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Annual American Composers Update
Jack Beeson
Influenced in part by the contributions to American
composers by his mentor Otto Luening (who died five
years ago at the age of 96),
Jack Beeson has long believed the problems American
composers face are such that they should forego personal
and stylistic rivalries and work toward common goals.
This point of view he tried to pass on to his Columbia
University composition students over nearly half a century.
Accordingly, he has welcomed every opportunity to serve
organizations that aid American composers, among them
the American Music Center, ACA, ASCAP, CRI, the Ditson
Fund and the Columbia University Music Press, the Rome
Academy and the American Academy of Arts and Letters,
the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Pulitzer Prize in
Music. For the past two years, he has aided in the establishment
of the Douglas Moore Fund for Opera, a not-for-profit
organization soon to begin aiding young composers who
wish to write operas. Columbia Magazine is planning
an article concerning Beeson's life and compositions.
Citadel Records has planned a 2002 release of his chamber
operas Hello Out There and Dr. Heidegger's
Fountain of Youth. During the 2001-02 season, concerts
planned to commemorate his 80th birthday include a recital
of chamber music, including organ, by the Bloomingdale
House of Music, November 9, 2001, at Christ and St.
Shephen's Church; performances of two chamber operas,
one by the North-South Consonance, February 17 at the
same venue, the other as yet unscheduled; and a concert
January 12 at St. Peter's, by the Gregg Smith Singers.
Premieres
The Gregg Smith Singers concert included the premiere
of In Praise of Singing, for SATB a cappella
choir.
Publications
Ophelia Sings; mad scene for mezzo-soprano and
chamber ensemble; The Equilibrists; soprano,
tenor, and chamber ensemble; both by Boosey & Hawkes.
Further Information
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