Chester Biscardi

Chester Biscardi (born April 19, 1948 in Kenosha ) is an American composer and music teacher.

Biscardi studied English and Italian (until 1970 and 1972) as well as composition (with Les Thimming ) and electronic music (with Burt Levy ) at the University of Wisconsin, and received a doctorate in music from Yale University.Among others, Robert Morris , Krzysztof Penderecki , Toru Takemitsu and Yehudi Wyner are his teachers in composition and Arthur Weisberg in conducting. From 1979 to 1980 he was assistant to the conductor Jacques-Louis Monod . He has been teaching at Sarah Lawrence College since 1977, where he directed the music program from 1987 to 2017. In addition to an opera, Biscordi composed a piano concerto and other orchestral works, chamber music, songs and choral works.

Works

• Tartini for violin and piano (1972)
• Turning for violin, soprano and string trio (1973)
• Chartres for piano and chamber ensemble (1973)
• orpha for string quartet, marimba and vibraphone (1974)
• Indovinello for twelve Simmen (1974)
• Heabakes: Five Sapphic Lyrics for mixed choir, two sopranos, alto and percussion (1974)
• Music for The Duchess of Malfi , music for the piece by John Webster for nine instrumentalists and voices (1975)
• Tenzone for two flutes and piano (1975)
• they had ceased to talk for violin, viola, horn and piano (1975)
• Trusting Lightness for soprano and piano, text: Jess Anderson (1975)
• Trio for violin, cello and piano (1976)
• At the Still Point for orchestra (1977)
• Eurydice for female choir and seventeen instruments (1978)
• Mestiere for piano (1979)
• Trasumanar for twelve percussionists and piano (1980)
• Di Vivere for clarinet, piano, (flute, violin and cello) (1981)
• Good-bye, My Fancy! for mixed choir a cappella and narrator, text: Mark D'Allessio after Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman (1982)
• Piano Concerto (1983)
• Music for Witch Dance for two percussionists (1983)
• Chez Vous for soprano and piano, text: Sheldon Harnick (1983)
• Incitation to Desire (Tango) for piano (1984). for marimba (1984), for clarinet, horn, violin, cello, piano and percussion (1983-84)
• Tight-Rope , Chamber Opera, Text: Henry Butler (1985)
• Poet's Aria for baritone or tenor and piano, text: Henry Butler (1985)
• Piano Sonata (1986, 1987)
• Traverso for flute and piano (1987)
• No Feeling is the Same as Before for soprano saxophone (1988)
• Companion Piece (for Morton Feldman ) for piano (1989/1991), for double bass / viola and piano (1989)
• Netori for violin, oboe and horn or horn, clarinet, cello and piano (1990)
• The Gift of Life for soprano and piano, text: Emily Dickinson (1990–93)
• Music for an Occasion for brass, piano and percussion (1992, 2003)
• Nel giardinetto della villa for piano four hands (1994)
• Baby Song of the Four Winds for mezzo-soprano or soprano and piano, text: Carl Sandburg (1994)
• Guru for voice (s) and piano, text: Allen Ginsberg (1995)
• Resisting Stillness for two guitars (1996)
• Mama Never Forgets Her Birds for mixed choir and piano, texts by Emily Dickinson , Denise Levertov and Thornton Wilder (1997)
• Modern Love Songs for voice and piano, texts: William Zinsser (1997–2002)
• Prayers of Steel for baritone and piano, text: Carl Sandburg (1998)
• Music for NASDAQ MarketSiteTV for flute, horn, violin, cello, percussion and piano (1999)
• Chamber Fanfare for flute, horn, violin, cello, percussion and piano (1999)
• The Child Comes Every Winter for voice or mixed choir and piano, text by William Zinsser , (1999)
• In Time's Unfolding for piano (2000)
• Recovering for tenor or (mezzo) soprano and piano, text: Muriel Rukeyser (2000)
• Piano Quintet (2004)
• Recognition , concert for violin, piano and string orchestra (2004, 2007)
• The Viola Had Suddenly Become a Voice for viola and piano (2005)
• Sailors & Dreamers for voice and piano or chamber ensemble, texts: Shirley Kaplan (2007–2010)
• Footfalls (after Beckett ) for chamber ensemble (2012)
• Piece (Peace!) For Peggy for piano (2015)
• Photo | Pier | Moonlight for violin duo (2015, 2016)
• Broken Stars That Go Dark for voice and piano, text Shirley Kaplan (2016)

Web link

• Homepage of Chester Biscardi

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• Nicole V. Gagné: Historical Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Classical Music , Scarecrow Press, 2012, ISBN 9780810867659 , p. 38
• Theodore Presser Company - Chester Biscardi