Discipline: Music Composition

Joseph Schwantner

Discipline: Music Composition
Region: Keene, NH
MacDowell Fellowships: 1977
More: www.schwantner.net
Joseph Schwantner (b. 1943), known for his dramatic and unique style and as a gifted orchestral colorist, is one of the most prominent American composers today. He holds degrees from the Chicago Conservatory and Northwestern University and previously served on the Juilliard, Eastman, and Yale faculties. Schwantner is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Schwantner's compositional career has been marked by many awards, grants, and fellowships, including the Pulitzer Prize in 1979 for his orchestral composition Aftertones of Infinity and several Grammy nominations. Among his many commissions is his Percussion Concerto, commissioned for the 150th anniversary season of the New York Philharmonic, is one of the most performed concert works of the past several decades. Christopher Lamb, soloist in the recent Naxos recording of Schwantner's music by the Nashville Symphony Orchestra received a 2012 Grammy Award for "Best Classical Instrumental Solo" with Schwantner's Percussion Concerto.

Studios

Barnard

Joseph Schwantner worked in the Barnard studio.

Originally built near MacDowell's Union Street entrance, the Barnard Studio — which was funded by Barnard College music students — was re-located to its current site in 1910. When the small structure was moved, its size was doubled with the addition of a second room. This remodeling, financed by Mrs. Thomas E. Emery of Cincinnati…

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