Kati Ilona Agócs (born January 20, 1975) is a Canadian-American composer and a member of the composition faculty at the

New England Conservatory of Music The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a Private college, private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. The conservatory is located on Huntington Avenue along Avenue of the Arts (Boston), the Avenue of the Arts near Boston Symphony Ha ...

in Boston, Massachusetts.

Education

Agócs attended the Juilliard School in New York where she earned a Master's and Doctoral degrees under the guidance of

Milton Babbitt Milton Byron Babbitt (May 10, 1916 – January 29, 2011) was an American composer, music theorist, mathematician, and teacher. He was a Pulitzer Prize and MacArthur Fellowship recipient, recognized for his serial and electronic music. Biography ...

. She was a composition fellow at 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 ...

and School and the

Tanglewood Music Center The Tanglewood Music Center is an annual summer music academy in Lenox, Massachusetts, United States, in which emerging professional musicians participate in performances, master classes and workshops. The center operates as a part of the Tanglew ...

, where she held the ASCAP Leonard Bernstein Composer Fellowship in 2007. She was a voice student of Adele Addison.

Career

From 2005 to 2006, she lived in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

and wrote on the new-music scene in

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

for the journal ''

The Musical Times ''The Musical Times'' was an academic journal of classical music edited and produced in the United Kingdom. It was originally created by Joseph Mainzer in 1842 as ''Mainzer's Musical Times and Singing Circular'', but in 1844 he sold it to Alfr ...

''. She had previously organized an exchange program between the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...

and the Liszt Academy. The Hungarian-language weekly, ''Bécsi Napló'' (Vienna Journal) acknowledged her contribution to the visibility of Hungarian composers abroad. She served as Composer in Residence for the National Youth Orchestra of Canada in 2010. Agócs was awarded a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

in 2013. In 2014 the

American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, Music of the United States, music, and Visual art of the United States, art. Its fixed number ...

named her as recipient of the Arts and Letters Award in Music. She maintains a work studio in Flatrock, Newfoundland, Canada.

Personal life

Agócs has one daughter, Olivia.

Music

Boston Modern Orchestra Project The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) is a professional orchestra founded in 1996 by artistic director Gil Rose in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. In its first twelve seasons, the BMOP was able to perform over 80 concerts of conte ...

recorded and released the 2016 album ''The Debrecen Passion'', named one of the top 10 Classical albums of 2016 by the ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

''. The title track of this album was nominated in 2017 by the

Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) is a non-profit organization responsible for promoting Canadian music and artists. It is famous for its Juno Awards, which recognize achievements in the music industry of popular song ...

for a Juno Award, Classical Composition of the Year. In 2022, her ''Concerto for Violin and Percussion Orchestra'' was also nominated for Classical Composition of the Year. Agócs has written on American music for the journal ''Tempo'' and also created a critical edition of the ''Symphony in A Major'' by

Leopold Damrosch Leopold Damrosch (October 22, 1832 – February 15, 1885) was a German American orchestral Conducting, conductor, composer, violinist, and teacher. He was the patriarch of the Damrosch family, which includes Frank Damrosch and Walter Damrosch. ...

Select principal works

Solo and chamber works up to seven instruments

* ''Concerto for Violin and Percussion Orchestra'' (Solo violin and six percussionists) 2018. Recorded performance by violinist Nicholas Kitchen and the New England Conservatory Percussion Ensemble led by director Frank Epstein. * ''Crystallography'' (Soprano, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, and percussion) 2012 (Text: Christian Bök) * ''Every Lover is a Warrior'' (Solo harp) 2005 * ''Hymn'' (Saxophone quartet) 2005 * ''Immutable Dreams'' (Flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano) 2006. * ''Imprimatur'' (String Quartet No. 2) 2018 * ''Rapprochement'' (String Quartet No. 3) 2025 * ''Voices of the Immaculate'' (Lyric mezzo-soprano, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano/celeste) 2021 (Text: assembled by the composer: fragments from Revelations and testimony from survivors of abuse by clergy)

Orchestra / large ensemble works

* ''By the Streams of Babylon'' (Two amplified soprano voices and chamber orchestra) 2009 (Text: Psalm 137 in Latin) * '' The Debrecen Passion'' (Twelve female voices and chamber orchestra) 2015 (Text: poems by Szilárd Borbély in Hungarian; Lamentations of Mary in modern Hungarian translation by Ferenc Molnár ragments Ana B’Choach n Hebrew Stabat Mater Specioso ragments, in Latin Thou Art a Vineyard ymn text in Georgian * ''Elysium'' (Chamber Orchestra and Recorded Sound) * ''Horn Concerto'' (Solo Horn and Chamber Orchestra) 2021 * ''Hosanna of the Clouds'' (Solo Soprano, SATB Chorus, and Chamber Orchestra) 2025 (Text: Excerpts from Psalms 27 & 39 and Books of Luke, Isaiah, and Revelations in Latin; Prayer in Aramaic; Free verse in Latin and English) * ''Perpetual Summer'' (Large Orchestra with Amplified and Processed Solo String Sextet) 2010; rev. 2012 * ''Requiem Fragments'' (Chamber Orchestra) 2008 * ''Shenanigan'' (Orchestra) 2011

References

External links

Kati Agócs Personal Web SiteNew England Conservatory Faculty Web Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Agocs, Kati 1975 births Living people Aspen Music Festival and School alumni Canadian composers Canadian people of Hungarian descent Musicians from Windsor, Ontario New England Conservatory faculty Canadian women composers