Stephen Mosko

Stephen "Lucky" Mosko (born December 7, 1947 in Denver ; † December 5, 2005 ) was an American composer, conductor and music teacher.

In his youth, Mosko played the drums in a city orchestra led by Antonia Brico . This gave him his first piano and conducting lessons. At Yale University he studied composition with Donald Martino and conducting with Gustav Meier and received his bachelor's degree magna cum lauda in 1969 . He continued his education with Mel Powell , Morton Subotnick and Leonard Stein at the California Institute of the Arts , where he taught for thirty years after obtaining his master's degree in 1972.

He was musical director of the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players for ten years and served as chief conductor of the Griffin Ensemble of Boston and musical director of the Chicago Contemporary Players . He has appeared as a guest conductor with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra . He has also conducted at the Holland Festival , the Ojai Festival , the Foro International de Musica Nueva in Mexico City, the Monday Evening Concerts and at the Minnesota Opera, and conducted the Boston's Collage and Dinosaur Annex Ensemble , the Merkin Hall Music Today Ensemble , the Dutch Schoenberg Ensemble and the Netherlands Wind Ensemble . In 1984 he was musical director of the Olympic Arts Contemporary Music Festival , in 1987 the Los Angeles Festival (John Cage Celebration) and in 1990 the Ojai Music Festival .

In his compositions Mosko combined new music with world music and took on influences from ceremonial Sufi music , Chinese opera, Romanian gypsy tunes and Icelandic epic singing. His works have been performed by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, the Sacramento Symphony Orchestra , the California EAR Unit , the Group for New Music of New York , the Aspen Festival Orchestra , the New York New Music Ensemble and La Camerata of Mexico , and performed at the Ojai, Tanglewood and June festivals in Buffalo . He has received two composition grants from the National Endowment for the Arts , two awards from the BMI Foundation and one award from the Fromm Foundation . As a scholarship holder of the Senior Fulbright / Hayes Foundation, he undertook two study trips to Iceland and in 1989 was a guest composer at the Sacramento New American Music Festival . As a board member, he has served on the National Endowment for the Arts, Chamber Music America , MacDowell Colony , California Arts Council, and the American Music Center .

Works

Loveley Mansions for conductor, flute, singer, narrator and chamber ensemble, 1971

Karinhall for piano, 1972

Night of the Long Knifes for dramatic soprano and chamber ensemble, 1974

Three Clerks in Niches for chamber ensemble, 1976

Darling for double bass, 1976

The Cosmology of Easy Listening for percussion trio, 1978

Rais Murad for cello and piano, 1978

Indigenous Music for mixed choir and soloists, 1980

Indigenous Mussic II for chamber ensemble, 1984

Indigenous Music II: Flute , 1984

Indigenous Music II: Piano , 1984

Superluminal Connections I: The Atu of Tahuti for orchestra, 1985

The Road to Tiphareth for chamber ensemble, 1986

For Morton Feldman for flute, cello and piano, 1987

Schweres Loos for speaking voice, piccolo, bass clarinet and cello, 1988

A Garden of Time for orchestra, 1989

Transliminal Music for orchestra, 1992

Movable Doe for chamber ensemble, 1990

Psychotropes for chamber ensemble, 1993

Psychotropics for chamber ensemble, 1994

Rendering for piano, 1995

Rupuze for flute and guitar, 1997

String Quartet , 1998

Variations on a Theme of Sol Bright for chamber ensemble, 1999

Bow-Vine Song for Violin, undated

God Metot Enob (s) for piano, undated

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personal data
SURNAME	Mosko, Stephen
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Mosko, Lucky; Mosko, Stephen L.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American composer, conductor and music educator
DATE OF BIRTH	December 7, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH	Denver
DATE OF DEATH	December 5, 2005