Bio

Morris Rosenzweig was born October 1, 1952 in New Orleans, where he grew up among the tailors, merchants, and strong-willed women of an extended family which has lived in southern Louisiana since the mid 1890s.

His works have been widely presented throughout the United States, as well as in Denmark, Sweden, Holland, France, Germany, Japan, Argentina, Mexico and Israel. Among the noted ensembles who have brought these works to life are Speculum Musicae, "Piano and Percussion", the Leonardo Trio, the Abramyan Quartet, the Chamber Players of the League-ISCM, EARPLAY, Philippe Entremont with the New Orleans Symphony, and Joseph Silverstein with the Utah Symphony. An impressive list of wonderful recitalists have often included his works on their programs, and he has been frequently commissioned to compose works specifically for them.

His recorded compositions are available on Albany Records, Centaur 2103, CRI 705, and CRI 787.

Rosenzweig’s catalog of over 50 entries features works for orchestra, various chamber ensembles, compositions for live instruments and electronics, two song cycles, two piano cycles, solo pieces, and one opera.

Mr. Rosenzweig has received honors from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation for a residency at Bellagio, an Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a commission from the Koussevitzky Foundation in the Library of Congress, a commission the Fromm Foundation at Harvard University, and the support from the Alice M. Ditson Fund for two recording projects; He has also been awarded the McCurdy, Nietche, Rappoport, and the International Horn Society prizes in composition.

The University of Utah named him University Professor in 1999, and additionally honored him with a Distinguished Scholarly and Creative Research Award in 2003.

Recent New York premieres include "trace" for two pianos and two percussion, played by Speculum at Merkin Hall in January 2004, and "through" for chamber orchestra performed by the Stony Brook Contemporary Chamber Players at New York’s Engelman Hall in October 2003. The New York Music Ensemble has recently commissioned a new work from him which will be given multiple performances during the 2005-2006 season. Mezzo-soprano Lani Poulson and pianist Susan Wenckus recorded his new 40-minute song cycle "A Certain Round of Events" in August 2003, which is slated for upcoming release. A new work for violin and tape "Partita Intrecciata" has been given multiple international performances by Bodil Rørbech and has been performed many times and recorded by Gerald Elias. The Utah Symphony horn section premiered his horn quartet "A Table of the Most Used Chords" in July 2004, a work commissioned by the Intermezzo Chamber Music Series. In February 2001 the group "Piano and Percussion" premiered his two-piano, two-percussion composition in Stuttgart on the Eclat Festival. The same group recorded that work in March 2002. The group "Timetable" also performed "trace" in March 2004 at the Staller Center for the Performing Arts, Stony Brook, New York.

Mr. Rosenzweig is an active conductor and coach, and has worked for many years with the Chamber Players of the League-ISCM in New York and the Canyonlands Ensemble in Utah.

Presently Professor of Music at the University of Utah -- where he teaches composition, theory, contemporary performance practice, and directs the Maurice Abravanel Visiting Distinguished Composers Series -- he has formerly held positions at Queens College and New York University. A frequently-invited speaker, he has given colloquia at Harvard, Columbia, Brandeis, Stony Brook, and Christopher Newport University, among others, and served as Guest Composer at the Composers Conference at Wellesley.

He was educated at the Eastman School of Music, the University of Pennsylvania, and Columbia University. Morris Rosenzweig lives in Salt Lake City with his wife Mary Jane, and sons Jacob and Max.