Bio

David Rakowski was born and grew up in St. Albans, Vermont. He studied with Robert Ceely and John Heiss at New England Conservatory, with Milton Babbitt, Peter Westergaard and Paul Lansky at Princeton, and with Luciano Berio at Tanglewood. He has received 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 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), 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 CRI, Innova, Americus, Albany, Capstone, and Bridge, and has been performed worldwide. He was a founder of the Griffin Music Ensemble of Boston, and has taught at Stanford, Harvard, and Columbia Universities, and at New England Conservatory. He is currently the Walter W. Naumburg Professor of Composition at Brandeis, where he has taught since 1995. He lives in Massachusetts and Maine with his wife Beth Wiemann, and exactly two cats named Sunset and Camden.

David Rakowski grew up in Vermont, studied at New England Conservatory, Princeton, and Tanglewood, has received a large number of awards and fellowships, including the Elise L. Stoeger Prize from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and has twice been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Music. He has composed five concertos, three symphonies, 84 piano etudes, five song cycles, and a large amount of wind ensemble music and chamber music and vocal music for various combinations. His music has been performed and recorded widely and is published by C.F. Peters. He is currently the Walter W. Naumburg Professor of Composition at Brandeis University.

FELLOWSHIPS AND RESIDENCIES
ROME PRIZE, American Academy in Rome, 1995-96.
NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS, Composer Fellowship, 1990.
JOHN SIMON GUGGENHEIM FOUNDATION, composition fellowship, 1989.
ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION BELLAGIO STUDY AND CONFERENCE CENTER, July 1991.
DJERASSI FOUNDATION, March-April, 1991.
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.
LIGURIA STUDY CENTER, BOGLIASCO FOUNDATION 4-5/06.

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