Commissioned Composer Project Annually Since 1967
The project, which began in 1967 by Professor Emeritus Conrad De Jong, is the longest standing program of its kind within the United States, putting a national spotlight on the UW-RF Music Department. Every year, the student members of the Commissioned Composer Project select and commission a composer to write a piece of music for the student body, and arranges for that composer to come to the campus in the spring to interact with the students and take part in the premiere performance of that work.
Conrad De Jong is a highly acclaimed and accomplished composer of international renown. He has 30 published commissions to his credit and, since 1970, has received annual awards from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. In 1980 he was a featured composer at New Music America. His music has been performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., Town Hall in New York City, and on the Today Show. Internationally, his works have been performed in Canada, South America, Europe, Australia and Japan. One of his numerous commissions, Variations on the Spanish LaFolia, has been recorded by the Dorian Wind Quintet on its Summit Records CD, American Premiers.
As a teacher, he was especially proud of his students' work in composition and their performances with the University of Wisconsin-River Falls New Music Ensemble. He also takes great personal gratification from the establishment and continuation of the UW-RF Commissioned Composer Program.
46th Annual Commissioned Composer
April 3-5 2012
Cort Lippe
After studying Renaissance music in Italy for a year, Cort Lippe studied composition and computer music with Larry Austin in the USA. He also followed composition and analysis seminars with various composers including Boulez, Donatoni, K. Huber, Messiaen, Penderecki, Stockhausen, and Xenakis. From 1980-1983 he studied and worked in The Netherlands, at the Instituut voor Sonologie with G.M. Koenig and Paul Berg in the fields of computer and formalized music. From 1983-1994 he lived in France where he worked for three years at the Centre D'Etudes de Mathematique et Automatique Musicales (CEMAMu), founded by Iannis Xenakis, while following Xenakis' courses on acoustics and formalized music for two years at the University of Paris. Subsequently, he worked for nine years at the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM), founded by Pierre Boulez, where he gave courses on new technology in composition, and developed real-time computer music applications. His research includes almost 40 peer-reviewed publications on interactive music, granular sampling, score following, spectral processing, FFT-based spatial distribution/delay, acoustic instrument parameter mapping, and instrument design.
He has written for most major ensemble formations. Some of his commissions include the International Computer Music Association, the Sonic Arts Research Center (UK), the Festival El Callejon del Ruido (Mexico), the Dutch Ministry of Culture, and the Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie (Germany); and he has written for many internationally acclaimed soloists, including bassist Robert Black, percussionist Pedro Carneiro, tubist Mel Culberton, saxophonist Steven Duke, clarinetist Esther Lamneck, sho player Mayumi Miyata, harpist Masumi Nagasawa, tubist Melvyn Poore, pianist Yoshiko Shibuya, and bass clarinetist Harry Sparnaay. His compositions have received numerous international prizes, including first prizes from the Irino Competition (Japan), the Bourges Electroacoustic Music Competition (France), El Callejon Del Ruido Competition (Mexico), USA League-ISCM Competition (USA), and the Leonie Rothschild Competition (USA); second prize from the Music Today Competition (Japan); third prize from the Newcomp Competition (USA); and honorable mentions from the Prix Ars Electronica 1993 and 1995 (Austria), the Kennedy Center Friedheim Awards (USA), the Sonavera International Competition (USA), the Bourges Electracoustic Music Competition, and the Luigi Russolo Competition (Italy).
His music has been performed at over 100 major festivals worldwide, including the International Computer Music Conference, ISCM World Music Days, Gaudeamus (The Netherlands), the Music Today Festival (Tokyo), the Bourges Synthese Festival (France), the Huddersfield Festival (UK), and SARC's Sonorities Festival (UK). In addition, since 1993 Lippe has collaborated with the composers/researchers Miller Puckette and Zack Settel, performing as the Convolution Brothers at festivals worldwide. His works are recorded on more than thirty CDs, including ADDA, ALM, Apollon, Big Orbit, CBS-Sony, CDCM, CDE Music, Centaur, Classico, CMJ Recordings, EMF, Hungaroton Classic, Harmonia Mundi, ICMC2000, ICMC2003, IKG Editions, Innova, MIT Press, Neuma, Salabert, SEAMUS, Sirr, SMC07 and Wergo.
