Jonathan Haas | |
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| Instrument(s) | Timpani |
| Website | www |
Jonathan Haas is an American timpanist. Philip Glass' Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra was commissioned for him by several orchestras.
Jonathan Haas | |
|---|---|
| Instrument(s) | Timpani |
| Website | www |
Jonathan Haas is an American timpanist. Philip Glass' Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra was commissioned for him by several orchestras.
Haas was born circa 1955, raised in Glencoe, Illinois, where his father was CEO of Sealy Posturepedic. [1] After studying liberal arts - including percussion lesions - at Washington University in St. Louis, [1] he trained at the Juilliard School. [2]
While at St. Louis, he played with the St. Louis Symphony, and joined an Emerson, Lake & Palmer tour, opening each show by playing the snare drum part of Maurice Ravel's Boléro , alone in a spotlight. [1] After Juilliard, he joined the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra. [1]
After a self-funded, solo timpani recital at Carnegie Recital Hall in 1980, [3] he accepted an invitation to join the New York Chamber Symphony. [1]
The Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra was commissioned from Philip Glass for Haas [4] [2] by the American Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Peabody Symphony Orchestra, Phoenix Symphony and Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, jointly. [5] Haas had first suggested the idea of a timpani concerto to Glass almost a decade earlier. [5]
Haas performed the world premiere of the concerto on November 19, 2000, at New York's Lincoln Center with Svetoslav Stoyanovby and the American Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leon Botstein. [5]
He has performed national premieres of the work and recorded it in 2004 with Evelyn Glennie and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Gerard Schwarz as part of Glass' Concerto Project . He has also performed versions arranged for chamber orchestra and for wind ensemble.
Haas is the soloist on all three pieces on the Sunset Records' CD 18th Century Concertos for Timpani and Orchestra:
These were made with the Bournemouth Sinfonietta, conducted by Harold Farberman and released in 2002.
Haas also performs and records as part of his own jazz ensemble, 'Johnny H. and the Prisoners of Swing', whose eponymous CD was released in 2000. Haas formed the group after studying the work of 1920s jazz tympanist Vic Berton, and being given the scores of works for tympani and jazz orchestra by the sister of their composer, Duke Ellington. [1]
He also has a heavy metal band 'Clozshave'. [3]
Haas is the Director of Instrumental Performance and Percussion Studies at New York University (NYU), [6] as well as the co-director of the NYU Orchestra Program. [7] He teaches the Percussion Program at the Juilliard Pre-College, [8] and on the faculty at the Aspen Music Festival and School. [1] Previously, Haas taught at the Peabody Institute. [9]
He performs with the American Symphony Orchestra, [10] American Composers Orchestra, [11] All-Star Orchestra, [12] New York Pops, [6] and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. [13]
Haas played on the Grammy Award-winning Frank Zappa tribute album Zappa's Universe , [1] and played percussion on Steve Vai's Mystery Tracks – Archives Vol. 3 .
He is also the owner of Gemini Music Productions, contracting musicians for the New York Pops, [1] Mostly Mozart Festival, All-Star Orchestra, Westchester Philharmonic, and others. [8]
Haas has three daughters from his first marriage, [1] and has since remarried, to Anna Kepe.
Philip Morris Glass is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimalism, being built up from repetitive phrases and shifting layers. Glass describes himself as a composer of "music with repetitive structures", which he has helped evolve stylistically.
Timpani or kettledrums are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. Thus timpani are an example of kettle drums, also known as vessel drums and semispherical drums, whose body is similar to a section of a sphere whose cut conforms the head. Most modern timpani are pedal timpani and can be tuned quickly and accurately to specific pitches by skilled players through the use of a movable foot-pedal. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet. Timpani evolved from military drums to become a staple of the classical orchestra by the last third of the 18th century. Today, they are used in many types of ensembles, including concert bands, marching bands, orchestras, and even in some rock bands.
William Kraft was an American composer, conductor, teacher, timpanist, and percussionist.
Gerard Schwarz, also known as Gerry Schwarz or Jerry Schwarz, is an American symphony conductor and trumpeter. As of 2019, Schwarz serves as the Artistic and Music Director of Palm Beach Symphony and the Director of Orchestral Activities and Music Director of the Frost Symphony Orchestra at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami.
