Evan Hause (born 1967) is an American composer,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

ist and

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Music * Conductor (music), a person who leads a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra. * ''Conductor'' (album), an album by indie rock band The Comas * Conduction, a type of structured free improvisation ...

. Hause has composed over one hundred works ranging from rock music to opera.

Biography and career

After growing up in Greenville,

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia a ...

, he earned the Doctor of Music Arts and Master of Music degrees in composition from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

, and the Bachelor of Music degree from the

Oberlin Conservatory The Oberlin Conservatory of Music is a private music conservatory in Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. It was founded in 1865 and is the second oldest conservatory and oldest continually operating conservatory in the United States. It is one of ...

in composition and percussion, where he was awarded the Herbert Elwell Award. He attended the

North Carolina School of the Arts The University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) is an arts school in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It grants high school, undergraduate, and graduate degrees. Founded in 1963 as the North Carolina School of the Arts by then-Governo ...

as a

ist. He studied composition with Sherwood Shaffer,

Randolph Coleman Randolph 'Randy' Coleman (born 1937) is an American composer and educator. He was the first chairman of the national council of the American Society of University Composers, now called The Society of Composers, Inc. Biography Coleman was raised i ...

, Richard Hoffmann (at the Schoenberg Haus in Moedling,

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, in an Oberlin abroad program), William Albright,

William Bolcom William Elden Bolcom (born May 26, 1938) is an American composer and pianist. He has received the Pulitzer Prize, the National Medal of Arts, a Grammy Award, the Detroit Music Award and was named 2007 Composer of the Year by Musical America. H ...

and

Leslie Bassett Leslie Raymond Bassett (22 January 1923 – 4 February 2016) was an American composer of classical music. Bassett received the 1966 Pulitzer Prize in Music. Bassett had a lifelong relationship with the University of Michigan School of Musi ...

, among others. He has been commissioned by the

Albany Symphony Orchestra The Albany Symphony Orchestra is a professional symphony orchestra based in Albany, New York. Founded in 1930 as the People's Orchestra of Albany by Italian-born conductor John Carabella, the Albany Symphony is the oldest professional symphony o ...

, Riverside Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Tales & Scales,

Alarm Will Sound Alarm Will Sound is a 20-member chamber orchestra that focuses on recordings and performances of contemporary classical music. Its performances have been described as "equal parts exuberance, nonchalance, and virtuosity" by the ''Financial Times' ...

, and the Carolina Chamber Music Festival. He has been awarded residencies at the

MacDowell Colony MacDowell is an artist's residency program in Peterborough, New Hampshire, United States, founded in 1907 by composer Edward MacDowell and his wife, pianist and philanthropist Marian MacDowell. Prior to July 2020, it was known as the MacDow ...

Atlantic Center for the Arts Atlantic Center for the Arts (ACA) is a nonprofit, interdisciplinary artists’ community and arts education facility providing artists an opportunity to work and collaborate with contemporary artists in the fields of composing, visual, liter ...

, the

Aspen Music Festival The Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) is a classical music festival held annually in Aspen, Colorado. It is noted both for its concert programming and the musical training it offers to mostly young-adult music students. Founded in 1949, th ...

, June in Buffalo and the

Edward Albee Edward Franklin Albee III ( ; March 12, 1928 – September 16, 2016) was an American playwright known for works such as '' The Zoo Story'' (1958), '' The Sandbox'' (1959), '' Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' (1962), '' A Delicate Balance'' (196 ...

"Barn" at Montauk, NY. Hause has composed over eighty compositions for standard instrumentations, including solo instruments, chamber groups, orchestra, band, chorus, rock band, big band, and opera. He has set to music the poetry of

D. H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the Modernism, modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important ...

, Hugh Ogden,

Adrienne Rich Adrienne Cecile Rich ( ; May 16, 1929 – March 27, 2012) was an American poet, essayist and feminist. She was called "one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the 20th century", and was credited with bringing "the ...

, and himself. He created three chamber operas with the librettist

Gary Heidt Gary Heidt (born Houston, Texas 1970) is a conceptual artist, experimental poet, musician, librettist, literary agent, and co-founder of Lovesphere, a 67-year performance project initiated in 1996, and more recently, the Perceiver of Sound League. ...

called "The Defenestration Trilogy" and four "mini-operas" for the Dogs of Desire (a satellite ensemble from the Albany Symphony). He has a catalog of some 80 rock songs, 13 of which were released nationally on the 1998 CD "Adventures of Freddy," an album on which Hause plays and sings all parts. He made two arrangements for the New York-based ensemble, Alarm Will Sound. The first,

Aphex Twin Richard David James (born 18 August 1971), best known as Aphex Twin, is an Irish-born British musician, composer and DJ. He is known for his idiosyncratic work in electronic styles such as techno, ambient, and jungle. Journalists from publication ...

's "Omgyjya Switch 7" was performed at the Lincoln Center Festival on July 24, 2005, and was released on Cantaloupe Records on the CD '' Acoustica''. The second, of

Edgard Varèse Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse (; also spelled Edgar; December 22, 1883 – November 6, 1965) was a French-born composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States. Varèse's music emphasizes timbre and rhythm; he coined ...

