Jonathan Elkus (born August 8, 1931) is an American composer, arranger, editor, author, conductor, and teacher.

Early life and education

Elkus was born in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, the son of Albert Elkus. He studied composition at

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

(BA 1953) with

Charles Cushing Charles Cook Cushing (December 8, 1905 – 1982) was an American composer, band director, and professor of music. Biography Charles Cushing, a native Californian, studied at the University of California, Berkeley. Encouraged by visiting French Co ...

and William Denny, at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

(MA 1957) with

Ernst Bacon Ernst Lecher Bacon (May 26, 1898 – March 16, 1990) was an American composer, pianist, and conductor. A prolific composer, Bacon wrote over 250 songs over his career. He was awarded three Guggenheim Fellowships and a Pulitzer Scholarship in ...

and Leonard Ratner, and at

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University in Oakland, California is part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was relocated to Oakland in ...

(1957) with

Darius Milhaud Darius Milhaud (, ; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as ''The Group of Six''—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His composition ...

Career

From 1957 to 1973, Elkus taught at

Lehigh University Lehigh University (LU), in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States, is a private university, private research university. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer. Lehigh University's undergraduate programs have been mixed ...

, where he also conducted Marching 97, the university band. In 1979, he became the director of music and chair of humanities at

Cape Cod Academy Cape Cod Academy (CCA) is an independent coed college preparatory school for grades Kindergarten through 12 located in Osterville, Massachusetts. Statistics The Academy was incorporated in 1976 and functions on a school preparatory curriculu ...

. He was appointed Lecturer in Music and Director of Bands at

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

in 1993, retiring in 2003. Elkus founded Overland Music Distributors in 1984. They published books and music by varying composers including Elinor Armer, Cushing, and

Ali Akbar Khan Ali Akbar Khan (14 April 192218 June 2009) was an Indian Hindustani classical musician of the Maihar gharana, known for his virtuosity in playing the sarod. Trained as a classical musician and instrumentalist by his father, Allauddin Khan, ...

. He now serves as editorial consultant to Subito Music Corporation, its successor. Elkus has been a guest conductor with concert bands and wind ensembles throughout the United States. In 2002, he was presented with the

Edwin Franko Goldman Edwin Franko Goldman (January 1, 1878 – February 21, 1956) was an American composer and conductor. One of the most significant American band composers of the early 20th century, Goldman composed over 150 works, but is best known for his March ...

Memorial Citation of the

American Bandmasters Association The American Bandmasters Association (ABA) was formed in 1929 by Edwin Franko Goldman to promote concert band music.Raoul F. Camus. "American Bandmasters Association." In Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/sub ...

in recognition of his contribution to bands and band music in America.

Works

Elkus has focused on expanding the repertory for concert band; numerous compositions and arrangements for this ensemble have been published and recorded. Elkus has composed over a dozen works for the stage, in addition to incidental music for plays and numbers for musical revues. His two best known are conceived for performance by children: Tom Sawyer (1953) and Treasure Island (1961). In Tom Sawyer, Elkus uses much of

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Fau ...

’s original dialogue. The composer’s intent in this musical adaptation was, like Twain’s, to “remind adults of what they once were and how they thought and felt”. The musical style is essentially tonal, evoking the work’s period setting through galops and marches; instrumental interludes are highly programmatic, and choral ensembles make use of original onomatopoeic devices. The music of Treasure Island is more adventurous; colorful hornpipes are used, but the language is richly chromatic and there is considerable rhythmic intensity. Through his editorial work, Elkus has focused on the music of Charles Ives. He is an editor of the

Charles Ives Charles Edward Ives (; October 20, 1874May 19, 1954) was an American modernist composer, actuary and businessman. Ives was among the earliest renowned American composers to achieve recognition on a global scale. His music was largely ignored d ...

Society’s critical editions of the complete works and has transcribed works of Ives for the U.S. Marine Band. In 1974 he authored the monograph Charles Ives and the American Band Tradition.

References

External links

ChesterNovello

PeerMusic

Subito Music
* http://dateline.ucdavis.edu/dl_detail.lasso?id=7549 * http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf4p3004fz/ * http://www.sai-national.org/home/ComposersBureau/ElkusJonathan/tabid/303/Default.aspx
Jean Gray Hargrove Music Library of the University of California, Berkeley
(musical scores and papers)
Fleisher Collection, Philadelphia Free Library
(musical scores)

(musical scores) {{DEFAULTSORT:Elkus, Jonathan 1931 births Living people 21st-century American composers American male composers Lehigh University faculty Pupils of Darius Milhaud Stanford University alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni