Donald Steven

Last updated

Donald Steven
Born (1945-05-26) 26 May 1945 (age 78)
Montreal, Quebec
Genres Classical, Folk
Years active1964–

Donald Steven (born 26 May 1945) is a Canadian-American composer, music educator, and academic administrator. An associate composer of the Canadian Music Centre, he won a BMI Student Composer Award [1] in 1970, the Canadian Federation of University Women's Golden Jubilee Creative Arts Award in 1972, the 1987 Juno Award for Classical Composition of the Year [2] (for Pages of Solitary Delights) and the 1991 Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music [3] (for In the Land of Pure Delight). His musical compositions are characterized by their emphasis on instrumental colour and atmosphere. Perhaps his most well known piece is his Illusions for solo cello, which has been widely performed in concert and on television and radio broadcasts. [4]

Contents

Life and career

Born in Montreal, he attended Selwyn House School, followed by Ashbury College. [5] He began his career performing and arranging folk and rock music in the 1960s (most notably with The Raftsmen) before pursuing professional studies in music. In 1968 he entered McGill University where he was a music composition student of Bruce Mather. After graduating from McGill with a Bachelor of Music in 1972, he entered the graduate music program at Princeton University where he studied under Milton Babbitt, earning a Master of Fine Arts in 1974. [4] He later earned a Doctor of Philosophy from Princeton. [6]

In 1975 Steven joined the Faculty of Music (now the Schulich School of Music) at McGill University, ultimately becoming the head of the performance department in 1986. He taught music composition at the school until 1992 and was involved in the modernization of McGill's studio for electronic music and the creation of the computer music studios. [7] In 1992 he became dean of the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College and, subsequently in 1997, founding dean of the College of the Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. He has since worked in senior administration at the State University of New York and The Citadel, and retired as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Rider University in 2013. He is also a former faculty member of the University of Western Ontario. [6]

Steven's works have been performed throughout the world, including the World Music Days of the International Society for Contemporary Music [8] and the World Cello Congress. [9] He has received numerous commissions, including from Maureen Forrester, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Bertram Turetzky, Robert Riseling, and Alvaro Pierri, and from La Société de musique contemporaine du Québec , [10] Répercussion, the Pierrot Ensemble, the Canadian Electronic Ensemble, New Music Concerts and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. [4]

Selected works

[9] [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger Reynolds</span> American composer (born 1934)

Roger Lee Reynolds is an American composer. He is known for his capacity to integrate diverse ideas and resources, and for the seamless blending of traditional musical sounds with those newly enabled by technology. Beyond composition, his contributions to musical life include mentorship, algorithmic design, engagement with psychoacoustics, writing books and articles, and festival organization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Cherney</span> Canadian composer

Brian Cherney is a Canadian composer currently residing in Montreal, Quebec.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toshi Ichiyanagi</span> Japanese composer and pianist (1933–2022)

Toshi Ichiyanagi was a Japanese avant-garde composer and pianist. One of the leading composers in Japan during the postwar era, Ichiyanagi worked in a range of genres, composing Western-style operas and orchestral and chamber works, as well as compositions using traditional Japanese instruments. Ichiyanagi is known for incorporating avant-garde techniques into his works, such as chance music, extended technique, and nontraditional scoring. Ichiyanagi was married to artist Yoko Ono from 1956 to 1962.

Alexina Diane Louie,, is a Canadian composer of contemporary classical music. She has composed for various instrumental and vocal combinations in a variety of genres. She has fulfilled a number of commissions, and her works, which have been performed internationally, have earned her a number of awards, including the Order of Canada and two Juno Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tod Machover</span> American classical composer

Tod Machover, is a composer and an innovator in the application of technology in music. He is the son of Wilma Machover, a pianist and Carl Machover, a computer scientist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claude Ledoux (composer)</span> Belgian composer

Claude Ledoux is a Belgian composer, born in 1960.

Bruce Mather is a Canadian composer, pianist, and writer who is particularly known for his contributions to contemporary classical music.

Denys Bouliane is a Canadian composer and conductor. He is a Professor of Composition at McGill University.

