Conrad Susa

born on 26/4/1935 in Springfield, PA, United States

died on 21/11/2013

Conrad Susa

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Conrad Stephen Susa (April 26, 1935 November 21, 2013[1]) was an American composer, particularly known for his operas.[2] His 1973 chamber opera, Transformations, set to texts from the poems of Anne Sexton, is one of the most frequently performed operas by an American composer and was one of the featured operas of the 2006 Wexford Opera Festival.[3][4] His other compositions include choral works and incidental music for various plays. His music is published by the E.C. Schirmer Music Company.[5]

Susa was born in Springdale, Pennsylvania and educated at Carnegie Institute of Technology and the Juilliard School, where his teachers included William Bergsma, Vincent Persichetti and, by his own claim, P. D. Q. Bach, a character created by American composer Peter Schickele.[5] In 1988 he joined the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where he served as Chair of the Composition Department.[6]

Selected works

Operas

  • Transformations (1973)
  • Black River (1975, revised 1981)
  • The Love of Don Perlimplin (1984)
  • The Wise Women (1994)
  • The Dangerous Liaisons (1994, revised 1996-97)

Other works

  • Hymns for the Amusement of Children (1972)
  • Carols and Lullabies: Christmas in the Southwest (1992)

References

  1. http://www.artsjournal.com/slippeddisc/2013/11/death-of-an-american-opera-composer.html
  2. Adams, Byron. ""Susa, Conrad (Stephen)"", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed 6 June 2010), grovemusic.com (subscription access).
  3. Hall, George, Review: Transformations, The Stage, 30 October 2006 (accessed 6 June 2010)
  4. Adams, Byron. "Susa, Conrad (1935) in Gay Histories and Cultures: An Encyclopedia. London: Taylor & Francis, 2000, p. 851. ISBN 0-8153-1880-4
  5. 5.0 5.1 E.C. Schirmer Music Company, Composer biography: Conrad Susa (accessed 6 June 2010)
  6. San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Faculty biography: Conrad Susa (accessed 6 June 2010)

External links

This page was last modified 11.01.2014 18:30:40

This article uses material from the article Conrad Susa from the free encyclopedia Wikipedia and it is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.