Enduring Masters
Meet the Masters
We are excited to be hosting some of the most prominent performers, composers and educators for the Enduring Masters Series.
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Billy Taylor - September 15, 2007. Billy Taylor encompasses that rare combination of creativity, intelligence, vision, commitment and leadership, qualities that make him one of our most cherished national treasures. The distinguished ambassador of the jazz community to the world-at-large, Dr. Billy Taylor's recording career spans nearly six decades. He has also composed over three hundred and fifty songs, including "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free," as well as works for theatre, dance and symphony orchestras. [full bio]
- Karel Husa - October 14-16, 2007. Karel Husa, winner of the 1993 Grawemeyer Award and the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for Music, is an internationally known composer and conductor. An American citizen since 1959, Husa was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, on 7 August 1921. After completing studies at the Prague Conservatory and, later, the Academy of Music, he went to Paris where he received diplomas from the Paris National Conservatory and the Ecole normale de musique. Among his teachers were Arthur Honegger, Nadia Boulanger, Jaroslav Ridky, and conductor Andre Cluytens. [full bio]
- Joan Tower - February 4, 2008. Even as she prepares for her 70th birthday in 2008, Joan Tower is looking forward as much as she is looking back on a career that already spans over five decades. Hailed as "one of the most successful woman composers of all time" in The New Yorker magazine, Joan Tower was the first woman ever to receive the Grawemeyer Award in Composition in 1990. She was inducted in 1998 into the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Letters, and into the Academy of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University in the fall of 2004. [full bio]
- George Tsontakis - March 3, 2008. Mr. Tsontakis's catalogue continues to grow dramatically as prominent orchestras and musicians commission and record new works. In recent seasons, his works have been heard with great frequency in concerts throughout the world (including dozens in Europe), with over 100 performances of his major works in the 2006-2007 season alone. In December 2006, George Tsontakis was named the next recipient of the Charles Ives Living by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The prestigious award is in the form of a cash allowance spread over 3 years (2007-2010). Thus, in the space of two years, Tsontakis has been awarded two of composition’s richest prizes, since his Violin Concerto No. 2 also won the 2005 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award. This celebrated international composition award gives deserved recognition to a composer who already enjoys a global career. [full bio]
- Daniel Binelli - April 2, 2008. Daniel Binelli (FLEFF Distinguished Composer in Residence) is an internationally renowned bandoneon virtuoso from Argentina who performs across the world. The bandoneon is a unique and sensuous keyboard instrument associated with the tango. A prolific composer, Binelli is also widely acclaimed as the foremost exponent and torchbearer of the music of Astor Piazzolla. [full bio]
- Steve Brown and the Alumni Big Band - April 26, 2008. Steve Brown has been the Director of Jazz Studies at Ithaca College for the past 40 years. In addition to teaching, Steve has had the pleasure of performing with many of the jazz greats of our time, including Chuck Israels, Billy Hart, Gerry Niewood, Ben Riley, Claudio Roditi, Bill Goodwin, Marian McPartland, Jimmy Smith, and Barry Harris. A prolific composer and arranger, Steve has hundreds of compositions that have been performed around the world. [full bio and alumni bios]
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