The Bournemouth Sinfonietta was a chamber orchestra founded in 1968 as an offshoot of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. It was disbanded in November 1999 after increasing difficulties in obtaining funding from local councils led to the decision to concentrate government funding on its larger parent.
Saul Goodman was the principal timpanist of the New York Philharmonic from 1926 to 1972.
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.
Tim Genis is an American timpanist. He is the principal timpanist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a position he has held since 2003. He was the assistant timpanist of the BSO from 1993 to 2003 and the associate timpanist and assistant principal percussionist of the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra from 1991 to 1993. He was also previously the assistant principal percussionist of the Hong Kong Philharmonic.
Anna Kepe, also known by her married name of Anna Kepe Haas, is a director, actress, producer, pedagogue and entrepreneur. Kepe received her MFA from The Shakespeare Theatre, Academy for Classical Acting in Washington, D.C. under the direction of Michael Kahn.
A timpani concerto is piece of music written for timpani with orchestral or band accompaniment. It is usually in three parts or movements.
The modern timpani evolved in the 18th and 19th centuries from the simple 12th-century membranophone of the Naker to a complex instrument, consisting of a suspended kettle with a foot-operated clutch, capable of rapid tuning. The technological evolution of the instrument led to increased interest in its capabilities and sound among such composers as Joseph Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven, Robert Schumann, and Hector Berlioz.
Steven Bryant is an active American composer and conductor with a varied catalog, including works for orchestra, wind ensemble, electronics, and chamber music. Mr. Bryant states: "I strive to write music that leaps off the stage to grab you by the collar and pull you in. Whether through a relentless eruption of energy, or the intensity of quiet contemplation, I want my music to give you no choice, and no other desire, but to listen."
The Concerto Project is a collection of concerti written by Philip Glass. The series was begun in 2000 and contains eight works, the most famous of which is probably the Concerto for Cello and Orchestra. Some of the concerti in the volumes were written before the commencement of the project and were categorized into the series.
The Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra is a double timpani concerto written by Philip Glass in 2000. It is paired with the Cello Concerto on Vol. I of Glass' Concerto Project, a set of eight concerti by the composer. A typical performance of the work lasts 25–28 minutes. It was written for Jonathan Haas and later recorded by Evelyn Glennie, and was premiered by Haas and Svet Stoyanov with the American Symphony Orchestra in Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, conducted by Leon Botstein. The work was commissioned jointly by the American Symphony Orchestra, the Peabody Symphony, the Milwaukee Symphony, the St. Louis Symphony and the Phoenix Symphony. In 2004, a transcription for wind ensemble was written by Mark Lortz, which debuted at Peabody Institute in 2005.
Ward Stare is an American conductor. Stare was the Music Director of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra from 2014 until 2021 and was also the Resident Conductor of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra from 2008 to 2012. Stare is currently active as a guest conductor both domestically within the United States as well as internationally. In addition Stare currently holds a position as a Distinguished Artist at the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia.
James Oliverio is an American composer of film scores and contemporary classical music.
Tatsuo Sasaki is a timpanist, percussionist, xylophonist and marimbist. He became a naturalized American citizen and lives in San Diego, California.
Stanley Sprenger Leonard is a timpanist, composer and educator who has been active in the percussion world for over seventy years. While Principal Timpanist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra for 38 years (1956-1994), he performed internationally with the symphony in concerts, television productions, and recordings." The Christian Science Monitor claimed, "...his performance of the solo part establishes him as perhaps the finest timpanist in the country." As a solo artist, he premiered several major new works for solo timpani and orchestra with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. In a review of "Celebrations—An Overture for Timpani and Orchestra," the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said, "Leonard played it superbly, imparting a singing line to this most unvocal instrument." In 2010, he was inducted into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame, where they summed up his musical contribution: "Leonard has left an indelible musical footprint for musicians, especially percussionists." He is currently resident timpanist, composer and handbell director at Vanderbilt Presbyterian Church, Naples, Florida, and continues to compose and teach master classes.
Morris Goldenberg was an American percussionist, music teacher, and method book author. He wrote several books on orchestral snare drumming, mallet percussion, and timpani. He is a member of the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame.
Chamber Dance is a composition for orchestra written by the American composer Joan Tower. The work was commissioned by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, to which it is dedicated. The piece was first performed by the same ensemble at Carnegie Hall on May 6, 2006.
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