Benjamin Lees

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Benjamin Lees (born January 8, 1924 in Harbin , † May 31, 2010 in Glen Cove ) was an American composer .

Life

Just one year after Lees was born to Russian parents in Manchuria , his family emigrated to America, where young Benjamin grew up in San Francisco . He received his first piano lessons at the age of five and began composing at the age of 15. In 1939 the family moved to Los Angeles . After his military service he studied from 1945 at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles with Halsey Stevens , Ernst Kanitz and Ingolf Dahl . Studies with George Antheil followed from 1949 to 1954 .

In 1953, Lees won the Fromm Music Foundation Award with the sonata for two pianos and the 1st string quartet . In 1954, a performance of his Profiles for Orchestra by the NBC Orchestra was televised nationwide. In the same year he received a Guggenheim grant , which enabled him to spend seven years in Europe, where he finally settled in a small village near Paris . Among other things, Lees received the UNESCO Award for his 2nd string quartet and, as the first non-British composer, the medal of the Sir Arnold Bax Society in London .

In 1962, Lees was appointed professor of composition at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore . In 1964 he moved to Queens College to return to Baltimore for two years in 1966. In the same year he received a second Guggenheim grant. In 1973 he taught for a year at the Juilliard School of Music in New York . Lees received numerous commissions (three for the 1976 bicentenary) and other awards, including a Grammy nomination in 2004 for his 5th symphony .

Lees last lived in Palm Springs, California .

plant

Lees rejected atonality and the use of specific "Americanisms" in his music, and preferred traditional compositional structures. The focus of his compositional work lies in the field of orchestral music. He wrote five symphonies and concertante works (including two piano concertos, one violin concerto), but also chamber music (including six string quartets, the 6th string quartet premiered in 2005).

Lees' major works include the 4th Symphony entitled Memorial Candles , commissioned by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in 1985 to commemorate the Holocaust . It includes a vocal part (soprano solo) on texts by Nelly Sachs and also includes a solo violin.

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personal data
SURNAME Lees, Benjamin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American composer
DATE OF BIRTH January 8, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Harbin
DATE OF DEATH May 31, 2010
Place of death Glen Cove