Makoto Shinohara was a Japanese composer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denis Brott</span> Canadian cellist, music teacher and conductor

Denis Brott, SMOM is a Canadian cellist, music teacher, conductor, and founder and artistic director of the Montreal Chamber Music Festival.

John Joseph Burke was a Canadian composer and music educator. As a composer he wrote mainly works for chamber ensembles, and his music displays an acute sensitivity to instrumental balance and timbre. In his early career he won the CBC National Radio Competition for Young Composers several times, including in 1978 for both Six Regions for piano and Spectre for tenor instruments, and in 1980 for Firewind for two pianos and Diffusa est gratia for a cappella choir. In 1995 he won the Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music for his String Quartet. Many of his compositions have been recorded, including Firewind by pianists Bruce Mather and Pierrette LePage, ...ascends at full moon by guitarist Michael Laucke, and À la source d'Hypocrène by the ensemble of the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec among others.

Jimmie LeBlanc is a Canadian composer specializing in instrumental and mixed music. His music has been performed throughout his native country and internationally, including by the Ensemble Contrechamps, Hwaum Chamber Ensemble, Kore Ensemble, Les Enfants Terribles, Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Pentaèdre, Quatuor Bozzini, and the Trio Fibonacci, and many soloists.

José Evangelista was a Spanish composer and music educator who was based in Montreal, Canada. He was professor of composition at the Université de Montréal from 1979 to 2009. A member of the Canadian League of Composers, the Sociedad General de Autores y Editores, and an associate of the Canadian Music Centre, Evangelista was known for his commitment to contemporary classical music and non-Western music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denis Gougeon</span> Canadian composer and music educator (born 1951)

Denis Gougeon is a Canadian composer and music educator. His more than 80 compositions encompass a wide variety of genres, including orchestral works, chamber music, opera, ballet, and pieces for solo instruments and voice. Notable ensembles to have included his compositions in their performance repertoire include the Bavarian State Ballet, the Canadian Opera Company, the I Musici de Montréal Chamber Orchestra, Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, New Music America, the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, the Quebec Contemporary Music Society, and the Vancouver New Music Society.

Michel Longtin is a Canadian composer and music educator based in Montreal. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre and a member of the Canadian League of Composers, he won the Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music in 1986 for Pohjatuuli.

Steven Gellman is a Canadian composer and pianist. He has been commissioned to write works for the Besançon International Music Festival, the CBC Symphony Orchestra, the Hamilton Philharmonic, McGill University, Musica Camerata, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra, Opera Lyra, the Pierrot Ensemble, the Stratford Festival, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra among others. Since 1976 he has taught music composition and theory at the University of Ottawa.

François Morel was a Canadian composer, pianist, conductor, and music educator. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre, he was made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec in 1994 and was awarded the Prix Denise-Pelletier in 1996. He has had his works premiered by the CBC Symphony Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Allan Gordon Bell, is a Canadian contemporary classical composer.

Nicole Lizée is a Canadian composer of contemporary music. She was born in Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan and received a MMus from McGill University. She lives in Montreal, Quebec. At one time, she was a member of The Besnard Lakes, an indie rock band from Montreal.

Andrew Staniland is a Canadian composer and guitarist. He is currently a professor of Composition and Electronic Music at the Memorial University of Newfoundland.

References

  1. ↑ BMI Award winners
  2. ↑ JUNO Awards
  3. ↑ Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music
  4. 1 2 3 Mireille Gagné. "Donald Steven". The Canadian Encyclopedia . Retrieved 22 April 2010.
  5. ↑ Selwyn House School Yearbook 1960
  6. 1 2 "Donald Steven". Canadian Music Centre . October 2006. Archived from the original on 1 September 2013. Retrieved 22 April 2010.
  7. ↑ A History of the McGill Electronic Music Studio
  8. ↑ The Canadian Encyclopedia
  9. 1 2 Canadian Music Centre
  10. ↑ la Société de musique contemporaine du Québec
  11. ↑ Counterpoint Music Library Services, Inc.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.