Chester Biscardi is an Italian American

Italian American

An Italian American , is an American of Italian ancestry. The designation may also refer to someone possessing Italian and American dual citizenship...

 composer and educator.

He received a B.A. degree in English literature from the University of Wisconsin–Madison

University of Wisconsin–Madison

The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...

 (1970); he studied during 1969-1970 at the University of Bologna

University of Bologna

The Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna is the oldest continually operating university in the world, the word 'universitas' being first used by this institution at its foundation. The true date of its founding is uncertain, but believed by most accounts to have been 1088...

 and the Conservatorio di Musica "G. B. Martini"; he received an M.A. in Italian literature from the University of Wisconsin–Madison (1972); he received an M.M. in composition from the University of Wisconsin–Madison (1974); Major compositional study with Les Thimmig; electronic music with Burt Levy; he received a M.M.A. in composition from Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

 (1976); and he received a D.M.A. in composition from Yale University (1980).

His composition instructors have included Les Thimmig, Mario Davidovsky

Mario Davidovsky

Mario Davidovsky is an Argentine-American composer. Born in Argentina, he emigrated in 1960 to the US, where he lives today...

, Robert Morris

Robert Morris (composer)

Robert Morris is an American composer and music theorist.-Work in music theory:As a music theorist, Morris' work has bridged an important gap between the rigorously academic and the highly experimental. Born in Cheltenham, England in 1943, Morris received his musical education at the Eastman...

, Yehudi Wyner

Yehudi Wyner

Yehudi Wyner is an American composer, pianist, conductor, and music educator.Wyner, who grew up in New York City, was raised in a musical family. His father, Lazar Weiner, was an eminent composer of Yiddish art songs. Wyner attended Juilliard, Yale, and Harvard...

, Krzysztof Penderecki

Krzysztof Penderecki

Krzysztof Penderecki , born November 23, 1933 in Dębica) is a Polish composer and conductor. His 1960 avant-garde Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima for string orchestra brought him to international attention, and this success was followed by acclaim for his choral St. Luke Passion. Both these...

 and Tōru Takemitsu

Toru Takemitsu

was a Japanese composer and writer on aesthetics and music theory. Largely self-taught, Takemitsu possessed consummate skill in the subtle manipulation of instrumental and orchestral timbre...

.

He has been a member of the faculty of Sarah Lawrence College

Sarah Lawrence College

Sarah Lawrence College is a private liberal arts college in the United States, and a leader in progressive education since its founding in 1926. Located just 30 minutes north of Midtown Manhattan in southern Westchester County, New York, in the city of Yonkers, this coeducational college offers...

 since 1977, and is openly

Coming out

Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....

 gay

Gay

Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

.

Biscardi's music has been released on the CRI

Composers Recordings, Inc.

Composers Recordings, Inc. was an American record label dedicated to the recording of contemporary classical music by American composers. It was founded in 1954 by Otto Luening, Douglas Moore, and Oliver Daniel, and based in New York City....

 label.

Selected works

Works by Biscardi are published by Merion Music, C.F. Peters and Biscardi Music Press.

Stage

• Tight-Rope, Chamber Opera in 9 uninterrupted scenes (1985); libretto by Henry Butler
• The Duchess of Malfi, Music for the play by John Webster
  John Webster
  John Webster was an English Jacobean dramatist best known for his tragedies The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi, which are often regarded as masterpieces of the early 17th-century English stage. He was a contemporary of William Shakespeare.- Biography :Webster's life is obscure, and the dates...
  
  for 9 instrumentalists and voices (1976)

Orchestral

• At the Still Point (1977)

Concertante

• Chartres for solo piano and chamber ensemble (1973)
• Concerto for piano and orchestra (1983)
• Recognition for piano and violin with string orchestra (2004, 2007)

Chamber music

• Tartini for violin and piano (1972)
• orpha for string quartet, marimba and vibraphone (1974)
• Tenzone for 2 flutes and piano (1975)
• they had ceased to talk for violin, viola, horn and piano (1975)
• Trio for violin, cello and piano (1976)
• Trasumanar for 12 percussionists and piano (1980)
• Di Vivere for clarinet and piano (1981), or for clarinet and piano, with flute, violin and cello (1981)
• Music for Witch Dance for 2 percussionists (1983)
• Incitation to Desire (Tango) for clarinet, horn, violin, cello, percussion and piano (1984, 1993); original for piano solo
• Incitation to Desire (Tango) for marimba solo (1984, 2006); original for piano solo
• Traverso for flute and piano (1987)
• No Feeling Is the Same As Before for soprano saxophone solo (1988)
• Companion Piece (for Morton Feldman) for double bass and piano (1989)
• Netori (音取り) for violin, oboe, horn; horn, clarinet, cello; and piano (1990)
• Music for an Occasion for 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, piano and percussion (1992; revised 2003)
• Resisting Stillness for 2 guitars (1996)
• Chamber Fanfare for flute, violin, cello, percussion and piano (1999)
• Music for NASDAQ MarketSiteTV for flute, horn, violin, cello, percussion and piano (1999)
• Piano Quintet for piano and violin, with violin, viola and cello (2004)
• The Viola Had Suddenly Become a Voice for viola and piano (2005)

Piano

• Nel giardinetto della villa for piano 4 hands (1994)
• Companion Piece (for Morton Feldman) (1989, 1991)
• Incitation to Desire (Tango) (1984)
• In Time's Unfolding (2000)
• Piano Sonata (1986; revised 1987)
• Mestiere (1979)

Vocal

• Turning for violin, soprano, and string trio (1973)
• Trusting Lightness for soprano and piano (1975)
• Chez Vous for voice and piano (1983; revised 2007)
• "Poet's Aria" from Tight-Rope for baritone (or tenor) and piano (1985)
• The Gift of Life for soprano and piano (1990–1993)
• Baby Song of the Four Winds for mezzo-soprano (or soprano) and piano (1994)
• Guru for voice (or voices) and piano (1995)
• Prayers of Steel for baritone and piano (1998)
• The Child Comes Every Winter for voice and piano (1999)
• Recovering for voice and piano (2000)
• Modern Love Songs for voice and piano (1997–2002)

What a Coincidence

I Wouldn't Know about That

Someone New

Now You See It, Now You Don't

At Any Given Moment

• You've Been on My Mind for voice and piano (2007)
• Play Me a Song for voice and piano (2008)
• Seven O'Clock at the Cedar, Ode to Kline/de Kooning for voice and piano (2008)
• It's Time to Feel Alright Now for voice and piano (2009)

Choral

• Heabakes: Five Sapphic Lyrics for mixed chorus, 2 solo sopranos, solo alto, and percussion (1974)
• Indovinello for 12 voices (1974)
• Eurydice for women's chorus and 17 instruments (1978)
• Good-Bye, My Fancy! for mixed chorus a cappella and narrator (1982)
• Mama Never Forgets Her Birds from The Gift of Life for mixed chorus and piano (1997)
• The Child Comes Every Winter for mixed chorus and piano (1999)

External links

• Chester Biscardi official site
• Chester Biscardi page
• Chester Biscardi page
• Chester Biscardi Papers, 1985-1987 Music Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.