Carlos Simon (born 1986) is an African-American composer of Western classical music. He is the composer in residence for the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, inaugural Composer Chair for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and associate professor at Georgetown University. [1]
Born in Washington, D.C., [2] and raised in Atlanta, Simon is the son of a preacher [3] and grew up in a household where he was forbidden to listen to anything other than gospel music; [4] he has described gospel's improvisatory nature as a critical influence in the development of his own compositional style, [3] [4] alongside the more formal elements of the work of such composers as Ludwig van Beethoven and Johannes Brahms. [3] Beginning at the age of ten he played piano for Sunday services at his father's church, at which point he began formal piano lessons as well. [4] Later in life he spent time as keyboardist and musical director for R&B artists Angie Stone and Jennifer Holliday. [5] He completed degrees at Morehouse College and Georgia State University before attending the University of Michigan for doctoral studies with Michael Daugherty and Evan Chambers. Formerly on the music faculty of Spelman College and Morehouse College, in 2019 he became a professor in the Department of Performing Arts at Georgetown University. [6] [7]
In 2024, the Boston Symphony Orchestra announced as its inaugural Deborah and Philip Edmundson Composer Chair, a position lasting three-seasons in which he will lead educational and outreach concerts, collaborate with Andris Nelsons to curate programs, and compose several new works for the Boston Symphony to perform. [8] In 2021, Simon received the Sphinx Medal of Excellence from the Sphinx Organization, becoming only the second composer to receive the award; [9] that same year he joined the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as composer-in-residence. [10] In 2018 he was named as a Sundance/Time Warner Composer Fellow by the Sundance Institute. Among the organizations from which he has received commissions and performances are the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Opera, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Washington National Opera, the Reno Philharmonic Orchestra, the American Composers Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestra. [6] [7] [10]
Simon's music is informed by his interest in social justice issues, and frequently incorporates activist themes in his work; such pieces include Elegy for string quartet, honoring the memories of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Eric Garner, [6] [7] and Requiem for the Enslaved, in which African-American spirituals are combined with the Latin mass and elements of hip hop to tell the story of the 1838 sale of slaves to discharge the debts of Georgetown University. [11] [12] Other compositions are inspired by the work of visual artists, such as Bill Traylor and Romare Bearden. [13]
Carlos Simon has received several awards throughout his career. The most notable ones include the 2021 Sphinx Medal of Excellence from the Sphinx Organization, making him the second composer to receive the award. [9] In 2023, Simon received a Grammy Award nomination for his album, Requiem for the Enslaved in the category of Best Contemporary Classical Composition. [14] On September 5, 2024, Georgetown University announced Simon as one of the recipients of The Magis Prize, which is awarded to recently-tenured scholars who are making a remarkable impact in their field. The award supports their research by granting each scholar $100,000 and two semesters of leave to dedicate fully to their scholarship. [15]
Leonard Bernstein was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first American-born conductor to receive international acclaim. Bernstein was "one of the most prodigiously talented and successful musicians in American history" according to music critic Donal Henahan. Bernstein's honors and accolades include seven Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, and 16 Grammy Awards as well as an Academy Award nomination. He received the Kennedy Center Honor in 1981.
The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in 1881, the BSO performs most of its concerts at Boston's Symphony Hall and in the summer performs at Tanglewood.
The Los Angeles Philharmonic is an American orchestra in Los Angeles, California. Colloquially referred to as the LA Phil, the orchestra has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from July through September. Gustavo Dudamel is the current music director, Esa-Pekka Salonen is conductor laureate, Zubin Mehta is conductor emeritus, and Susanna Mälkki is principal guest conductor. John Adams is the orchestra's current composer-in-residence.
Thomas Joseph Edmund Adès is a British composer, pianist and conductor. Five compositions by Adès received votes in the 2017 Classic Voice poll of the greatest works of art music since 2000: The Tempest (2004), Violin Concerto (2005), Tevot (2007), In Seven Days (2008), and Polaris (2010).
Tania León is a Cuban-born American composer of both large scale and chamber works. She is also renowned as a conductor, educator, and advisor to arts organizations.
Lincoln Portrait is a 1942 classical orchestral work written by the American composer Aaron Copland. The work involves a full orchestra, with particular emphasis on the brass section at climactic moments. The work is narrated with the reading of excerpts of Abraham Lincoln's great documents, including the Gettysburg Address. An orchestra usually invites a prominent person to be the narrator.
