CCS Guest Composer Donald Crockett
STRING QUARTETS
A presentation on his string quartets and his personal history with quartets.
Monday, May 15
11 AM - 12:45 PM
Old Little Theater 160B
Los Angeles-based composer and conductor Donald Crockett has received commissions from a wide spectrum of organizations including the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (Composer-in-Residence, 1991 – 97), Kronos Quartet, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Hilliard Ensemble, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Xtet, the San Francisco-based chamber chorus, Volti, the Guitar Foundation of America, and the University of Southern California for its 125th anniversary, among many others. Featured projects include an all-Crockett orchestral disc released in May, 2015 by Boston Modern Orchestra Project on BMOP/sound, commissions from New Music USA for SAKURA cello quintet, Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival and Oberlin Conservatory for And the River, a concerto for duo pianists and chamber orchestra, Aspen and Oberlin for his Violin Concerto, the Harvard Musical Association for violist Kate Vincent and Firebird Ensemble, Boston Modern Orchestra Project and JFNMC for his Viola Concerto, a chamber opera, The Face, based on a novella in verse by poet David St. John, a consortium commission from twenty-two college and university wind ensembles for his Dance Concerto for Clarinet/Bass Clarinet and Wind Ensemble, and commissions for new string quartets from the Dilijan Chamber Music Series in Los Angeles and the Caramoor Festival in New York.
The recipient of an Arts and Letters Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters for outstanding artistic achievement, as well as a Guggenheim Fellowship, Donald Crockett has also received grants and prizes from the Barlow Endowment, Bogliasco Foundation, Copland Fund, Copland House, Kennedy Center Friedheim Awards, Meet the Composer, the National Endowment for the Arts, New Music USA and many others. His music is published by Keiser Classical and Doberman/Yppan and recorded on the Albany, BMOP Sound, CRI, Doberman/Yppan, ECM, Innova, Laurel, New World, Orion and Pro Arte/Fanfare labels.
A frequent guest conductor with new music ensembles nationally, Donald Crockett has been very active over the years as a composer and conductor with the venerable and famed Monday Evening Concerts in Los Angeles, the Jacaranda concert series in Santa Monica and most recently the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Composer Fellowship Program. In 2023, he will return for his seventh season leading the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble (ACE) for the opening weeks at the Aspen Music Festival. As conductor of the USC Thornton Symphony’s annual New Music for Orchestra series, Donald Crockett has premiered over 150 new orchestral works by outstanding Thornton student composers. His recordings as a conductor can be found on the Albany, CRI, Doberman/Yppan, ECM and New World labels.
Deeply committed to education, Donald Crockett is Professor and Chair of the Composition Program and Director of Thornton Edge new music ensemble at the USC Thornton School of Music, as well as Senior Composer-in-Residence with the Chamber Music Conference and Composers’ Forum of the East.