Stephen L. Mosko Explained

Stephen "Lucky" Mosko
Birth Date:	7 December 1947
Birth Place:	Denver, Colorado, U.S.
Death Place:	Green Valley, Los Angeles County, California
Genre:	Contemporary classical, world
Occupation:	Composer, music director, teacher
Associated Acts:	California EAR Unit

Stephen L. (Lucky) Mosko^{[1] [2]} (7 December 1947 -) was an American composer. His music blended high modernism (including serialism) with world music, and he was an expert in Icelandic folk music.^[3] His, "seemingly contradictory," influences include uptown, downtown, and the West Coast school; including John Cage, Milton Babbitt, Elliott Carter, Morton Feldman, and Mel Powell.^[4]

Mosko studied with Antonia Brico, Donald Martino, Gustav Meier, Mel Powell, Leonard Stein, and Morton Subotnick.^{[5] [6] [7]}

He was the music director of the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players from 1988 to 1997^[8] and of the Los Angeles Olympic Arts Festival's Contemporary Music Festival in 1984.^[9] He was the director of the Ojai Music Festival in 1986 and 1990.^[10] He was married to Dorothy Stone, founding flutist of California EAR Unit.^{[7] [11]}

Notable students include composers Ann Millikan and Nicholas Frances Chase.

Discography

Composer

• Indigenous Music (1998), The California EAR Unit
• Composer Portrait Series: Stephen L. Mosko (2000), Southwest Chamber Music

Music director

• For Samuel Beckett by Morton Feldman (1993), San Francisco Contemporary Music Players
• Only: Works for Voice and Instruments by Morton Feldman (1996), Joan La Barbara and the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players

Further reading

• Chute, James. 2001. "Mosko, Stephen". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.
• Steingrímsson, Hreinn. Stone, Dorothy and Mosko, Stephen L. (eds.) (2000). Kvædaskapur: Icelandic Epic Song.

External links

• "The life and work of Stephen L. Mosko”, luxstar.org’’.
• "Stephen 'Lucky' Mosko Memorial", MachineProject.com.
• "The Music of Stephen 'Lucky' Mosko", RedCat.org.
• "Obituary: Stephen 'Lucky' Mosko", NewMusicBox.org.
• "Articles about Stephen L. Mosko", LATimes.com.
• "Biographical Material about Stephen L. Mosko", LeisurePlanetMusic.com.
• Stephen "Lucky" Mosko scores, recordings, and other material, 1957-2008 at Isham Memorial Library, Harvard University

.

Notes and References

1. Duckworth, William (1999). "Milton Babbitt", Talking Music: Conversations with John Cage, Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, and Five Generations of American Experimental Composers, p.84. .
2. (Dec. 12, 2005). "Composer/conductor Stephen Mosko dead", UPI.
3. (1996). "Liner notes", Only: Works for Voice and Instruments. New Albion.
4. von der Schmidt (2000). "Liner notes", Composer Portrait Series: Stephen L. Mosko. Southwest Chamber Music.
5. "Stephen 'Lucky' Mosko, 58; Composer Was a Mentor to New Music Performers", "latimes.com".
6. "Dorothy Stone Mosko and Stephen Lucky Mosko Collection", CalArts.edu.
7. Woodard, Josef (1998). "Liner notes", Indigenous Music. oodiscs.
8. Ulrich, Allan (October 18, 1988), "Contemporary Debut: A new director, a new season of new music", San Francisco Examiner.
9. Mattison, Ben (13 Dec 2005). "New-Music Specialist Stephen Mosko Dies at 58", PlayBillArts.
10. Wager, Gregg (May 28, 1990). "Ojai Festival Keeps Cutting-Edge Tradition—With a Twist : Music: New director Stephen Mosko will replace the old and European standards with new and American fare.", LATimes.
11. Dec. 12, 2005. "Composer/conductor Stephen Mosko dead", UPI.com.