The Louisville Orchestra is the primary orchestra in Louisville, Kentucky. It was founded in 1937 by Robert Whitney (1904–1986). The Louisville Orchestra employs salaried musicians, and offers a wide variety of concert series to the community, including classical programs featuring international guest artists, pops performances, and education and family concerts. In 1942 the orchestra adopted the name of the former Louisville Philharmonic Society, which it kept until 1977 before reverting to its original name. The orchestra is the resident performing group for the Louisville Ballet and the Kentucky Opera, and presents several concerts across the Kentucky/Indiana area.
Bernard Rands is a British-American contemporary classical composer. He studied music and English literature at the University of Wales, Bangor, and composition with Pierre Boulez and Bruno Maderna in Darmstadt, Germany, and with Luigi Dallapiccola and Luciano Berio in Milan, Italy. He held residencies at Princeton University, the University of Illinois, and the University of York before emigrating to the United States in 1975; he became a U.S. citizen in 1983. In 1984, Rands's Canti del Sole, premiered by Paul Sperry, Zubin Mehta, and the New York Philharmonic, won the Pulitzer Prize for Music. He has since taught at the University of California, San Diego, the Juilliard School, Yale University, and Boston University. From 1988 to 2005 he taught at Harvard University, where he is Walter Bigelow Rosen Professor of Music Emeritus.
Christopher Chapman Rouse III was an American composer. Though he wrote for various ensembles, Rouse is primarily known for his orchestral compositions, including a Requiem, a dozen concertos, and six symphonies. His work received numerous accolades, including the Kennedy Center Friedheim Award, the Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition, and the Pulitzer Prize for Music. He also served as the composer-in-residence for the New York Philharmonic from 2012 to 2015.
Raymond Torres-Santos is a Classical and film music composer and conductor, pianist, arranger, and producer of both classical, film and popular music. Malena Kuss described him as the most versatile Puerto Rican composer active in the 21st century in her book, Music in Latin America and the Caribbean: an Encyclopedic History.
Michael James Gandolfi is an American composer of contemporary classical music. He chairs the composition department at the New England Conservatory of Music (NEC).
Dalit Hadass Warshaw is a New York-based composer, pianist, and thereminist. Previously on the composition and music theory faculty of Boston Conservatory, she currently serves on the composition faculty at Juilliard and CUNY-Brooklyn College. Her works have been performed by dozens of orchestral ensembles, including the New York Philharmonic and Israel Philharmonic Orchestras, the Boston Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Houston Symphony, the Y Chamber Orchestra, the Colorado Symphony and the Albany Symphony Orchestra. In April 2006, her piece After the Victory for orchestra and chorus, was premiered by the Grand Rapids Symphony and the North American Choral Company. Her first recording, entitled "Invocations" was released by Albany Records in 2011. Her first piano concerto, Conjuring Tristan, was commissioned by the Grand Rapids Symphony in 2014. The work was inspired by Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, as well as by Thomas Mann's novella Tristan. The piece received its world premiere in January 2015, with Warshaw as the soloist.
Gabriela Lena Frank is an American pianist and composer of contemporary classical music.
Andris Nelsons is a Latvian conductor. He is currently music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Gewandhauskapellmeister of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. He was previously music director of the Latvian National Opera, chief conductor of the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, and music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
David Alan Miller is a multi-Grammy Award-winning American symphony orchestra conductor, and since 1992, music director of the Albany Symphony Orchestra. Miller served as assistant and associate conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 1987–92 and music director of the New York Youth Symphony from 1982-88. He is currently also Artistic Advisor to both the Sarasota Orchestra and to The Little Orchestra Society in New York City.
Tison C. Street aka Curry Tison Street is a graduate of Harvard College ‘65 and an American composer of contemporary classical music and violinist.
W. Claude Baker Jr. is an American composer of contemporary classical music.
Dave Eggar is an American cellist, pianist and composer.
The New England Philharmonic is a volunteer orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 1976. The current music director is Tianhui Ng.
Black conductors are musicians of African, Caribbean, African-American ancestry and other members of the African diaspora who are musical ensemble leaders who direct classical music performances, such as an orchestral or choral concerts, or jazz ensemble big band concerts by way of visible gestures with the hands, arms, face and head. Conductors of African descent are rare, as the vast majority are male and Caucasian.
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