| Birth Date: | 2 March 1934 |
| Birth Place: | Sheffield, England |
| Occupation: | Composer |
Bernard Rands (born 2 March 1934 in Sheffield, England)[1] is a British-American contemporary classical composer. He studied music and English literature at the University of Wales, Bangor,[2] and composition with Pierre Boulez and Bruno Maderna in Darmstadt, Germany, and with Luigi Dallapiccola and Luciano Berio in Milan, Italy. He held residencies at Princeton University, the University of Illinois, and the University of York before emigrating to the United States in 1975; he became a U.S. citizen in 1983. In 1984, Rands's Canti del Sole, premiered by Paul Sperry, Zubin Mehta, and the New York Philharmonic, won the Pulitzer Prize for Music.[3] He has since taught at the University of California, San Diego, the Juilliard School, Yale University, and Boston University. From 1988 to 2005 he taught at Harvard University, where he is Walter Bigelow Rosen Professor of Music Emeritus.
Rands has received many awards for his work, and was elected and inducted into The American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2004. From 1989 to 1995 he was composer-in-residence with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Rands's music is widely recorded. The recording of his Canti D'Amor by the men's vocal ensemble Chanticleer won a Grammy Award in 2000.[4] Rands is married to American composer Augusta Read Thomas.[5]
opera in two acts, with a libretto by Leslie Dunton Downer, commissioned by the Aspen Festival. Première: 1999, Aspen Music Festival, Colorado
opera based on the life of Vincent van Gogh, with libretto by J. D. McClatchy, commissioned by Indiana University. Première performances: 8–9, 15–16 April 2011, Bloomington, Indiana.
commissioned by the West Riding Youth Orchestra, Yorkshire
commissioned by the BBC Symphony Orchestra for the 1969 York Festival, premièred under Pierre Boulez (dedicated to Gilbert Amy)
commissioned by the Department of Education and Science for the London Schools Symphony Orchestra
commissioned by the London Sinfonietta, who gave the première in 1972 with soprano Cathy Berberian, conducted by Luciano Berio at the English Bach Festival
commissioned by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and premièred at the 1973 Cheltenham Festival under John Pritchard.
commissioned by the BBC Symphony Orchestra for Pierre Boulez's series of contemporary concerts at Roundhouse, London
commissioned by the National Symphony Chamber Orchestra, Washington, D.C., and premièred at the Kennedy Center. The work has most recently been performed by the Jungen Philharmonie Zentralschweiz and the University of Nottingham Philharmonia.
commissioned by the BBC Symphony Orchestra for soprano Dorothy Dorow, premièred under Rands in 1981
full version commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, and premièred under Zubin Mehta and tenor Paul Sperry in 1983. The work won the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Music.
the two suites were commissioned respectively by the Fromm Foundation for the San Diego Symphony and the Koussevitzky Foundation for the Philadelphia Orchestra, who premièred the complete work under Riccardo Muti in 1984. The work was awarded first place in the 1986 Kennedy Center Friedheim Awards. The work has since been performed widely by many orchestras, including (most recently) the Buffalo Philharmonic.
15-minute work commissioned by Suntory Hall, Tokyo; premièred there in 1989
commissioned by the Colorado Music Festival, Boulder, for the 10th anniversary festival
commissioned by the Aspen Music Festival, premièred by cellist Yehuda Hanani with the Aspen Festival Orchestra conducted by Rands. Subsequent performances took place with Hanani the BBC National Orchestra of Wales soon after.
commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and premièred under Seiji Ozawa at Symphony Hall in 1989. Emily Freeman Brown and the Bowling Green Philharmonia have since taken the work into their repertoire.
written as a gift for conductor Edwin London, who premièred the work with the Cleveland Chamber Symphony. Recent performances have been given by the Verge Ensemble and the Buffalo Philharmonic.
commissioned by the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic
commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra, premièred under Riccardo Muti. Subsequent performances have taken place by the Bristol University Symphony Orchestra
commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra, premièred under Gerard Schwarz with bass Thomas Paul. The work has since been championed by Gil Rose and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project.
commissioned by the University of Michigan Symphony Band, Ann Arbor. A widely performed work, Ceremonial has most recently been performed by the Eastman Wind Ensemble and the concert bands of the Oberlin Conservatory, Boston Conservatory, Columbus State University, Yale University, New England Conservatory, DePaul University, University of Washington and Florida International University, among numerous others.
commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra, premièred under Rands in 1992. The Oregon Symphony has since championed this work.
commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, premièred under Leonard Slatkin at Avery Fisher Hall in December 1993
commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra, premièred under Wolfgang Sawallisch in Philadelphia. A further performance was given by the same forces at the 1995 BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall, London
commissioned as part of the Requiem of Reconciliation, premièred in 1995 by the Israel Philharmonic under Helmuth Rilling
commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, premièred under Esa-Pekka Salonen in 1995
commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra for Mstislav Rostropovich, premièred under Seiji Ozawa in 1997. Recent performances have taken place at Symphony Center with the Chicago Symphony under Pierre Boulez, with cellist Johannes Moser.
