Michael Colgrass
Michael Charles Colgrass (born April 22, 1932 in Chicago , Illinois , United States , † July 2, 2019 in Toronto , Ontario , Canada ) was an American composer and percussionist who later lived in Canada .
Life
Michael Colgrass gained his first professional musical experience as a jazz drummer from 1944 to 1949 . In 1954 he graduated from the University of Illinois , which also included courses with Darius Milhaud ( Aspen Festival ) and Lukas Foss ( Tanglewood ). He then played for almost two years as the drummer of the Seventh Army Symphony Orchestra in Stuttgart , then for eleven years with various ensembles in New York, including the New York Philharmonic , with Dizzy Gillespie and with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra in the Stravinsky Conducts Stravinsky recording series . In this phase, further composition studies with Wallingford Riegger and Ben Weber fell , as well as musical collaborations a. a. with Gunther Schuller ( Perceptions , 1961), Orchestra USA , John Cage , Elliott Carter and Edgar Varèse , for whom he organized the percussionist group (and played it himself).
Michael Colgrass, supported by two Guggenheim scholarships , has received composition commissions from numerous, mainly American orchestras and ensembles, including the New York Philharmonic and the Boston Symphony Orchestra . In 1978 he won the Pulitzer Prize for Music with his composition Déjà vu for percussion and orchestra .
Michael Colgrass, who later lived in Toronto , was also active in music education. In 2010 his autobiographical memoirs, Adventures of an American Composer, appeared .
plant
The compositional work of Colgrass includes stage works (including Virgil's Dream , 1967), vocal works and instrumental works of various casts, often with drums, some of which he himself participated in as a soloist.
The compositions created in the 1950s and early 1960s use serial techniques , influenced by his teachers Riegger and Weber. Colgrass broke away from serialism in the mid-1960s. Many of his works show influences from jazz, in later works musical material from earlier composers also serves as a starting point for thematic processing, for example in the orchestral works Letter from Mozart (1976) and The Schubert Birds (1989).
literature
- James P. Cassaro: Colgrass, Michael. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
Web links
- Biography, michaelcolgrass.com (engl.)
- Biography, Percussive Arts Society ( Memento from June 20, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Colgrass, Michael |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Colgrass, Michael Charles (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American composer and percussionist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 22, 1932 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Chicago , Illinois , United States |
| DATE OF DEATH | 2nd July 2019 |
| Place of death | Toronto , Ontario , Canada |