John Harbison

John Harris Harbison (born December 20, 1938) is an American composer and academic.

Life John Harris Harbison was born on December 20, 1938, in Orange, New Jersey, to the historian Elmore Harris Harbison and Janet German Harbison. The Harbisons were a musical family; Elmore had studied composition in his youth and Janet wrote songs. Harbison's sisters Helen and Margaret were musicians as well. He won the prestigious BMI Foundation's Student Composer Awards for composition at the age of 16 in 1954. He studied music at Harvard University (BA 1960), where he sang with the Harvard Glee Club, and later at the Berlin Musikhochschule and at Princeton (MFA 1963). He is an Institute Professor of music at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a former student of Walter Piston and Roger Sessions. His works include several symphonies, string quartets, and concerti for violin, viola, and double bass.

Harbison won the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1987 for The Flight into Egypt, and in 1989 he received a $305,000 MacArthur Fellowship. In 1998, he received the 4th annual Heinz Award in the Arts and Humanities. He was awarded the Harvard Arts Medal in 2000. In 2006, a recording of his Mottetti di Montale was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Small Ensemble Performance category.

The Metropolitan Opera commissioned Harbison's The Great Gatsby to celebrate James Levine's 25th anniversary with the company. The opera premiered on December 20, 1999, conducted by Levine, with Jerry Hadley, Dawn Upshaw, Susan Graham, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Mark Baker, Dwayne Croft, and Richard Paul Fink among the cast.

In 1991, Harbison was the music director of the Ojai Music Festival in conjunction with Peter Maxwell Davies. He has served as principal guest conductor for Emmanuel Music in Boston. After founding director Craig Smith's death in 2007, Harbison was named acting artistic director. Harbison and his wife, Rose Mary Harbison, a violinist, ran the Token Creek Chamber Music Festival from 1989 to 2022.

Partial discography Mirabai Songs / Variations (1987). Northeastern Records NR 230-CD. Performed by Janice Felty, mezzo-soprano, Collage New Music Ensemble, conducted by John Harbison — Rose Mary Harbison, violin; David Satz, clarinet; Ursula Oppens, piano. Tracks 1-6: Mirabai Songs, text from Mirabai Versions by Robert Bly. Tracks 7-10: Variations, for violin, clarinet, and piano. Track listing: I. It's True, I Went to the Market II. All I Was Doing Was Breathing III. Why Mira Can't Go Back to Her Old House IV. Where Did You Go? V. The Clouds VI. Don't Go, Don't Go Variations i–v Variations vi–x Variations xi–xv Finale and Epilogue The Flight into Egypt and other works by John Harbison (1990). New World Records 80395-2. Performed by The Cantata Singers and Ensemble, The Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group, and The Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. Conducted by David Hoose, John Harbison, and André Previn. Tracks: The Flight into Egypt, text from the King James translation of the story of the Flight into Egypt in the Gospel of Matthew The Natural World: Prelude Where We Must Look for Help, text from Robert Bly On the Road Home, text from Wallace Stevens Milkweed, text from James Wright Concerto for Double Brass Choir and Orchestra: I. Invention on a Motif: Tempo giusto II. Invention on a Chord: Cantabile III. Invention on a Cadence: Molto allegro At First Light (1998). Archetype Records 60106. Performed by Lorraine Hunt, mezzo-soprano, Dawn Upshaw, soprano, Greenleaf Chamber Players, and Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Scott Yoo. Tracks: Due Libri dei Mottetti di Montale Snow Country Chorale Cantata Concerto for Oboe, Clarinet, and Strings John Harbison: Ulysses' Bow / Samuel Chapter (2004). First Edition ASIN: B0002RQ35C. Tracks: Ulysses' Bow ballet performed by Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and conducted by André Previn Samuel Chapter performed by Susan Larson (soprano) and conducted by John Harbison The Reawakening, String Quartet No. 3, Fantasia on a Ground, Thanks Victor (2001). Musica Omnia om0110. Lydian String Quartet, Dominique Labelle, soprano. World Premiere Recordings: Violin Concerto, Recordare, Seven Motets (1997). Koch 3-7310-2-H1. Emmanuel Music, Craig Smith, conductor, Rose-Mary Harbison, violin. Sessions: Symphony No. 2; Harbison: Symphony No. 2, Oboe Concerto (1994). London 443 376-2. San Francisco Symphony, Herbert Blomstedt, conductor, William Bennet, oboe. String Quartet No.1/String Quartet No. 2/November 19, 1828 (1992). Lydian String Quartet, Yehudi Wyner, piano. Simple Daylight/Words from Patterson/Piano Quintet, (1999). Electra Nonesuch 79189-2. Boston Symphony Chamber Players, Gilbert Kalish, piano, Sanford Sylvan, baritone, Dawn Upshaw, soprano. Four Psalms/Emerson (2004). New World Records 80613-2. Cantata Singers and Ensemble, David Hoose, conductor. Mottetti di Montale (2005). Koch KIC-CD-7545. Collage New Music; David Hoose, music director; Janice Felty and Margaret Lattimore, mezzo-sopranos. Four Songs of Solitude/Variations/Twilight Music (2003) Naxos. Daniel Blumenthal, Jannine Jansen, Lars Wouters van der Oudenweijer, Bernhard Krug, Spectrum Concerts Berlin.