commissioned by the Cincinnati Symphony
30-minute work, originally commissioned by the BBC for the 1985 Proms Season, but wasn't completed in time. It was recommissioned in 1995 for the Philadelphia Choral Society
commissioned by the Core Ensemble and the Cleveland Chamber Symphony with funds provided by the Meet the Composer Consortium Program, premièred by those forces conducted by Edwin London
major 40-minute work setting texts by Paul Celan, Heinrich Heine, Nelly Sachs, Franz Werfel and English translations of extracts from the Apocrypha. Commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, and premièred at Symphony Center in May 2003 with soprano Angela Denoke under Daniel Barenboim (choral director: Duain Wolfe). Further performances have taken place in Germany and Austria in 2010, at the Berlin Philharmonie and the Konzerthaus, Großer Saal by the Staatskapelle Berlin and Staatsopernchor Berlin, again with Daniel Barenboim conducting.
commissioned by the Eastman School of Music
commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, premièred under Lorin Maazel at Avery Fisher Hall in October 2008
commissioned by the Chicago Symphony and premièred under Riccardo Muti at Symphony Center, May 5–7 & 10, 2011.
commissioned by the Seattle Symphony, due to première the work under Gerard Schwarz at Benaroya Hall, Seattle, Washington on 7 December 2010.
written for the 1963 Darmstadt Festival; premièred by the Kranichsteiner Ensemble under Bruno Maderna
premièred at the 1965 Darmstadt Festival by Aloys and Alfons Kontarsky
written for SONOR Ensemble, a group formed by Rands. Text by Gilbert Sorrentino.
notated as a graphic score; the duration of the work can be anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes
15-minute work, based on Rands' Memo 1 (for solo double bass, from 1971), and was written for bassist Bertram Turetzky and commissioned by the Claremont Festival, California.
commissioned by the Capricorn Ensemble with funds provided by the Arts Council of Great Britain
commissioned by the Arts Council of Great Britain for the ONDINE Ensemble, and is dedicated to Jacob Druckman on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday. Premièred in Washington D.C. in November 1988. Recent performances have been given by the Boston Musica Viva under Richard Pittman, the North/South Consonance Ensemble under Max Lifchitz, the Verge Ensemble (Buffalo, New York), the Dal Niente New Music Group (Chicago), and ensembles at the Indiana University School of Music and the Arizona State University.
commissioned by the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society for the Mendelssohn Quartet (who, in 2003, recorded the work on BIS Records). The work has since been taken up by the Fifth House Ensemble, DePaul University, Chicago.
commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association in honour of the 70th birthday of Pierre Boulez
commissioned by Network for New Music with generous support from Anni Baker; premièred in 1998 conducted by Jan Krzywicki. Recent performances have taken place with the Dal Niente New Music Group (Chicago), the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign New Music Ensemble, ensembles from the University of Nevada, the University of Iowa (who recorded the work on Capstone Records in 2006) and Yale University, and at the June in Buffalo Festival (New York).
commissioned by the Atlantic Brass Quintet
commissioned by the Eastman School of Music (financial support from the Howard Hanson Foundation) for the Ying Quartet. Premièred by that ensemble in January 2004 at Symphony Space, New York
commissioned for the 2004 June in Buffalo Festival
commissioned by Network for New Music, and premièred by that ensemble in November 2006 with mezzos-soprano Janice Felty
10-minute work commissioned by the New York State Arts Council for the Prism Quartet. Premièred: 21 November 2008 in Philadelphia, by the same artists.
18-minute work
written for SONOR ensemble, a group formed by Rands. Text by Gilbert Sorrentino.
commissioned by Jane Manning
commissioned by the London Sinfonietta, who gave the première in 1972 with soprano Cathy Berberian, conducted by Luciano Berio at the English Bach Festival
song-cycle to texts by Derek Walcott, commissioned by the Tanglewood Summer Music Festival; premièred in the Seiji Ozawa Hall in January 2005 by Abigail Fischer (mezzo-soprano) and Norman Fischer (cello)
commissioned by Network for New Music, and premièred by that ensemble in November 2006 with mezzos-soprano Janice Felty
commissioned by Robert Page, who led the première in Cleveland in April 1988 with Paula Page (harp) and the Page Singers. Text by Samuel Beckett.
commissioned by the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic
commissioned by Chanticleer, premièred in 2000 in San Francisco by that group. Sets texts from James Joyce's Chamber Music.
brief 2-minute work, commissioned by the Howard University Chapel. Text by George Herbert.
commissioned as part of the Requiem of Reconciliation, premièred in 1995 by the Israel Philharmonic under Helmuth Rilling
30-minute work, originally commissioned by the BBC for the 1985 Proms Season but not completed in time. It was recommissioned in 1995 for the Philadelphia Choral Society
commissioned by the Cambridge Madrigal Singers, Massachusetts, premièred in 2001 in Cambridge by that group.
major 40-minute work setting texts by Paul Celan, Heinrich Heine, Nelly Sachs, Franz Werfel and English translations of extracts from the Apocrypha. Commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, and premièred at Symphony Center in May 2003 with soprano Angela Denoke under Daniel Barenboim (choral director: Duain Wolfe). Further performances have taken place in Germany and Austria in 2010, at the Berlin Philharmonie and the Konzerthaus, Großer Saal by the Staatskapelle Berlin and Staatsopernchor Berlin, again with Daniel Barenboim conducting.
a movement from apókryphos
commissioned by the Cornell University Glee Club, and premièred under Scott Tucker in September 2008 in Ithaca, New York
commissioned by Barry Guy; premièred at the English Bach Festival, Oxford in 1972
commissioned by Ekkehart Trenknner for Judith Pierce, who gave the work's première in 1997
commissioned by Jane Manning
In 2014 Rands was inducted to The Lincoln Academy of Illinois as a Laureate of the Arts and was awarded the Order of Lincoln (the state's highest honor) by the governor of Illinois.[7]