John Corigliano

John Corigliano (b. February 16, 1938, New York City, New York) is an American composer of classical music and a teacher of music.

Biography

Italian American Corigliano was born to a musical family. His father, John Corigliano Sr., was concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic for 23 years, and his mother a pianist. He is a former student of Otto Luening, Vittorio Giannini and Paul Creston. John Corigliano attended P.S. 241 in Brooklyn and graduated in June, 1951. He studied composition at Columbia University and at the Manhattan School of Music. Before achieving success as composer, Corigliano worked as assistant to the producer on the Leonard Bernstein "Young People's Concerts", and as a session producer for classical artists such as Andre Watts.

Most of Corigliano's work has been for symphony orchestra. He employs a wide variety of styles, sometimes even within the same work, but aims to make his work accessible to a relatively large audience. He has written symphonies, as well as works for string orchestra, and wind band. Additionally, Corigliano has written concerti for clarinet, flute, violin, oboe, and piano; film scores; various chamber and solo instrument works, and the opera, "The Ghosts of Versailles".

The younger Corigliano first came to prominence in 1964 when, at the age of 26, his Sonata for Violin and Piano (1963) was the first and only winner of the chamber-music competition of the Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds in Italy. Support from Meet the Composer, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Guggenheim Foundation followed, as did important commissions. For the New York Philharmonic he composed his "Vocalise" (1999), Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra (1977) and Fantasia on an Ostinato (1986); for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, he wrote "Poem in October" (1970); for the New York State Council on the Arts he composed the Oboe Concerto (1975); for flutist James Galway he composed his "Promenade Overture" (1981), as well as the Symphony No. 2 (2001); the National Symphony Orchestra commissioned the evening-length "A Dylan Thomas Trilogy" (1960, rev. 1999).

In 1991 he was awarded the Grawemeyer Award for his "Symphony No. 1" (1991) which was inspired by the AIDS crisis. In 2001 he received the Pulitzer Prize for his Symphony No. 2 (2001). Corigliano composed dramatic scores for the 1980 film "Altered States", the 1985 film "Revolution" and Francois Girard's 1997 film, "The Red Violin". The award winning score for "Revolution" is one of Corigliano's most impressive creations although it is less known, as it was never released in any recorded format.cite web | author= | title=John Corigliano Awards | url=http://www.gsamusic.com/Composers/CORIGLIA.pdf | publisher=The Gorfaine/Schwartz Agency, Inc. | date= | accessdate=2007-08-27] Corigliano did, however, export portions of the score for use in his first symphony. Portions of the score to "The Red Violin" were also used in his Violin Concerto (2003). In 1970 Corigliano teamed up with David Hess to create "The Naked Carmen". In a recent communication with David Hess, Hess acknowledged that "The Naked Carmen" was originally conceived by John Corigliano and himself as a way to update the most popular opera of our time referring to Bizet's "Carmen". Mercury Records wanted the classical and popular divisions to work together and after a meeting with Joe Bott, Scott Mampe and Bob Reno it was decided to proceed with the project. In Hess's own words, the project was "a collective decision."

Among Corigliano's students are David S. Sampson, Eric Whitacre, Elliot Goldenthal, Nico Muhly, John Mackey, Avner Dorman, Mason Bates, Jefferson Friedman. In 1996, The Corigliano Quartet was founded, taking his name in tribute.Corigliano, who is openly gay, lives with his companion, composer Mark Adamo in New York City. [cite web
url = http://www.andante.com/article/article.cfm?id=25752
title = On the Outside Looking In: Gay Composers Gave America Its Music
publisher = Dallas Morning News
author = Scott Cantrell
date = 10 Jul 2005
accessdate = 2007-03-19 ]

Awards

*BAFTA Anthony Asquith Award1986 "Revolution"
*Grawemeyer Award 1991 "Symphony No. 1"
*Academy Award for Original Music Score1999 "The Red Violin"
*Pulitzer Prize for Music2001 "Symphony No. 2"

Listening

* [http://musicmavericks.publicradio.org/features/rafiles/interviews/composersvoice_corigliano.ram John Corigliano interview from American Mavericks site]

References

External links

*imdb name|0179858
* [http://www.newmusicbox.org/article.nmbx?id=4024 John Corigliano in conversation with Frank J. Oteri]
* [http://www.schirmer.com/composers/corigliano_bio.html John Corigliano biography] at G. Schirmer

* [http://podcasts.sonybmgmasterworks.com/special-artist-focus-podcast-john-corigliano-the-red-violin-concerto/ Sony BMG Masterworks' John Corigliano Podcast]