Sebastian Currier is an American
composerA composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
of music for chamber groups and
orchestraAn orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
s. He was also a professor of music at
Columbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
from 1999 to 2007.
Life
Currier was raised in Providence, RI, in a family of talented musicians, including his brother
Nathan Currier- Biography :Coming from a musical family, composer Nathan Kind Currier is son of composer Marilyn Currier and brother of composer Sebastian Currier ....
, also a noted composer. Sebastian Currier received degrees from the
Juilliard SchoolThe Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...
and
Manhattan School of MusicThe Manhattan School of Music is a major music conservatory located on the Upper West Side of New York City. The school offers degrees on the bachelors, masters, and doctoral levels in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition...
. His compositions include
Crossfade, written for two
harpThe harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
s, and
Microsymph, described as a "30-minute symphony compressed into 10 minutes."
In October 2005, members of the Berlin Philharmonic performed an entire evening of his works, including the premiere of
Remix.
Currier completed the orchestration of
Stephen AlbertStephen Albert was an American composer.-Biography:Born in New York City, Albert began his musical training on the piano, French horn, and trumpet as a youngster. He first studied composition at the age of 15 with Elie Siegmeister, and enrolled two years later at the Eastman School of Music, where...
's Symphony No. 2, half of which was unfinished at the time of Albert's death. It was subsequently recorded on
Naxos RecordsNaxos Records is a record label specializing in classical music. Through a number of imprints, Naxos also releases genres including Chinese music, jazz, world music, and early rock & roll. The company was founded in 1987 by Klaus Heymann, a German-born resident of Hong Kong.Naxos is the largest...
along with Albert's Symphony No. 1
Riverrun, which won a
Pulitzer PrizeThe Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
.
Violinist
Anne-Sophie MutterAnne-Sophie Mutter is a German violinist.- Early life :Mutter was born in Rheinfelden, Germany. She began playing the piano at age five, and shortly afterwards took up the violin, studying with Erna Honigberger, a pupil of Carl Flesch...
has recorded Currier's
Aftersong, which the composer dedicated to her. On June 2, 2011, she also premiered his "Time Machines" (composed in 2007 and reworked by the composer in 2011) with the Slovak Roman Patkoló playing the contrabasso and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by
Alan GilbertAlan David Gilbert AO, was a historian and academic administrator who was until June 2010 the President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Manchester....
. His Piano Concerto was premiered in April 2007 by
Emma TahmizianEmma Tahmizian is a Bulgarian pianist of Armenian descent living in the USA.She debuted at an international level at 11, representing Bulgaria at a concert series in Moscow. She has performed and recorded internationally regullarly since she won the 1977 Robert Schumann Competition...
.
Currier has received a
Grawemeyer Award for Music CompositionThe Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition is an annual prize instituted by H. Charles Grawemeyer, industrialist and entrepreneur, at the University of Louisville in 1984. The award was first given in 1985...
, for
Static, and a 2010 Distinguished Alumni Award from Manhattan School of Music.
Awards
- 2007 Grawemeyer Award
The Grawemeyer Awards are five awards given annually by the University of Louisville in the state of Kentucky, United States. The prizes are presented to individuals in the fields of education, ideas improving world order, music composition, religion, and psychology...
for Static for flute, clarinet, violin, 'cello, and piano. Static is the second Grawemeyer Award-winning piece that does not require a conductor (the other is György LigetiGyörgy Sándor Ligeti was a composer of contemporary classical music. Born in a Hungarian Jewish family in Transylvania, Romania, he briefly lived in Hungary before becoming an Austrian citizen.-Early life:...
's Piano Etudes, which won the award in 1986).
- 1992 Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
- American Academy of Arts
The American Academy of Arts is an independent, non-profit film school located in Escondido, California. It specializes in visual and digital media arts education and is staffed by working Hollywood and independent film professionals...
.
- 1994 Rome Prize
The Rome Prize is an American award made annually by the American Academy in Rome, through a national competition, to 15 emerging artists and to 15 scholars The Rome Prize is an American award made annually by the American Academy in Rome, through a national competition, to 15 emerging artists...
External links