- Christopher Theofanidis
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Christopher Theofanidis (born December 18, 1967 in Dallas, Texas) is an American composer who has had performances by many leading orchestras from around the world, including the London Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Moscow Soloists, the National, Atlanta, Baltimore, St. Louis, Detroit, and many others. He participated in the Young American Composer-in-Residence Program with Barry Jekowsky from 1994 to 1996 and, more recently, served as Composer of the Year for the Pittsburgh Symphony during their 2006-2007 Season, for which he wrote a violin concerto for Sarah Chang.[1]
Contents
Career
Theofanidis holds degrees from Yale University, the Eastman School of Music, and the University of Houston, and has been the recipient of the International Masterprize (hosted at the Barbican Centre in London), the Rome Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, six ASCAP Gould Prizes, a Fulbright Fellowship to France, a Tanglewood Fellowship, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters' Charles Ives Fellowship. In 2007 he was nominated for a Grammy for best composition for his chorus and orchestra work, The Here and Now, based on the poetry of Rumi. His orchestral concert work, Rainbow Body, has been one of the most performed new orchestral works of the last ten years, having been performed by over 100 orchestras internationally.[citation needed]
Theofanidis' has recently written a ballet for the American Ballet Theatre, a work for the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra as part of their "New Brandenburg" series, and he currently has two opera commissions for the San Francisco and Houston Grand Opera companies. He has a long-standing relationship with the Atlanta Symphony, and has just had his first symphony premiered and recorded with that orchestra. He has served as a delegate to the U.S.-Japan Foundation's Leadership Program and is a former faculty member of the Peabody Conservatory and the Juilliard School. He currently teaches at the Yale School of Music.
Awards
- 2007 Grammy nomination for The Here and Now
- 2003 Masterprize for Rainbow Body
- 1999 Rome Prize
- 1996 Guggenheim Fellowship [2]
- 1996 Barlow Prize
- six ASCAP Morton Gould Prizes
- Fulbright Fellowship to France
- Tanglewood Fellowship
- Charles Ives Fellowship, by The American Academy of Arts and Letters
Selected compositions[3]
Genre Date Title Instrumentation Notes Chamber music 1992 Raga for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and 2 percussion written for the Eastman Musica Nova Piano 1992 Statues for piano solo Chamber music 1994 Kaoru for 2 flutes written for Kaoru Hinata and Christopher Vaneman Concertante 1995 Concerto for alto saxophone and orchestra Orchestral 1995 This Dream, Strange and Moving for orchestra Chamber music 1995 Ariel Ascending for string quartet Orchestral 1996 Metaphysica for orchestra Orchestral 1996 As Dancing Is to Architecture for orchestra commissioned by the California Symphony Chamber music 1997 Visions and Miracles for string quartet Chamber music 1997 Flow, My Tears for violin, viola, or cello solo written for Carol Rodland in memory of Jacob Druckman Orchestral 1998 Flourishes for orchestra Vocal 1999 Song of Elos for soprano, string quartet and piano Chamber music 1999 O Vis Aeternitatis for string quartet and piano commissioned by the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival for Speculum Musicae Orchestral 2000 Rainbow Body for orchestra Concertante 1997–2002 Concerto for bassoon and chamber orchestra commissioned by the Absolute Ensemble for Martin Kuuskmann Opera 2001 The Cows of Apollo or The Invention of Music Concertante 2002 Lightning, with Life, in Four Colors Comes Down for viola and chamber orchestra Orchestral 2002 Peace, Love, Light YOUMEONE for string orchestra Opera 2002 The Thirteen Clocks in 2 acts; libretto by Peter Webster based on the story by James Thurber Ballet 2003 Artemis Concertante 2003 Concerto for viola and chamber orchestra commissioned by the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra for Kim Kashkashian Band 2005 I Wander the World in a Dream of My Own Making for wind ensemble Choral 2005 The Here and Now for soloists, chorus, and orchestra commissioned by the Atlanta Symphony and Chorus Chamber music 2006 The World Is Aflame for violin and cello Concertante 2006 Concerto for piano and chamber orchestra commissioned by Pro Musica Columbus for Donald Berman Piano 2007 All Dreams Begin with the Horizon for piano commissioned by Meet the Composer for Tanya Bannister Choral 2007 The Refuge for soloists, chorus, orchestra, and several non-Western ensembles Orchestral 2007 Muse for strings and harpsichord commissioned by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra Chamber music 2008, 2009 Fantasy for violin and piano chamber version of movement II of the Violin Concerto Concertante 2008 Concerto for violin and orchestra commissioned by the Pittsburgh Symphony for Sarah Chang Chamber music 2009 Summer Verses for violin and cello Orchestral 2009 Symphony for orchestra commissioned by Robert Spano for the Atlanta Symphony Concertante 2009 Concerto for cello and orchestra commissioned by and written for Nina Kotova[4] Orchestral 2010 Une Certaine joie de vivre for orchestra Opera 2011 Heart of a Soldier for San Francisco Opera References
- ^ "Christopher Theofanidis". Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. http://www.pittsburghsymphony.org/pghsymph.nsf/0/05826A658B0D1F3785256EF6004EC6BC?opendocument. Retrieved 12 January 2010.
- ^ http://www.gf.org/fellows/14617-chris-theofanidis
- ^ http://www.theofanidismusic.com/Works.html
- ^ Dallas Symphony
External links
Categories:- Johns Hopkins University faculty
- Living people
- 1967 births
- American composers
- Texas classical music
- University of Houston alumni
- Musicians from Dallas, Texas
- Yale School of Music faculty
- Rome Prize winners
- Guggenheim Fellows
- Fulbright Scholars
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