Composer

Mr. Stucky's extensive catalogue of compositions ranges from large-scale orchestral works, including the Second Concerto for Orchestra, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, to a cappella miniatures for chorus, an eight-minute work for five percussionists, solo piano pieces, and music for such ensembles as piano quartet, string quartet, wind quintet, voice and piano, and saxophone and piano. He is also active as a conductor, writer, lecturer, and teacher, and for 20 years has been half of the longest relationship between a composer and an American orchestra: In 1988, André Previn appointed him Composer in Residence of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and today Stucky is the LAP's Consulting Composer for New Music, working closely with Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen on contemporary programming, the awarding of commissions, educational projects for school children, and programming for nontraditional audiences.

The composer is host of the New York Philharmonic's acclaimed "Hear & Now" pre-concert programs, introducing important works and premieres to Philharmonic audiences. This season includes Peter Lieberson's orchestral song cycle, The World in Flower before the world premiere sung by Joyce DiDonato and conducted by the Philharmonic's next music director, Alan Gilbert. Mr. Stucky also presents "Upbeat Live", part of the LAP's Green Umbrella concert series.

Steven Stucky's Cradle Songs and Whispers were commissioned and recorded by Chanticleer, the San Francisco-based male a cappella choir. The two discs were Billboard-charting bestsellers, and won Grammy awards. The numerous other recordings in Stucky's discography include Ad Parnassum, Boston Fancies, Fanfares and Arias, Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary (after Purcell), Nell'ombra, nella luce, Partita-Pastorale after J.S. Bach, Sappho Fragments, Serenade for Wind Quintet, Son et lumière, Threnos and Voyages.

As an active teacher and mentor to young composers, Steven Stucky has sat on the Warsaw jury of the Witold Lutoslawski Competition for Composers. He is a world-renowned expert on the late composer's music and the recipient of the Lutoslawski Society's medal. He has participated in residencies at the American Academy in Rome, Princeton University's Composition Colloquium, James Madison University, and Grinnell College.

Steven Stucky was Composer in Residence of the Aspen Music Festival and School in 2001 and director of the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble in 2005. He is Chairman of the Board of the American Music Center, and was the first annual Barr Institute Composer Laureate at the University of Missouri at Kansas City. Among his other honors are a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Bogliasco Fellowship, the Goddard Lieberson Fellowship of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the ASCAP Victor Herbert Prize, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. His first Concerto for Orchestra was one of two finalists for the 1989 Pulitzer Prize in Music. Mr. Stucky has taught at Cornell University since 1980, chaired the Music Department from 1992 to 1997, and now serves as Given Foundation Professor of Composition. He has been Visiting Professor of Composition at the Eastman School of Music and Ernest Bloch Professor at the University of California, Berkeley.

Born November 7, 1949, in Hutchinson, Kansas, Mr. Stucky was raised in Kansas and Texas. He studied at Baylor and Cornell Universities with Richard Willis, Robert Palmer, Karel Husa, and Burrill Phillips.