Howard Frazin
Encyclopedia
Howard Frazin is a composer based in Cambridge, Massachusetts
. He began his formal musical training at the New England Conservatory, and subsequently studied at the University of Minnesota
with Dominick Argento
. Since 1991, Frazin has taught Composition at the Longy School of Music
and is currently president of Composers in Red Sneakers
, a Cambridge-based composer's collective.
Frazin's music is for the most part recognizably tonal
, and is characterized by an expressive style that often develops and repeats distinctive small motifs
, Frazin's works have been performed throughout the US, Canada, France, and Russia, including festivals at Aspen
, the Banff Centre for the Arts, the Gamper Contemporary Music Festival, Yellow Barn Summer Music Festival, the Janus 21 Ensemble Summer Series, the Composers' Forum of New York, the Society of Composers National Conference, and elsewhere.
Frazin's oratorio
, The Voice of Isaac
, commissioned by PALS Children's Chorus, was premiered at Boston's Jordan Hall
in March 2003 and praised by the Boston Globe as "...clear in design and Brittenesque
in texture...ingeniously scored...(having an) almost unbearable poignancy."
In March 2007, Frazin's "Theme and Reverberations for Two Tubas and Orchestra" was premiered at Faneuil Hall, in Boston MA. It was performed by the Boston Classical Orchestra, under Steven Lipsitt. The Tuba soloists were Boston Symphony principal Mike Roylance and pediatrician/jazz musician Eli Newberger.
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
. He began his formal musical training at the New England Conservatory, and subsequently studied at the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
with Dominick Argento
Dominick Argento
Dominick Argento is an American composer, best known as a leading composer of lyric opera and choral music...
. Since 1991, Frazin has taught Composition at the Longy School of Music
Longy School of Music
The Longy School of Music of Bard College is a conservatory located near Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1915, it was one of the four independent degree-granting music schools in the Boston region along with the New England Conservatory, Berklee College of Music, and Boston...
and is currently president of Composers in Red Sneakers
Composers in Red Sneakers
The Composers in Red Sneakers are a Boston-based composers collective founded in 1981. The founding members were Thomas Oboe Lee, Christopher Stowens, Robert Aldridge, Roger Bourland, Amy Reich, and Gary Philo. Concerts were given in the Old Cambridge Baptist Church and in Harvard University's...
, a Cambridge-based composer's collective.
Frazin's music is for the most part recognizably tonal
Tonality
Tonality is a system of music in which specific hierarchical pitch relationships are based on a key "center", or tonic. The term tonalité originated with Alexandre-Étienne Choron and was borrowed by François-Joseph Fétis in 1840...
, and is characterized by an expressive style that often develops and repeats distinctive small motifs
Motif (music)
In music, a motif or motive is a short musical idea, a salient recurring figure, musical fragment or succession of notes that has some special importance in or is characteristic of a composition....
, Frazin's works have been performed throughout the US, Canada, France, and Russia, including festivals at Aspen
Aspen Music Festival and School
The Aspen Music Festival and School, founded in 1949, is an internationally renowned classical music festival that presents music in an intimate, small-town setting...
, the Banff Centre for the Arts, the Gamper Contemporary Music Festival, Yellow Barn Summer Music Festival, the Janus 21 Ensemble Summer Series, the Composers' Forum of New York, the Society of Composers National Conference, and elsewhere.
Frazin's oratorio
Oratorio
An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
, The Voice of Isaac
Isaac
Isaac as described in the Hebrew Bible, was the only son Abraham had with his wife Sarah, and was the father of Jacob and Esau. Isaac was one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites...
, commissioned by PALS Children's Chorus, was premiered at Boston's Jordan Hall
Jordan Hall
Jordan Hall is a 1,019-seat concert hall in Boston, Massachusetts, the principal performance space of the New England Conservatory. It is one block from Boston's Symphony Hall, and together they are considered two of America's most acoustically perfect performance spaces...
in March 2003 and praised by the Boston Globe as "...clear in design and Brittenesque
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
in texture...ingeniously scored...(having an) almost unbearable poignancy."
In March 2007, Frazin's "Theme and Reverberations for Two Tubas and Orchestra" was premiered at Faneuil Hall, in Boston MA. It was performed by the Boston Classical Orchestra, under Steven Lipsitt. The Tuba soloists were Boston Symphony principal Mike Roylance and pediatrician/jazz musician Eli Newberger.
External links
- http://www.composersinredsneakers.org
- Howard Frazin as Boston Classical Orchestra's Featured Composer
- http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/letters/articles/2009/02/15/an_enduring_beacon_in_a_complex_world/