's ''Poème Électronique'', was premiered at Columbia University's Miller Theater on January 20, 2007. As a freelance arranger he has created scores and arrangements for composers

George Tsontakis George Tsontakis (born Astoria, Queens, New York City, October 24, 1951) is an American composer and conductor. Early life and education He was born in New York City, and is of Greek descent. Tsontakis studied composition with Hugo Weisgall and ...

and Paquito D'Rivera. Hause studied percussion with James Massie Johnson, Jr.,

Michael Rosen Michael Wayne Rosen (born 7 May 1946) is a British children's author, poet, presenter, political columnist, broadcaster and activist who has written 140 books. He served as Children's Laureate from 2007 to 2009. Early life Michael Wayne Ro ...

Michael Udow Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...

, and Salvatore Rabbio. After youthful accolades such as being named timpanist of the North Carolina All-State Band and Orchestra, and an award from the Brevard Music Center, he earned the Terry Sanford Scholarship to the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. He has played in the North Carolina, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Charleston (SC), Flint (MI), Ann Arbor, and Long Island (NY) Symphonies, among others. As a contemporary music percussionist he has played with the Locrian Chamber Players and the S.E.M. Ensemble. As an electric guitarist he appeared on the

CD ''Acoustica'', in performances of his own ''Concerto for Electric Guitar and Symphony Band'' with the bands of the Universities of Michigan and Florida, and on the Cadence jazz CD, ''Tony's Blues'' with poet Barry Wallenstein and pianist

John Hicks Sir John Richards Hicks (8 April 1904 – 20 May 1989) was a British economist. He is considered one of the most important and influential economists of the twentieth century. The most familiar of his many contributions in the field of economic ...

. As a pianist he accompanied the off-off-Broadway revival of

Mae West Mae West (born Mary Jane West; August 17, 1893 – November 22, 1980) was an American stage and film actress, playwright, screenwriter, singer, and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned over seven decades. She was known for her breezy ...

's Sex for the Hourglass Group at the Gershwin Theater in New York City (1999–2000). As an educator, Hause taught percussion at the North Carolina Governor's School West in 1991; theory, composition and percussion at Pittsburg State University in Kansas in from 1996 to 1999; electronic music composition at Drew University; and theory at Concordia College in Bronxville, New York, from 2003 to 2005. Hause was the general manager for the Edward B. Marks Music Company from 2005 to 2018. In this capacity he oversaw publications by composers

Kenneth Fuchs Kenneth Daniel Fuchs (born July 1, 1956) is a Grammy Award-winning American composer. He currently serves as Professor of Music Composition at the University of Connecticut (Storrs). Music Kenneth Fuchs's fifth Naxos recording with the Lond ...

, and

Curtis Curtis-Smith Curtis Curtis-Smith (September 9, 1941, Walla Walla, Washington – October 10, 2014, Kalamazoo Michigan), better known as C. Curtis-Smith or C.C. Smith, was a modernist American composer and pianist. Education Curtis-Smith was born in Walla Wall ...

Roger Sessions Roger Huntington Sessions (December 28, 1896March 16, 1985) was an American composer, teacher and musicologist. He had initially started his career writing in a neoclassical style, but gradually moved further towards more complex harmonies and ...

Mario Davidovsky Mario Davidovsky (March 4, 1934 – August 23, 2019) was an Argentine-American composer. Born in Argentina, he emigrated in 1960 to the United States, where he lived for the remainder of his life. He is best known for his series of compositions ca ...

, the Cuban composers

Ernesto Lecuona Ernesto Lecuona y Casado (; August 7, 1896 – November 29, 1963) was a Cuban composer and pianist, many of whose works have become standards of the Latin, jazz and classical repertoires. His over 600 compositions include songs and zarzuelas as ...

and

Gonzalo Roig Gonzalo Roig Lobo (Havana, 20 July 1890 – Havana, 13 June 1970) was a Cuban composer, pianist, violinist and musical director. He was a pioneer of the symphonic movement in Cuba. His most popular works are the zarzuela '' Cecilia Valdés'' a ...

, and others.

The Defenestration Trilogy

The trilogy consists of : ''On The Air'' (2001), originally premiered as ''The Birth and Theft of Television'' on March 26–27, 2001 at the Theater for the New City, ''Nightingale: The Last Days of James Forrestal'' (2002), premiered May 19-June 4, 2002 at the Present Company Theatorium, and ''Man: Biology of a Fall'' (2007), premiered October 4–7, 2007 at Kumble Theater of Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus. Each work sets a libretto by Gary Heidt, employs a cast of approximately 10 singers, and employs an orchestra of 7-15 players.Lockwood (October, 2007) ''The Birth and Theft of Television'' is a fictional interweave of the travails of the two great American inventors, Philo T. Farnsworth (inventor of television) and Edwin H. Armstrong (inventor of F.M.), and their battles against corporate America, consolidated into the personage of

David Sarnoff David Sarnoff (February 27, 1891 – December 12, 1971) was an American businessman and pioneer of American radio and television. Throughout most of his career, he led the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in various capacities from shortly aft ...

