Discipline: Music Composition

David Rakowski

Discipline: Music Composition
Region: Maynard, MA
MacDowell Fellowships: 1990, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2018

David Rakowski is a composer who has written seven symphonies, ten concertos, two hundredpiano études and préludes, chamber music, vocal music, and music for children. He's been a Pulitzer finalist twice, and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Throughout his residencies at MacDowell, he has written the piano etudes "Luceole #35, on ascending 2nds and 3rds," and "Purple, #36, on a chord"; three (of five) movements of a horn concerto for Daniel Grabois, commissioned by Sequitor; "Dream Symphony" for premiere by the New England String Ensemble; his 72nd piano etude "Dorian Blue" (for Donald Berman); three movements of a piano concerto for Marilyn Nonken and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project; a large piece for wind ensemble commissioned by the Barlow Foundation; five wind ensembles that would premiere in 2008; and began and finished a substantial work for mixed sextet called "Zyg Zag" commissioned by the Cygnus Ensemble of New York.

Studios

Watson

David Rakowski worked in the Watson studio.

Built in 1916 in memory of Regina Watson of Chicago, a musician and teacher, this studio was donated by a group of her friends, along with funds for its maintenance. Originally designed to serve as a composers’ studio with room for performance, Watson was used as a recital hall for chamber music for a…

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