Works

Operas Full Moon in March (1977) – chamber opera Winter's Tale (1979) – based on the play by William Shakespeare The Great Gatsby (1999) – based on the 1925 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera

Ballet Ulysses (1983)

Orchestral Incidental Music from The Merchant of Venice (1971), for string orchestra Elegiac Songs (1974), for mezzo-soprano and chamber orchestra commissioned by the Fromm Music Foundation Diotima (1976) commissioned by the Koussevitzky Music Foundation in the Library of Congress Piano Concerto (1978), for piano and chamber orchestra commissioned by the American Composers Orchestra for Robert Miller Snow Country (1979), for oboe and string orchestra commissioned by Dr. Maurice Pechet, New England arts patron Violin Concerto (1978–80), for violin and chamber orchestra

written for Rose Mary Harbison Symphony No. 1 (1981) commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra Concerto for Oboe, Clarinet and String Orchestra (1985) commissioned by the National Endowment of the Arts for the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, the International Chamber Soloists, the Wall Street Chamber Players, the Philadelphia College of Performing Arts, the Carnegie-Mellon University and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Remembering Gatsby (1985) commissioned by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Symphony No. 2 (1987) commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony in celebration of the orchestra's seventy-fifth anniversary season Concerto for Double Brass Choir and Orchestra (1988), for twelve brass soli and chamber orchestra commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Viola Concerto (1988), for viola and orchestra commissioned by the New Jersey Symphony Symphony No. 3 (1990) commissioned by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra David's Fascinating Rhythm Method (1991), for chamber orchestra commissioned by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Three City Blocks (1991) , for concert band commissioned by the concert bands of the New England Conservatory, University of Cincinnati, Florida State University, U.S. Air Force, Ohio State University, University of Michigan and University of Southern California. Oboe Concerto (1991), for oboe and orchestra commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony Cello Concerto (1993), for cello and orchestra commissioned by Yo-Yo Ma and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra The Most Often Used Chords (1993), for chamber orchestra commissioned by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Flute Concerto (1994), for flute and orchestra commissioned by Ransom Wilson and the American Composers Orchestra Olympic Dances (1996), for concert band commissioned by the College Band Directors National Association Partita (2001) commissioned by the Minnesota Orchestra Symphony No. 4 (2003) commissioned by the Seattle Symphony Crane Sightings (2004), for violin and string orchestra written for Rose Mary Harbison, the composer's wife Darkbloom: Overture for an Imagined Opera (2004) commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra Canonical American Songbook (2005) commissioned by the Albany Symphony Orchestra Concerto for Bass Viol (2005), for double bass and chamber orchestra commissioned by the International Society of Bassists Milosz Songs (2006), for soprano and orchestra commissioned by the New York Philharmonic for Dawn Upshaw Rubies (after Thelonius Monk's "Ruby, My Dear") (2006) commissioned by Gerard Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony The Great Gatsby – Suite (2007) commissioned by the Aspen Music Festival and School Symphony No. 5 (2007), for mezzo-soprano, baritone soli and orchestra commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra Mary Lou (Four Symphonic Memories of Mary Lou Williams) (2008) commissioned by the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Double Concerto for Violin and Cello (2009), for violin, cello and orchestra commissioned by the Friends of the Dresden Music Foundation for the Boston Symphony Orchestra Closer to My Own Life (2011), for mezzo-soprano and chamber orchestra Symphony No. 6 (2011), for mezzo-soprano and orchestra commissioned by James Levine and the Boston Symphony Orchestra Crossroads (2012), for soprano/mezzo-soprano, oboe and string orchestra or oboe, two violins, viola, cello and double bass Koussevitzky Said (2012), for S.A.T.B. choir and orchestra What Do We Make of Bach? (2018), for organ obbligato and orchestra commissioned by Minnesota Orchestra, Seattle Symphony and Northrop at the University of Minnesota

Choral In Spiritu: Prayer (1955), for a cappella male-voice choir Ave Maria (1959), for a cappella S.S.A.A. choir He Shall Not Cry (1959), for S.A. choir and organ Five Songs of Experience (1971), for S.A.T.B. choir, two percussion and string quartet commissioned by the Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Boston for the Cantata Singers Music When Soft Voices Die (1966), for S.A.T.B. choir and harpsichord or organ commissioned by the Cantata Singers Nunc Dimittis (1975), for T.B. choir and piano commissioned by the Harvard Glee Club The Flower-Fed Buffaloes (1976), for baritone solo, S.S.A.T.B.B. choir and instrumental ensemble commissioned by the New York State Bar Association The Flight into Egypt (1986), for soprano, baritone soli, S.A.T.B. choir and chamber orchestra commissioned by the Cantata Singers Two Emmanuel Motets (1990), for a cappella S.A.T.B. choir commissioned by the Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Boston Ave Verum Corpus (1991), for a cappella S.S.A.T.B. choir commissioned by the Emmanuel Choir, Boston and the Ojai Festival O Magnum Mysterium (1991/92), for a cappella S.A.T.B. choir commissioned by Saturday Evening Brass Veni Creator Spiritus (1992), for a cappella T.B. choir commissioned by the Rosalind Denny Lewis Music Library at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Communion Words (1994), for a cappella S.A.T.B. choir Concerning Them Which Are Asleep (1994), for a cappella S.S.A.T.B.B. choir Emerson (1995), a cappella S.A.T.B. double choir commissioned by the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Music for their 100th anniversary (1995) Juste Judex (1995), for mezzo-soprano, baritone soli, S.A.T.B. choir and orchestra commissioned as part of the Requiem of Reconciliation Evening (Der Abend) (1997), for a cappella S.A.T.B. double choir Four Psalms (1998), for S.A.T.B. soli, S.A.T.B. choir and orchestra commissioned by the Israeli Consulate for the Chicago Symphony Psalm 137 (1998), for a cappella S.A.T.B. choir Requiem (1985–2002), for S.A.T.B. soli, S.A.T.B. choir and orchestra commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra We do not live to ourselves (2002), for a cappella S.A.T.B. choir Abraham (2004), for double S.A.T.B. choir and two large brass choirs commissioned for the Papal Concert of Reconciliation in Rome for the Ankara Polyphonic Choir, London Philharmonic Choir, Krakow Philharmonic Choir and musicians from the Pittsburgh Symphony Charity Never Faileth (2004), for a cappella S.A.T.B. choir Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled (2004), for a cappella S.A.T.B. choir My Little Children, Let Us Not Love in Word (2004), for a cappella S.A.T.B. choir commissioned by the Cantata Singers But Mary Stood (2005), for soprano solo, choir and string orchestra commissioned by the Cantata Singers Umbrian Landscape with Saint (2005), for optional choir and chamber ensemble commissioned by the Chicago Chamber Musicians A Clear Midnight (2007), for T.T.B.B. choir and five strings commissioned by the Georgina Joshi Foundation for Indiana University and the Pro Arte Singers Madrigal (2007), for a cappella S.A.T.B.B. choir commissioned by the New York Virtuoso Singers The Pool (2010), for S.A.T.B. choir and piano Koussevitzky Said: Choral Scherzo with Orchestra (2012), for S.A.T.B. choir and orchestra: commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the Tanglewood Music Festival The Supper at Emmaus (2013), for S.A.T.B. choir, two oboes, bassoon, organ and string orchestra Never Time (2015), for jazz choir and jazz band Psalm 116 (2016), for a cappella S.S.S.A.A.A.T.T.T.B.B.B. choir commissioned by Chanticleer

Chamber Andante con moto (1955), for cello and piano Duo (1961), for flute and piano Canzonetta (1962), for bassoon quartet Confinement (1965), for twelve players written for the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble and Arthur Weisberg Four Preludes from "December Music" (1967), for flexible instrumentation: 3 instruments – flute, violin, oboe, clarinet Serenade (1968), for flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, violin, viola and cello Piano Trio (1969), for violin, cello and piano Bermuda Triangle (1970), for tenor saxophone, electric organ and amplified cello commissioned by the New York Camerata Die Kurze (1970), for flute, clarinet, piano, violin and cello commissioned by the New York Composer's Forum Snow Country (1979), for oboe and string quintet commissioned by Dr. Maurice Pechet Wind Quintet (1979), for flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon commissioned by the Naumburg Foundation Due Libri (1980), for mezzo-soprano and nine players commissioned by the New York Philomusica and Robert Levin Mottetti di Montale (1980), for mezzo-soprano and nine players or piano commissioned by New York Philomusica, the University of Oregon and Collage Organum for Paul Fromm (1981), for glockenspiel, marimba, vibraphone, harpsichord and piano commissioned by the University of Chicago Piano Quintet (1981), for two violins, viola, cello and piano commissioned by the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival Exequien for Calvin Simmons (1982), for seven players Overture: Michael Kohlhaas (1982), for twelve brass Variations (1982), for clarinet, violin and piano commissioned by Frank Taplin for the Token Creek Festival, Wisconsin String Quartet No. 1 (1985), for two violins, viola and cello commissioned by the Cleveland Quartet Twilight Music (1985), for horn, violin and piano commissioned by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Fanfare for Foley's (1986), for twelve brass and two percussion Music for Eighteen Winds (1986) commissioned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology String Quartet No. 2 (1987), for two violins, viola and cello Two Chorale Preludes for Advent (from "Christmas Vespers") (1987), for brass quintet Fantasy-Duo (1988), for violin and piano commissioned by the McKim Fund in the Library of Congress for David Abel and Julie Steinberg Little Fantasy on "The Twelve Days of Christmas" (1988), for brass quintet November 19, 1828: Hallucination in Four Episodes for Piano and String Trio (1988), for violin, viola, cello and piano commissioned by the National Endowment for the Arts for the Atlanta Chamber Players, the Da Capo Chamber Players and Voices of Change Fanfares and Reflection (1990), for two violins commissioned by Token Creek Festival Fourteen Fabled Folksongs (1992), for violin and marimba Prelude (1993), for cello and piano String Quartet No. 3 (1993), for two violins, viola and cello San Antonio (1994), for alto saxophone and piano Thanks Victor (1994), for string quartet commissioned by the Lydian Quartet Trio Sonata (1994), for three clarinets or three saxophones or oboe, cor Anglais and bassoon or string trio Fanfare for a Free Man (1997), for three oboes and three bassoons La Primavera di Sottoripa (1998), for mezzo-soprano and nine players commissioned by the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival North and South (2000), for soprano/mezzo-soprano and seven players String Quartet No. 5 (2011), for two violins, viola and cello written in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Pro Arte Quartet Crossroads (2012), for soprano or mezzo-soprano, oboe, two violins, viola, cello and double bass or oboe and string orchestra Invention on a Theme of William Shakespeare (2012), for solo cello, two violins, viola and double bass The Right to Pleasure (2013), for mezzo-soprano, two violins, viola, cello and double bass or piano String Trio (2013), for violin, viola and cello commissioned by Camerata Pacifica audience members The Cross of Snow (2015), for countertenor and four violas da gamba or two violins, viola and cello commissioned by William John Wartmann in memory of Joyce Frances Wartmann Presences (2015), for cello solo, two violins, viola, cello and double bass commissioned by Charles Felsenthal in memory of David Anderson Mark the Date (2016), for flute and piano commissioned by Asadour Santourian The Nine Rasas (2016), for clarinet, viola and piano String Quartet No. 6 (2016), for two violins, viola and cello commissioned by the Lark Quartet, Telegraph Quartet and Tanglewood Music Center IF (monodrama for soprano and ensemble) (2017), for soprano and eight players commissioned by Boston Musica Viva for the 50th anniversary of Boston Musica Viva, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Sonata for Viola and Piano (2018), for viola and piano commissioned anonymously in honor of John Harbison's 80th birthday

