About Aaron Jay Kernis, composer
One of today’s most frequently performed composers, Philadelphia native Aaron Jay Kernis is Astral Artists’ 2009-2011 composer-in-residence. Described as being full of variety, dynamic energy, lyric beauty, poetic imagery, and brilliant instrumental color, Mr. Kernis’s works are featured prominently on orchestral, chamber, and recital programs around the world. Winner of the coveted 2002 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition (for the cello and orchestra version of Colored Field, featured on Astral’s series in April 2010) and one of the youngest composers ever to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize (in 1998), he has been commissioned by many of America’s foremost performers, including sopranos Renée Fleming and Dawn Upshaw; violinists Joshua Bell, Pamela Frank, and Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg; and guitarist Sharon Isbin. Commissions have also come from the New York Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Walt Disney Company, the San Francisco and Singapore symphonies, Minnesota Orchestra, Lincoln Center’s Great Performers Series, American Public Radio, the Los Angeles and Saint Paul Chamber orchestras, and the Aspen Music Festival, among others. Recent commissions include a new work for James Conlon’s first season as the Ravinia Festival’s Music Director, a work for the BBC Proms, and a song cycle for the opening of the new San Francisco Conservatory. He has been composer-in-residence for the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota Public Radio, and American Composers Forum, and returned in the fall of 1998 as New Music Advisor to the Minnesota Orchestra, a position he retains to this day. As an educator, Mr. Kernis co-runs the Minnesota Orchestra’s Composer Institute for young composers, and teaches composition at Yale School of Music. His works have been recorded for the Nonesuch, New Albion, and Argo labels.
Aaron’s Works: 2009-2010 Season
Ballad(e) out of the Blues – Superstar Etude No. 3 – 10/4/09 Concert
Trio in Red – 1/31/10 Concert
Superstar Etude No. 1 – 2/21/10 Concert
Colored Field – 4/7/10 Concert
Aaron’s Works: 2010-2011 Season
String Quartet No. 2 (Pulitzer Prize-winning work) – 10/17/10 Concert
Simple Songs – 3/20/11 Concert
World première (This work was commissioned by Astral Artists with funding from the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage, through the Philadelphia Music Project) – 3/20/11 Concert