As a teacher, Lippe has given over 100 presentations and guest lectures around the world, and was a visiting professor at the Sonology Department of Kunitachi College of Music, Tokyo (1992, 1999-2007, and 2010), the Carol Nielsen Conservatory of Music, Odense, Denmark (1999-2001), New York University (2007), and as a recipient of a Fullbright Award in 2009, he spent six months teaching and doing research at the National and Kapodistiran University of Athens, Greece. Since 1994, he has taught in the Department of Music of the University at Buffalo, New York, where he is an associate professor of composition and director of the Lejaren Hiller Computer Music Studios.
A Complete curriculum vitae may be found here.
46 Years of Commissioned Composers
2012 Cort Lippe
2011 Conrad DeJong ~ EARTHSONGS II
2010 Michael Colgrass ~ ZULULAND
2009 Julia Wolfe ~ GUARD MY TONGUE
2008 Mark Melllits ~ PRIME
2007 Lars Jansson ~ RIVER FALLS SUITE
2006 John Luther Adams ~ ...AND BELLS REMEMBERED...
2005 Stephen Paulus ~ JUBILATE!
2004 Michael Torke ~ FOUR WHEEL DRIVE
2003 Christian Wolff ~ PEACE MARCH 9
2002 Anthony Braxton ~ COMPOSITION NO. 307
2001 Pauline Oliveros ~ SOUND PATTERNS AND TROPES
2000 Jared Spears ~ LEGACY
1999 Judith Lang Zaimont ~ PARALLEL PLAY
1998 Fred Sturm ~ RIVERSCAPE
1997 Joseph Turrin ~ SOUNDINGS
1996 Conrad De Jong ~ EARTH SONGS
1995 Jennifer Higdon ~ WILD MAN DANCES
1994 David Revill ~ ORENDA
1993 James Fritschel ~ COME LET US SOUND WITH MELODY
1992 Lois V. Vierk ~ PLAIN OF SIX GLACIERS
1991 Mary Ellen Childs ~ IN EACH OTHER'S PRESENCE
1990 Joel Chadabe ~ JAM
1989 John Zorn ~ RUAN LINQYU
1988 Libby Larson ~ BAC
1987 Morton Feldman ~ FOR STEFAN WOLPE
1986 Harold Budd ~ ODD ANTHEMS AND STILL ROOMS
1985 Irwin Bazelon ~ FOURSCORE
1984 Fisher Tull ~ QUODLIBET
1983 Frederic Rzewski ~ SATYRICA
1982 Sydney Hodkinson ~ ALTE LIEBESLIEDER (Book III)
1981 Stephan Chatman ~ SCREAMS AND WHIMPERS
1980 Edwin London ~ PSALM OF THESE DAYS V
1979 Barbara Kolb ~ CHROMATIC FANTASY
1978 Richard Felciano ~ THE SEASONS
1977 John Cage ~ QUARTET
1976 Leslie Bassett ~ WIND MUSIC
1975 Henry Brant ~ A PLAN OF THE AIR
1974 William Albright ~ INTRODUCTION, PASSACAGLIA, AND RONDO CAPRICCIOSO
1973 Stephen Chambers ~ SKETCHY BLUE BOP AND TONE PRAYERS
1972 Mel Powell ~ SETTING
1971 Barney Childs ~ WHEN LILACS LAST IN THE DOORYARD BLOOM'D
1970 Ross Lee Finney ~ THE REMORSELESS RUSH OF TIME
1969 Chou Wen-Chung ~ YUN
1968 Donald Erb ~ THREE PIECES
1967 Vincent Persichetti ~ CELEBRATION