(CEO of RCA), leading up to Armstrong's suicide by self-defenestration in 1954. ''Nightingale: The Last Days of

James Forrestal James Vincent Forrestal (February 15, 1892 – May 22, 1949) was the last Cabinet-level United States Secretary of the Navy and the first United States Secretary of Defense. Forrestal came from a very strict middle-class Irish Catholic f ...

'' is an imagined glimpse into the mind of the first U.S. Secretary of Defense in his final six weeks of life (1949) as he underwent treatment for nervous exhaustion in the 16th floor of the

Bethesda Naval Hospital The Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC), formerly known as the National Naval Medical Center and colloquially referred to as the Bethesda Naval Hospital, Walter Reed, or Navy Med, is a United States' tri-service military medi ...

. Among the characters who visit him are

Harry Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Frankli ...

Sidney Souers Sidney William Souers (March 30, 1892 – January 14, 1973) was an American admiral and intelligence expert. Rear Admiral Souers was appointed as the first Director of Central Intelligence on January 23, 1946 by President Harry S. Truman, wher ...

, his wife Josephine, and

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

before Forrestal dies by falling from his window. ''Man: Biology of a Fall'' is a similar glimpse into unknowable events surrounding the last week of life of

Frank Olson Frank Rudolph Emmanuel Olson (July 17, 1910 – November 28, 1953) was an American bacteriologist, biological warfare scientist, and an employee of the United States Army Biological Warfare Laboratories (USBWL) who worked at Camp Detrick (no ...

, a biochemist who is believed to have been murdered in 1953 by defenestration. The backdrop of this opera is

Fort Detrick Fort Detrick () is a United States Army Futures Command installation located in Frederick, Maryland. Historically, Fort Detrick was the center of the U.S. biological weapons program from 1943 to 1969. Since the discontinuation of that program, i ...

, the CIA's MK-ULTRA mind control program, Greenwich Village, and the Statler Hotel in New York City. Other characters drawn from real persons include

Sidney Gottlieb Sidney Gottlieb (August 3, 1918 – March 7, 1999) was an American chemist and spymaster who headed the Central Intelligence Agency's 1950s and 1960s assassination attempts and mind-control program, known as Project MKUltra. Early years an ...

William Sargant William Walters Sargant (24 April 1907 – 27 August 1988) was a British psychiatrist who is remembered for the evangelical zeal with which he promoted treatments such as psychosurgery, deep sleep treatment, electroconvulsive therapy and ins ...

, and George Hunter White.

Major works

*''Fields'' (1991), for marimba solo *''Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra in One Movement'' (1994) *''The Ship of Death (Symphony No. 1)'' (1996), for orchestra, chorus, and soloists *''Concerto for Electric Guitar and Symphony Band'' (2000) *''Trumpet Concerto'' (2001), for trumpet and orchestra/band *''The Defenestration Trilogy'' (2000–2007), three chamber operas *''Tango Variations'' (2009), for band *''Nassau'' (2005–2011), for chamber orchestra and vocalists *''The Tree Without End'' (2012), for orchestra *''Symphony No. 2'' (1997–2016), for orchestra *''Melancolia'' (2016), musique concrète *''Plastic Island Pentecost'' (2018), progressive rock concept album

References

Sources

*Dalton, Joseph
"Dogs of Desire Bring Modern Flair"
''Albany Times Union'', March 30, 2007 *Johnson, Martin
"Conspiracy Opera is a Hause Specialty"
'' Newsday'', June 4, 2004 *Kerner, Leighton

''

Opera News ''Opera News'' is an American classical music magazine. It has been published since 1936 by the Metropolitan Opera Guild, a non-profit organization located at Lincoln Center which was founded to engender the appreciation of opera and also supp ...

'' September, 2002 *Kessler, Jordan
"Hoses, Power Tools, and Water Cart"
(Alarm Will Sound interview), www.popmatters.com, October 3, 2005 *Kozinn, Allan

''The New York Times'', August 17, 2002 * Lockwood, Alan
"Imposing Thirds"
''The Brooklyn Rail'', October, 2007 * Midgette, Anne

', The New York Times'', January 27, 2007 *''New York Press''

May 21, 2002 * Tommasini, Anthony

''The New York Times'', August 27, 2001

External links

Evan Hause website

Edward B. Marks Music Company website

Evan Hause archival website
*Audio and video *
Music examples
*
Defenestration Trilogy and Melancolia Video
*
"Big Handsome Music" 3/7/09 online audio interview
*
"Noizepunk & Krooner Show #27" 2/6/08 online audio interview with Evan Hause and Gary Heidt
*
EVHA Recordings website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hause, Evan 1967 births Living people American male composers 21st-century American composers University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance alumni Oberlin College alumni 21st-century American male musicians