American composer (born 1954)
Robert Beaser
(born May 29, 1954,
Boston
,
Massachusetts
) is an American
composer
.
Biography
[
edit
]
Beaser was brought up in a non-musical family. His father was a
physician
and mother was a
chemist
. He grew up in
Newton
,
Massachusetts
, 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
at
Yale College
, graduating
summa cum laude
,
Phi Beta Kappa
in 1976, and later received his Master of Music, M.M.A. and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the
Yale School of Music
. He studied conducting with
Otto-Werner Mueller
and
William Steinberg
. Other teachers included
Toru Takemitsu
, Arnold Franchetti,
Goffredo Petrassi
and
Earle Brown
. He studied with
Betsy Jolas
on a fellowship at
Tanglewood
. In 1977, Beaser became the youngest composer to win the
Rome Prize
from the
American Academy in Rome
. 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
Baltimore Symphony
and the
Chicago Symphony
. He was appointed professor and chairman of the Composition Department at the
Juilliard School
in
New York
in 1993. In 1999, Beaser was co-commissioned by
Glimmerglass Opera
, the
New York City Opera
and
WNET-TV
to compose
The Food of Love
, with
Terrence McNally
as librettist, which was performed at both venues, aired on
PBS
, and was nominated for an
Emmy Award
in 2000.
From 1978 to 1990 Beaser served as co-music director and conductor (with
Daniel Asia
) 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
/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
and the
American Composers Orchestra
. He was elected to the membership in the
American Academy of Arts and Letters
in 2004.
His works are published by
Schott Music
.
Termination for sexual misconduct
[
edit
]
On December 12, 2022, after a six-month investigation,
VAN Magazine
reported multiple alleged incidents of sexual harassment and misconduct by Beaser
[1]
in an investigative article covering Juilliard’s composition department, where Beaser had been a faculty member since 1993 and was chair from 1994 to 2018.
[2]
On December 22, 2022,
The New York Times
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".
[3]
On June 8, 2023, the Juilliard School published the findings of its investigation, which confirmed it had found "found credible evidence that Mr. Beaser engaged in conduct which interfered with individuals' academic work and was inconsistent with Juilliard's commitment to provide a safe and supportive learning environment for its students. Furthermore, the investigation found that an unreported relationship violated policy in effect at that time. The investigation also found that Mr. Beaser repeatedly misrepresented facts about his actions, in violation of school policy." Juilliard said it had terminated Beaser's employment at the school "effective immediately".
[4]
Works
[
edit
]
Beaser was one of the first composers to embrace "New Tonality."
[5]
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
,
David Zinman
,
Dennis Russell Davies
, and
Jose Serebrier
. His incorporation of extant folk materials came in the 1980s though his widely performed
Mountain Songs
, nominated for a
Grammy Award
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
,
Eugenio Montale
and
Gjertrud Schnackenberg
in
The Heavenly Feast
.
[6]
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
.
[7]
Recent works include
Guitar Concerto
for
Eliot Fisk
, his classmate at Yale, which mixes
Andalucian
flamenco
with
bluegrass
picking techniques, and was premiered by the
Albany Symphony
, with
David Alan Miller
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
,
Joseph Brodsky
, Schnackenberg,
Theodore Worozbyt
and
James Joyce
.
Discography
[
edit
]
- "Guitar Concerto" (
Linn Records
)
- "Notes on a Southern Sky" (
Linn Records
)
- "Evening Prayer" (
Linn Records
)
- "Ground O" (
Linn Records
)
- The Seven Deadly Sins
(
Phoenix
,
London/Argo
)
- Chorale Variations
, and
Piano Concerto
(
Phoenix
, London/Argo)
- The Heavenly Feast
(
Milken Archives
)
- Song of the Bells
(
New World
)
- Notes on a Southern Sky
(
EMI
-
Electrola
)
- Mountain Songs
(
Musicmasters
,
Naxos
,
Koch
,
Gajo
,
Siemens
,
Nimbus
, HM Records Venezuela)
- Landscape With Bells
(
Innova
)
- Psalm 119/Psalm 150
(
New World
, Divine Grandeur)
- Brass Quintet
(ABQ,
Summit
,
Capriccio
)
- Souvenirs
(
Albany
)
- Variations
for flute and piano (Musicmasters,
Koch
,
Albany
)
- Four Dickinson Songs
(
Bridge
)
- Shenandoah
(
Sonora
,
Golden Horn
)
- Minimal Waltz
(
Capstone
,
Guild Music
)
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
International
| |
---|
National
| |
---|
Artists
| |
---|
Other
| |
---|