Bio

David Rakowski was born and raised in St. Albans, Vermont, where he played trombone in high school and community bands, and keyboards in a mediocre rock band called the Silver Finger. Early musical challenges included taking pop songs off the radio for his band to play. He was his high school class's valedictorian.

He received his musical training at New England Conservatory, Princeton, and Tanglewood, where he studied with Robert Ceely, John Heiss, Milton Babbitt, Paul Lansky, Peter Westergaard, and Luciano Berio. He spent the four years after graduate school not writing his dissertation, holding down dismal part-time word processing jobs and helping to run the Griffin Music Ensemble in Boston. At the end of those four years, he took a running leap into academia with a one-year appointment at Stanford University. Seven years later, he finished his dissertation.

Rakowski's most widely-traveled music is his ever-expanding collection of high-energy piano etudes, currently numbering ninety; these pieces approach the problem of etude from many different angles, be they technical, conceptual, or stylistic; many of them may be viewed on YouTube. He has also written three symphonies, five concertos, three large wind ensemble pieces, a sizable collection of chamber and vocal music, as well as incidental music.

Rakowski's awards include the Rome Prize, an Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the 2006 Barlow Prize, and the 2004-6 Elise L. Stoeger Prize from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, as well as awards and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the NEA, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Tanglewood Music Center, BMI, Columbia University, the Orleans International Piano Competition (the Chevillion-Bonnaud composition prize), the International Horn Society, and various artist colonies. He has been commissioned by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the U.S. Marine Band, Sequitur, Network for New Music, Koussevitzky Music Foundation (with Ensemble 21 in 1996 and with Boston Modern Orchestra Project in 2006), Collage New Music, the Kaufman Center/Merkin Hall, Boston Musica Viva, the Fromm Foundation (twice), Dinosaur Annex, the Crosstown Ensemble, Speculum Musicae, the Riverside Symphony, Parnassus, The Composers Ensemble, Alea II, Alea III, Triple Helix, and others. In 1999 his Persistent Memory, commissioned by Orpheus, was a Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Music, and in 2002 his Ten of a Kind, commissioned by "The President's Own" U.S. Marine Band, was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He has been composer-in-residence at the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival, Guest Composer at the Wellesley Composers Conference, and a Master Artist at the Atlantic Center for the Arts. His music is published by C.F. Peters, is recorded on New World/CRI, Innova, Americus, Albany, Capstone, and Bridge, and has been performed worldwide.

After his year at Stanford, he taught at Columbia University for six years, and then skipped town to join the faculty of Brandeis University, where he is now the Walter W. Naumburg Professor of Composition. While on the faculty of Brandeis, he has also taken part-time appointments teaching at Harvard University (twice) and New England Conservatory (also twice). Now a failed trombonist, he lives in Boston exurbia and in Maine with his wife Beth Wiemann and exactly two cats named Sunset and Camden.

David Rakowski grew up in St.Albans, Vermont and studied at New England Conservatory, Princeton, and Tanglewood, where his teachers were Robert Ceely, John Heiss, Milton Babbitt, Paul Lansky, and Luciano Berio. He has received a large number of awards and fellowships, including the Elise L. Stoeger Prize from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Rome Prize, and he has twice been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Music (for pieces commissioned by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the US Marine Band). He has composed five concertos, three symphonies, 90 piano etudes, five song cycles, and a large amount of wind ensemble music, chamber music, and vocal music for various combinations. His music has been commissioned, recorded, and performed widely and is published by C.F. Peters. He is currently the Walter W. Naumburg Professor of Composition at Brandeis University, having also taught at New England Conservatory, Harvard, Columbia, and Stanford.

FELLOWSHIPS AND RESIDENCIES
CIVITELLA RANIERI FOUNDATION, Umbertide, Italy, June-July 2008.
LIGURIA STUDY CENTER, BOGLIASCO FOUNDATION 4-5/06.
MACDOWELL COLONY, 11-12/90, 4-5/95, 6-7/97, 6-7/98, 3-4/00, 6-7/01, 3-4/03, 3-4/06, and 5-6/07.
YADDO, 5-6/91, 5-6/97, 5-6/00, 4-5/03, 7-8/06, and 6-7/07.
VIRGINIA CENTER FOR THE CREATIVE ARTS, 9-10/90, 12/91-1/92, 12/96-1/97, 1-3/00, 1-2/03, and 12/05-1/06.
AMERICAN ACADEMY IN ROME, Rome Prize, 1995-96.
ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION BELLAGIO STUDY AND CONFERENCE CENTER, July, 1991.
DJERASSI FOUNDATION, March-April, 1991.
NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS, Composer Fellowship, 1990.
JOHN SIMON GUGGENHEIM FOUNDATION, composition fellowship, 1989.

HONORS AND AWARDS
KOUSSEVITZKY MUSIC FOUNDATION, co-commission for piano concerto with BMOP, 2006.
BARLOW FOUNDATION, Barlow Prize (wind ensemble commission), 2006.
ORLEANS INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION, Chevillion-Bonnaud Composition Prize, 2006.
CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER, Elise L. Stoeger Prize, 2004.
INTERNATIONAL HORN SOCIETY, winner of composition competition for "Locking Horns", 2003.
PULITZER PRIZE, finalist for Ten of a Kind, 2002.
AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND LETTERS, Academy Award in Music, 2000.
PULITZER PRIZE, finalist for Persistent Memory, 1999.
KOUSSEVITZKY MUSIC FOUNDATION, co-commission with Ensemble 21, 1996.
KENNEDY CENTER FRIEDHEIM AWARDS, Semifinalist in 1992 orchestral competition for Violin Concerto.
JOSEPH H. BEARNS PRIZE (Columbia University), for Violin Concerto, 1984.
BMI AWARDS TO STUDENT COMPOSERS: 1984 for Violin Concerto; 1983 for Variations.
MARGARET JORY COPYING GRANTS: 1986, 1990, 1992.
GEORGE WHITEFIELD CHADWICK MEDAL, New England Conservatory, May 1980.

COMPOSER IN RESIDENCE
BOWDOIN SUMMER MUSIC FESTIVAL, summer 1999.
COMPOSERS CONFERENCE AT WELLESLEY COLLEGE, summer 1999.
ROOSEVELT UNIVERSITY, April 2001 and December 2002.
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA, December 2002
ATLANTIC CENTER FOR THE ARTS: MASTER ARTIST, May-June, 2005.
UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS, November, 2006.

Benjamin F. Hill (early 19thC, London/Rochester, NY)
Great-great-great grandfather. Moved from London in 1823 to head the Rochester Conservatory.

Julia Hill (mid 19thC, Rochester, NY) great-great-grandmother, toured Europe as a child prodigy pianist in the 1840s, playing for Liszt, Meyerbeer, European royalty, and Alexandre Dreyschock.

Donald McGarey (grandfather, 1897-1963 (complications from double pneumonia))
Catherine Vorce McGarey (grandmother, 1900-1986 (meningitis))

Charles (Tekovjak) Rakowski (grandfather, July 25, 1895-1974)
Mary Frankowski Rakowski (grandmother, 19??-1956)

Stanley Rakowski (1921-1979 (hypoxia))
Barbara Ann McGarey Rakowski (1922-1978 (asphyxiation))