Michael Rosenzweig (composer)

This article is about the composer. For the ecologist, see Michael Rosenzweig. For the rabbi, see Michael Rosensweig.

Michael Rosenzweig, born 1951 in Oranjezicht (now City Bowl), a district of Cape Town, is a South African composer, conductor and jazz musician.

Education

Studied composition with Donald Martino at New England Conservatory of Music and on Columbia University’s doctoral programme with Chou Wen-chung, Jack Beeson, and Patricia Carpenter (Theorist Carpenter was Arnold Schoenberg’s assistant at UCLA for the last 12 years of his life). He also studied theory with Patricia Carpenter and George Perle.

He studied choral conducting with Fritz Weisse of the Berliner Konzert-chor, where he was the assistant and the Musical Director of the Youth choir, whose Philharmonie debut he conducted. He also studied orchestral conducting with Lawrence Leonard and with Emanuel Hurwitz, whom he saw regularly for analysis and coaching for several years until his death in November 2006.

Conducting

While assistant at the Berliner Konzertchor, he conducted the Blacher Ensemble, the new music ensemble from the Berlin Hochschule der Kunste in their international venue debut,^{[citation needed]} as well as other orchestras and ensembles in major venues and festivals, performing both standard repertoire and contemporary music, including several premieres.

In the UK he has conducted the ECO, the City of London Sinfonia featuring Gervase de Peyer as soloist, the London Strings (at St James’s Piccadilly) with Yonty Solomon, and Buckingham and District Music Society as well as performances of contemporary works by several composers.

In Central and Eastern Europe he has conducted the Moravian Philharmonic,^[1] the Slovak State Philharmonic, Sudety Philharmonic in Wałbrzych,^[2] Poland, the State Philharmonic of Iaşi^[3] and Vidin State Philharmonic among others. He has also conducted the Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra. Included have been performances, premieres and recordings of a wide range of contemporary music.

He conducted the European premiere of Gervase de Peyer’s new realization of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto and has also worked with Neil Black as soloist. Michael Rosenzweig is the Principal Guest Conductor of the Vidin State Philharmonic, in Vidin, Bulgaria.^{[citation needed]}

Composition

His awards for composition include the Greater London Arts Council Young Composer's Award and the Gaudeamus Foundation. He held the Artists-in-Berlin Programme of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) fellowship for music in 1990.^[4]

Works have been commissioned by the BBC, the London Sinfonietta,^[5] the Divertimenti String Ensemble, Nina Beilina.

Rosenzweig's String Quartet No. 2 (1989) was commissioned by the BBC and first performed and broadcast by the Arditti Quartet.^[6]

Works list - partial

Commissioned works

• Chamber Orchestra
  • Sinfonietta 1^[7]
  • Sinfonietta 2
• String Orchestra
  • Elegy - for 13 solo strings^[8][9]
  • Concerto for String Orchestra^[10]
  • Fugue '97
• Chamber Ensemble
  • String Octet
• Quartet
  • Piano Quartet
  • String Quartet 2
• Trio
  • Trio for Oboe, Oboe d'Amore and Cor Anglais - GLA Young Composer Award
  • Piano Trio - GLA Young Composer Award
• Duo
• Duo for Clarinet and Piano
• Duo for Violin and Piano^[10]
  • Song Cycle for High Voice and Piano
• Solo
  • Solo for Flute^[7]
  • Solo for Bass Clarinet^[7]
  • Solo for Multipercussion^[10]
  • Solo for Vibraphone^[10]
  • Solo for Soprano Saxophone

Other works

• Orchestra
  • Symphony in One Movement - Vaughan Williams Trust Competition & Gaudeamus Award^[11][12]
• Choir
  • Chorale - SATB
• Quartet
  • String Quartet 1 - U Mass Bay Harbor Competition, GLA Young Composer Award
• Solo'
  • Solo for Bass Clarinet

References

1. ^ Moravian Philharmonic
2. ^ Sudety Philharmonic in Wałbrzych
3. ^ State Philharmonic of Iaşi
4. ^ Berliner Künstler-programm - Rosenzweig, Michael - Great Britain - Music - 1990
5. ^ DAVID C.H. WRIGHT (2005). The London Sinfonietta 1968–2004: A Perspective. twentieth-century music, 2 , pp 109-136 doi:10.1017/S1478572205000216 - http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?aid=359829
6. ^ Pre-Hear, BBC, 3 January 2009
7. ^ ^{a b c} Paul Griffiths, "Concerts: Festival Hall", The Times 3/25/1986
8. ^ Meirion Bowen, The Guardian 2/22/1982
9. ^ Hampstead and Highgate Express 2/26/1982
10. ^ ^{a b c d} Wilfrid Mellers and Martin Dreyer, Music New and Old: Two Festivals Considered, The Musical Times, Vol. 127, No. 1722 (Sep., 1986), p. 495 http://www.jstor.org/stable/964592
11. ^ Michael Kennedy, The Daily Telegraph 11/25/1985
12. ^ Bryan Northcott, The Sunday Telegraph 12/1/1985

External links

• Tchaikovsky Symphony No.5 Pt 1 Vidin Phil/Michael Rosenzweig
• Home Page

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Name	Rosenzweig, Michael
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Date of birth	1951
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