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Robert Beaser (1954-    )

Robert Beaser is often classed as a member of the new tonalists, a group whose membership includes Lowell Liebermann, Daniel Asia, Paul Moravec, and other major America composers born at mid-twentieth century. Beaser, like his colleagues, embraces more traditional methods of composition, including tonality and an expressive directness. He possesses a great melodic gift and is unabashed in his use of it. Moreover, he is versatile in writing in a variety of genres, from opera and orchestral works to chamber pieces and songs and solo works for piano and guitar. Beaser is also active as a teacher, having chaired the composition department at Juilliard since 1994, a year after he joined the faculty there. Beaser was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He was a precocious youngster: at 16 he conducted the Boston Youth Symphony in a performance of an orchestral work of his own. Beaser earned degrees in political philosophy and literature at Yale College, and then went on to Yale School of Music for a doctorate in music, studying under Jacob Druckman, Toru Takemitsu, Earle Brown, and other notables. He studied conducting with William Steinberg and Arthur Weisberg. Beaser had further composition studies in 1976 with Betsy Jolas at Tanglewood. The following year he won the Prix de Rome, becoming the youngest American composer awarded the prize. From 1978-1980 he served as conductor and co-director of the New York City-based Musical Elements, a chamber ensemble mostly devoted to the performance of new music. Beaser's first great compositional success came with his Mountain Songs (1984), for flute and guitar, which was nominated for a Grammy in 1986. Other successes followed, including The Heavenly Feast (1994), for soprano and orchestra, a work commissioned by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and its then-conductor David Zinman for performance with Dawn Upshaw. Beaser's opera The Food of Love (1999) was written to fulfill one of his most important commissions, a joint offering from Glimmerglass Opera, the New York City Opera, and WNET-TV, for performance at both of the opera companies' venues as well as for broadcast on PBS. From 2001 Beaser has served as artistic director of the Carnegie Hall-based American Composers Orchestra, for whom he was previously composer-in-residence.

COMPOSITIONS                                                            Beaser Links     ~ ~ ~     Works by Genre    ~ ~ ~    Beaser on Beaser
Trasparenza, cello (1971)
Silently Spring, soprano and chamber ensemble (1973) [text: Edward Estlin Cummings]
Canti Notturni, guitar (1974)
Symphony, song cycle (4 songs), soprano and orchestra (1977)
Notes on a Southern Sky, guitar (1980)
Il est né, le divin enfant, flute and guitar (1982)
Variations, flute and piano (1982)
Psalm 119, chorus (1983; rev. 1996)
The Seven Deadly Sins, baritone and orchestra; or tenor (baritone) & piano (1984) [text: from "The hard hours" by Anthony Hecht]
Mountain Songs (8 pieces), flute and guitar (1985)
Songs from the Occasions (6 songs), tenor, flute, clarinet, horn, violin, viola, cello and piano (1985) [text: Eugenio Montale]
The Old Men Admiring Themselves in the Water, soprano (or tenor; or flute) and piano (1986) [text: W.B. Yeats]
Minimal Waltz, flute and piano (1986)
Landscape With Bells, piano (1986)
The Old Men Admiring Themselves in the Water, soprano (or tenor; or flute) and piano (1986) [text: W.B. Yeats]
Song of the Bells, flute and orchestra (1987)
Piano Concerto, piano and orchestra (1988)
Double Chorus, orchestra (1991)
Chorale Variations, orchestra (1992)
A Martial Law Carol, soprano and piano (1994) [text: Joseph Brodsky]
The Heavenly Feast, soprano and orchestra (1994) [text: Gjertrud Schnackenberg]
I Dwell in Possibility, soprano and piano (1994) [text: Emily Dickenson]
Psalm 150, chorus and piano (1995)
Shenandoah, guitar (1995)
Brass Quintet (1996)
Manhattan Roll, orchestra (1998)
Food of Love, opera in 1 act (1999)
Adam, tenor and piano (2001)
Souvenirs, piccolo and piano (pub. 2002)
Four Dickinson Songs, soprano and piano (2002)
Folk Songs, orchestra (2007)
Evening Prayer, orchestra (2008)
Guitar Concerto, guitar and orchestra (2009)
Manhattan Roll, wind ensemble (2010)
Ground O, orchestra (2011)


WORKS BY GENRE                                                                   Beaser Links     ~ ~ ~    Beaser on Beaser    ~ top of page ~
Dramatic/Theater
Food of Love, opera in 1 act (1999)

Orchestra
Symphony, solo soprano and orchestra (1977)
Double Chorus, orchestra (1991)
Chorale Variations, orchestra (1992)
Manhattan Roll, orchestra (1998)
Folk Songs, orchestra (2007)
Evening Prayer, orchestra (2008)
Ground O, orchestra (2011)

