy Beck Jeremy Beck (born 1960) is an American composer who "knows the importance of embracing the past while also going his own way." The critic Mark Sebastian Jordan has said that "Beck was committed to tonality and a recognizable musical vernacular l ...

Dorothy Hindman Dorothy Hindman (born March 13, 1966) is an American composer and music educator. Early life and studies Born in Miami, Florida on March 13, 1966, Hindman had intense early exposure to classical music from her mother, Dorothy Hindman Lyon, a gi ...

Penka Kouneva Penka Kouneva ( bg, Пенка Кунева) (/ˈpɛŋkɑː kuːˈnɛvɑː/; born February 25, 1967, in Sofia, Sofia, Bulgaria) is a Bulgarian-American composer, Orchestration, orchestrator and Record producer, soundtrack producer. In 1999, she be ...

Caroline Mallonée Caroline Mallonée (born 1975"Caroline Mallonée," ''New Music USA'' (website), accessed 8 August 2019) is an American composer best known for her choral works. She is also the artistic director of the Creative Musicians Retreat, part of The Walden ...

Carl Schimmel Carl Schimmel is an American composer of contemporary classical music. He has been awarded the Joseph H. Bearns Prize from Columbia University, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a commission from the Fromm Music Foundation of Harvard University, a fello ...

Amy Scurria Amy Scurria (born September 24, 1973) is an American composer. Biography Amy Scurria was born into a military family and showed an early interest in music, memorizing the piano assignments of her sister Jackie. At age 11 she took lessons under t ...

, and

Nathaniel Stookey Nathaniel Stookey (born 1970, San Francisco, California) is an American composer and musician. Education Stookey is the son of Richard Phelps Stookey, an attorney and novelist, and Martha Milton Stookey, an actor, stage director, and teacher. Bo ...

Awards and recognition

* Koussevitsky International Recording Award (KIRA) from the Musicians Club of New York (November 2006) – for ''Concerto for Violin and Orchestra'' * Composer of the Year from the Classical Recording Society (November 2005) * Aaron Copland Foundation for Music (2002) – for ''Concerto for Violin and Orchestra'' and ''Chamber Concerto ("Singing Figures")'' * Howard Foundation Fellowship from

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

(1996) * American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters Lifetime Achievement Prize (May 1993) * Best Newly Published Music Citation from the National Flute Association (1991) – for ''Three Figures and a Ground'' * Kennedy Center Friedheim Award (May 1991) – for ''First Quartet'', recorded by the

* Brandeis University Creative Arts Citation (May 1989) *

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

(May 1984) * Composer Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts (1981) * Rome Prize administered by the American Academy in Rome (1980) *

Joseph H. Bearns Prize The Joseph H. Bearns Prize in Music was established on February 3, 1921, by Lillia M. Bearns, in memory of her father. It was her desire to encourage talented young composers in the United States. The Prize, administered by Columbia University, i ...

for ''Four Nocturnes'' (1976) * Student Composer Award from BMI (1975) – for the

symphony A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...

''Three Lives'' * Premier Medaille d’harmonie from the Conservatoire de Musique in Geneva (May 1972)

Major works

* ''Poetry of the Piedmont'' (2006) for orchestra – commissioned by North Carolina Symphony * ''String Quartet No. 2 (Sylvan and Aeolian Figures)'' (2005) – written for the

, commissioned by the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society * ''Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra'' (2004) – premiered by the National Symphony Orchestra under Leonard Slatkin, with soloist David Hardy * ''Designs'' (2002) for flute, guitar and percussion – premiered at the National Arts Center of Taiwan, 2002 * ''Homage to the Breath: Instrumental and Vocal Meditations for Mezzo-soprano and Ten Instruments'' (2001) – featuring a text by Thich Nhat Hanh, premiered at the Hirshhorn Museum of Art in Washington, DC * ''Concerto for Violin and Orchestra'' (2000) – premiered by soloist Nicholas Kitchen with the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra * ''Songs of Turning'' (1996) for chorus and orchestra * ''Chamber Concerto ("Singing Figures")'' (1996) for solo oboe and chamber ensemble – recorded by

Speculum Musicae Speculum Musicae is an American chamber ensemble dedicated to the performance of contemporary classical music. It was founded in New York City in 1971 and is particularly noted for its performances of the music of Elliott Carter and Charles Wuo ...

* ''The Reassurance'' (1995) – contribution to the '' AIDS Quilt Songbook'' * ''First Quartet'' (1991) – commissioned and premiered by the

* ''Three Figures and a Ground'' (1989) for flute and piano * ''Rhythm of the Running Plough'' (1985)

References

"Language of Music Is in His Composition"
by Thomas May for '' The Washington Post''
"Composer's life a classic tale of following one's star"
by Vicki Hyman for ''News Observer'' website
Profile
on the Kennedy Center site
Profile
(containing Jaffe's residency statement) at the Atlantic Center for the Arts

The Walden School The Walden School is an organization which runs summer music education programs. It is based in Dublin, New Hampshire and has a year-round office in San Francisco, California. Since its founding in 1972, the Walden School has operated the Young ...

with Jaffe as moderator and composer-in-residence
American Works for String Quartet: Copland/Ward/Jaffe
Program notes at DRAM website {{DEFAULTSORT:Jaffe, Stephen Living people American male classical composers American classical composers 20th-century classical composers 21st-century classical composers Duke University faculty 1954 births Musicians from Washington, D.C. University of Pennsylvania alumni Pupils of George Crumb 21st-century American composers 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters

Awards and recognition

Major works

References

External links