Lewis Spratlan

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M. Lewis Spratlan Jr. (born September 5, 1940 in Miami ) is an American composer and university professor. In 2000 he received the Pulitzer Prize of Music .

life and work

Lewis Spratlan studied at Yale University with Mel Powell and Gunther Schuller . After graduation (Master's degree in 1965), courses at the Berkshire Music Center with George Rochberg and Roger Sessions followed in 1966 . After a period as a teacher at Pennsylvania State University , he became a faculty member at Amherst College in 1970 , where he later became the Peter R. Pouncey Professor of Music. In 2006 Lewis Spratlan retired.

In addition to his work as a composer, Spratlan also worked as a conductor and oboist. For several years he directed the Amherst College Orchestra. In the autumn of 1989 he traveled to Russia and Armenia as a guest of the Soviet Composers Union . In 2000 Spratlan received the Pulitzer Prize of Music for the concert version of the second act of his opera Life is a Dream based on Pedro Calderón de la Barca . The opera was commissioned by New Haven Opera, which, however, had already been dissolved by the time it was completed in 1978, so that the premiere had to be canceled. The opera did not have its full stage premiere until 2010 at the Santa Fe Opera .

Spratlan's numerous other awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship (1980/81) and an award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters .

Spratlan created works for a wide variety of instrumental and vocal ensembles that draw on a broad spectrum of stylistic influences from different epochs and cultures.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Daniel J. Wakin: An Opera's Very Long Overture . The New York Times, April 11, 2010

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Spratlan, Lewis
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Spratlan, M. Lewis Jr .; Spratlan, Lev
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American composer and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH September 5, 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH Miami