Band
Manhattan Roll, wind ensemble (2010)

Soloist(s) w/Orchestra
Song of the Bells, flute and orchestra (1987)
Piano Concerto, piano and orchestra (1988)
Guitar Concerto, guitar and orchestra (2009)

Choral
Psalm 119, chorus (1983; rev. 1996)
Psalm 150, chorus and piano (1995)

Chamber
Il est né, le divin enfant, flute and guitar (1982)
Variations, flute and piano (1982)
Mountain Songs (8 pieces), flute and guitar (1985)
    - Indhold: Barbara Allen
    - The house carpenter
    - He's gone away
    - Hush you bye
    - Cindy
    - The cuckoo
    - Fair and tender ladies
    - Quicksilver
The Old Men Admiring Themselves in the Water, soprano (or tenor; or flute) and piano (1986) [text: W.B. Yeats]
Minimal Waltz, flute and piano (1986)
Brass Quintet (1996)
Souvenirs, piccolo and piano (pub. 2002)
    - Happy face
    - Lily Monroe
    - Y2K
    - Spain
    - Cindy redux
    - Ground o

Solo Instrument
Trasparenza, cello (1971)
Canti Notturni, guitar (1974)
Notes on a Southern Sky, guitar (1980)
Shenandoah, guitar (1995)

Piano
Landscape With Bells, piano (1986)

Vocal
Silently Spring, soprano and chamber ensemble (1973) [text: Edward Estlin Cummings]
Symphony, song cycle (4 songs), soprano and orchestra (1977)
    - A deep-sworn snow [text: W.B. Yeats]
    - It is a lie [text: John Fowles]
    - hills chime with thrush [text: e. e. cummings]
    - spring! may [text: e. e. cummings]
The Seven Deadly Sins, baritone and orchestra; or tenor (baritone) & piano (1984) [text: from "The hard hours" by Anthony Hecht]
    - Pride
    - Envy
    - Wrath
    - Sloth
    - Avarice
    - Gluttony
    - Lust
Songs from the Occasions (6 songs), tenor, flute, clarinet, horn, violin, viola, cello and piano (1985) [text: Eugenio Montale]
    - The pledge
    - Lontano, ero con te
    - Addii, fischi nel buio
    - Il ramarro, se scocca
    - Il fiore che ripete
    - Autumn cellars
The Old Men Admiring Themselves in the Water, soprano (or tenor; or flute) and piano (1986) [text: W.B. Yeats]
A Martial Law Carol, soprano and piano (1994) [text: Joseph Brodsky]
The Heavenly Feast, soprano and orchestra (1994) [text: Gjertrud Schnackenberg]
I Dwell in Possibility, soprano and piano (1994) [text: Emily Dickenson]
Adam, tenor and piano (2001)
Four Dickinson Songs, soprano and piano (2002)
    - A word is dead
    - It was not death
    - I dwell in possibility
    - We never know how high we are


BEASER  LINKS                                                                   Works by Genre    ~ ~ ~    Beaser on Beaser      ~ top of page ~
Beaser Takes Composing Beyond the Music (Stewart Oksenhorn, The Aspen Times)

Composer website (@ Schott Music)   . . .   contact Robert Beaser:  here

Beaser @ Wikipedia
Beaser @ American Composers Orchestra    also     here
Beaser @ Answers.com
Beaser @ Audiophile Audition
Beaser @ Classical Archives
Beaser @ Classical Net
Beaser @ Classics Today
Beaser @ Facebook
Beaser @ InstantEncore
Beaser @ Ithaca College    also    here
Beaser @ The Julliard School
Beaser @ Milken Archive of Jewish Music
Beaser @ MusicWeb International
Beaser @ Naxos
Beaser @ The New York Times
Beaser @ Phoenix USA
Beaser @ REC Music Foundation /The Lied and Art Song Texts Page
Beaser @ Schott Music
Breaser @ Wildner Records

Publisher
Beaser @ Helicon Music Corp.
Beaser @ Schott Music

Streaming Audio
Beaser @ Classical Archives
Beaser @ last.fm
Beaser @ MySpaceMusic
Beaser @ NPRmusic
Beaser @ Rhapsody.com
Beaser @ SoundCloud

Recordings
Beaser @ Amazon.com
Beaser @ ArkivMusic
Beaser @ CD Baby
Beaser @ CD Universe
Beaser @ ClassicsOnline
Beaser @ Discogs
Beaser @ Phoenix USA
Beaser @ New World Records
Beaser @ Wildner Records

Video
Beaser @ YouTube
Beaser @ Google Video

                                                                                                                                                                                             ~ top of page ~
Beaser on Beaser: Composer Portrait (VIDEO)