Louis Karchin (born September 8, 1951) is an American composer, conductor and educator who has composed over 90 works including unaccompanied and chamber music, symphonic works and opera.
His 70-minute chamber opera, Romulus, a setting of the Alexandre Dumas, père play, was premiered at the Peter B. Lewis Theatre of the Guggenheim Museum in May, 2007"[4] and subsequently issued on a Naxos CD. Other major works include American Visions, a vocal-instrumental song-cycle on poems of Yevgeny Yevtushenko (New World Records), and a masque, Orpheus, based on a poem by Stanley Kunitz (Albany Records). Of the latter, critic Jules Langert wrote of its San Francisco premiere that "[t]he music seemed in constant flux, creating strong, richly textured sonorities… and brilliant splashes of color; this Orpheus floated on an incandescent fabric of sound."[5]
Conductor
Active as a conductor and presenter of new music, Karchin co-founded the Harvard Group for New Music, the Chamber Players of the League-ISCM, and the Orchestra of the League of Composers.[3] With these groups, he conducted New York or world premieres of works by Elliott Carter, Charles Wuorinen, Joan Tower, Julia Wolfe, Milton Babbitt, Bernard Rands, David Rakowski, Arthur Kreiger, and Jason Treuting, among others.
Four Songs on Poems of Seamus Heaney (2012) for soprano and chamber ensemble
Evocations (2010) clarinet and percussion
Chamber Symphony (2009)
Three Epigrams for piano (2008) compilation of Celebration, Expressions, and Upheavals
The Gods of Winter (2006) Poetry by Dana Gioia for baritone and chamber ensemble
Chesapeake Festival Overture (2006) for orchestra. Commissioned by the Fromm Foundation at Harvard for the Chesapeake Symphony and the Alba Music Festival (Italy).
Rhapsody (2005) for violin and piano
Matrix and Dream (2004) Poetry of Paul Auster, for soprano and piano, commissioned by Works & Process at the Guggenheim
Orpheus (2003) A masque for baritone, chamber ensemble and dancers. Poetry by Stanley Kunitz
To the Sun (2003) Orphic Hymn circa 300 A. D., for soprano and piano
To the Stars (2003) Orphic Hymn circa 300 A. D. for a cappella chorus
Carmen de Boheme (2002) for soprano and piano
Ghost Waltz (2002) for piano
Quartet for Percussion (2000) Commissioned by the Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation of the Library of Congress for the Talujon Percussion Quartet
American Visions: Two Songs on Poems of Yevgeny Yevtushenko (1998) Heckscher Foundation Award, 1999
String Quartet No. 2 (1995)
Rustic Dances (1995) violin, clarinet and marimba
Sonata da Camera (1995) for violin and piano
Ricercare (1992) violin, unaccompanied
Galactic Folds (1992) for chamber ensemble
String Quartet (1991)
Romulus, an opera in one act, based on a play by Alexander Dumas (1990, rev. 2005) Prizewinner, National Opera Association, 1990 Chamber Opera Competition
Sonata for Violoncello and Piano (1990)
Songs of Distance and Light (1988) for soprano and chamber ensemble. Poetry by Elizabeth Bishop and Jennifer Rose
Five Songs on Poems of Sue Standing (1985)
Songs of John Keats (1984) for soprano and chamber ensemble
Viola Variations for viola and piano (1981)
Capriccio (1977) for violin and seven instruments. First prize winner, New Music Consort Competition, 1981
Romulus an opera in one act. (Naxos 8.669030) Katrina Thurman, Steven Ebel, Thomas Meglioranza, Wilbur Pauley, Washington Square Ensemble, Karchin conducting.
Matrix: Music of Louis Karchin. Albany Records (Troy 895); Roethke Songs, Fanfare/Pavane, Fanfare for Marty, Voyages, Quartet for Percussion, Plaint, Matrix and Dream - poem of Paul Auster
Orpheus and Other Vocal Works. Albany Records (Troy 770)
American Visions New World Records (NW-80583) Rustic Dances, American Visions: Two Songs on Poems of Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Cascades, Sonata da camera, A Way Separate…, String Quartet #2
Music of Louis Karchin New World/CRI (NWCR739) Galactic Folds, Songs of Distance and Light, Ricercare, Sonata for Violoncello and Piano
Louis Joseph Andriessen was a Dutch composer, pianist and academic teacher. Considered the most influential Dutch composer of his generation, he was a central proponent of The Hague school of composition. Although his music was initially dominated by neoclassicism and serialism, his style gradually shifted to a synthesis of American minimalism, jazz and the manner of Stravinsky.
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