Vocal Autumnal (1964), for alto and piano Cantata III (1968), for soprano, two violins, viola and cello Moments of Vision (1975), for soprano and tenor doubling handbells, alto recorder/sopranino recorder/bass recorder/alto krumhorn, lute/hurdy-gurdy/dulcimer and gamba Samuel Chapter (1978), for high voice (woman or boy) and six players Due Libri (1980), for mezzo-soprano and nine players commissioned by the New York Philomusica and Robert Levin Mottetti di Montale (1980), for mezzo-soprano and nine players or piano commissioned by New York Philomusica, the University of Oregon and Collage Mirabai Songs (1982), for soprano/mezzo-soprano and eight players or piano The Rewaking (1991), for soprano and string quartet (text of William Carlos Williams) December 1 (1995), for mezzo-soprano and chamber orchestra La Primavera di Sottoripa (1998), for mezzo-soprano and nine players commissioned by the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival Il Saliscendi Bianco (1999), for mezzo-soprano and nine players commissioned by Collage North and South (2000), for soprano/mezzo-soprano and seven players written for Lorraine Hunt Lieberson Ain't Goin' to Study War No More (2003), for baritone, two trumpets, snare drum and string orchestra Milosz Songs (2006), for soprano and orchestra Closer to My Own Life (2011), for mezzo-soprano and chamber orchestra Crossroads (2012), for soprano or mezzo-soprano, oboe, two violins, viola, cello and double bass or oboe and string orchestra commissioned by the New York Philharmonic for Dawn Upshaw Seven Poems of Lorine Niedecker (2015), for soprano and piano composed in honor of the Tanglewood Music Center's 75th anniversary IF (monodrama for soprano and ensemble) (2017), for soprano and eight players commissioned by Boston Musica Viva in honor of the 50th Anniversary of Boston Musica Viva, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Solo Sonata for Viola Alone (1961) Amazing Grace (1972), for oboe commissioned by oboist Philip West Four Occasional Pieces (1978), for piano written for André Previn, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and in memory of John Boros, respectively Parody-Fantasia (1980), for piano adapted from December Music Four Songs of Solitude (1985), for violin A Violist's Notebook, Book 1 (1998–2000), for viola Sonata No. 2 (2001), for piano commissioned by G. Schirmer Associated Music for Robert Levin, to whom the work is dedicated A Violist's Notebook, Book 2 (2002), for viola Montale Sketches (2002), for piano after three poems by Eugenio Montale Ten Micro-Waltzes (2004), for piano Leonard Stein Anagrams (2009) written for Leonard Stein For Violin Alone (2014), for violin commissioned by 92nd Street Y Painting the Flowers Blue (2015), for violin A Bag of Tails (2016), for piano Nocturne (2018), for piano commissioned in honor of Linda Reichert’s tenure as Artistic Director of Network for New Music Passage (2019), for piano Suite for Solo Violin, on soggetti cavati (2019), for violin