Nathan Currier (born 1960,

Huntingdon, Pennsylvania Huntingdon is a borough in (and the county seat of) Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located along the Juniata River, approximately east of Altoona and west of Harrisburg. With a population of 7,093 at the 2010 census, i ...

) is an American composer.

Biography

Coming from a musical family, Currier is son of composer Marilyn Currier (1931) and brother of composer

Sebastian Currier Sebastian Currier (born March 16, 1959) is an American composer of music for chamber groups and orchestras. He was also a professor of music at Columbia University from 1999 to 2007. Life Currier was born in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, and was r ...

(1959). His principal teachers were David Diamond,

Joseph Schwantner Joseph Clyde Schwantner (born March 22, 1943, Chicago, Illinois) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer, educator and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 2002. He was awarded the 1970 Charles Ives Prize. Schwantne ...

Bernard Rands Bernard Rands (born 2 March 1934 in Sheffield, England) is a British-American contemporary classical music composer. He studied music and English literature at the University of Wales, Bangor, and composition with Pierre Boulez and Bruno Mader ...

Stephen Albert Stephen Joel Albert (6 February 1941 – 27 December 1992) was an American composer. He is best known for his Symphony No. 1 (Albert), Symphony No. 1 ''RiverRun'' (1983) and Cello Concerto (Albert), Cello Concerto (1990) written for Yo-Yo Ma, b ...

and

Frederic Rzewski Frederic Anthony Rzewski ( ; April 13, 1938 – June 26, 2021) was an American composer and pianist, considered to be one of the most important American composer-pianists of his time. His major compositions, which often incorporate social an ...

. He studied at the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most ...

, where he received the Doctorate in 1989, and also served on their Evening Division faculty over a ten-year period. Starting in 2007 he served for two years as a visiting faculty member at the McIntire Department of Music at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with College admission ...

. In 2016 he initiated a concert series calle
Orchard Circle
with concerts in New York City and Philadelphia.

Awards

* 2008 International

Sackler Prize The Sackler Prize can indicate any of the following three awards established by Raymond Sackler and his wife Beverly Sackler currently bestowed by the Tel Aviv University. Sackler Prize in the Physical Sciences The Raymond and Beverly Sackler Inte ...

for Music Composition * 2008-09 Fellowship at the

Virginia Foundation for the Humanities Virginia Humanities (VH), formerly the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, is a humanities council whose stated mission is to develop the civic, cultural, and intellectual life of the Commonwealth of Virginia by creating learning opportunities f ...

* 1999 Academy Award from

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, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headq ...

* 1995-96

Rome Prize The Rome Prize is awarded by the American Academy in Rome, in Rome, Italy. Approximately thirty scholars and artists are selected each year to receive a study fellowship at the academy. Prizes have been awarded annually since 1921, with a hiatus ...

for Composition from the

American Academy in Rome The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo (Janiculum Hill) in Rome. The academy is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers. History In 1893, a group of American architects ...

* 1993

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

* 1993

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federa ...

Fellowship * 1992

New York Foundation for the Arts The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is an independent 501(c)(3) charity, funded through government, foundation, corporate, and individual support, established in 1971. It is part of a network of national not-for-profit arts organization ...

Fellowship * 1991 Fromm Foundation Grant * 1991 Charles Ives Fellowship from

* 1987-88

Fulbright The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

Fellowship * 1987 Barlow Prize in Composition

''Gaian Variations'' interrupted premiere

Currier's largest work is an oratorio called Gaian Variations. The premiere took place at Avery Fisher Hall,

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

, on April 21, 2004, but was interrupted mid-concert, shortly after the beginning of the third act. The work is about

Gaia In Greek mythology, Gaia (; from Ancient Greek , a poetical form of , 'land' or 'earth'),, , . also spelled Gaea , is the personification of the Earth and one of the Greek primordial deities. Gaia is the ancestral mother—sometimes parthe ...

, a scientific hypothesis developed by

James Lovelock James Ephraim Lovelock (26 July 1919 – 26 July 2022) was an English independent scientist, environmentalist and futurist. He is best known for proposing the Gaia hypothesis, which postulates that the Earth functions as a self-regulating sy ...

to explain the role of living systems in the regulation of Earth's

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologica ...

and

biogeochemical cycle A biogeochemical cycle (or more generally a cycle of matter) is the pathway by which a chemical substance cycles (is turned over or moves through) the biotic and the abiotic compartments of Earth. The biotic compartment is the biosphere and ...

s. The composer described his work as both a description of the theory and a contextualization of it within the history of science, and he spent years writing the large work for chorus, orchestra and soloists. During the premiere the

Brooklyn Philharmonic There have been several organisations referred to as the Brooklyn Philharmonic. The most recent one was the now-defunct Brooklyn Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, an American orchestra based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, in existence fr ...

suddenly stopped, claiming that it was headed into overtime, ultimately triggering a lawsuit. Leading American composer

John Corigliano John Paul Corigliano Jr. (born February 16, 1938) is an American composer of contemporary classical music. His scores, now numbering over one hundred, have won him the Pulitzer Prize, five Grammy Awards, Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, ...

, also a board member of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, called Gaian Variations, “Just beautiful. Very, very skilled work, and very inspired too.” The

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

, however, published a highly critical review by

Allan Kozinn Allan Kozinn (born July 28, 1954) is an American journalist, music critic, and teacher. Kozinn received bachelor's degrees in music and journalism from Syracuse University in 1976. He began freelancing as a critic and music feature writer for ''T ...

that began by claiming the work's texts (featuring writings by Lovelock himself, describing his Gaia theory) were “mostly pseudoscientific.” Currier, who has since given talks on climate change for Al Gore's

The Climate Project The Climate Reality Project is a non-profit organization involved in education and advocacy related to climate change. The Climate Reality Project came into being in July 2011 as the consolidation of two environmental groups, the Alliance for Cli ...

, felt that the urgency of climate change gave the subject matter such importance that he had used his personal savings to prevent cancellation of the concert when neither the Brooklyn Philharmonic nor another environmental organization,

Earth Day Network Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by EarthDay.org (formerly Earth Day Network) including 1 b ...

, raised the needed funds. Currier was given a pro bono lawyer through

Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts (VLA) is both a generic term for legal service organizations located throughout the United States and the proper name of the organization in New York City. Founded in 1969, that organization is the oldest VLA in the ...

shortly after the performance, but the Executive Vice President and Director of the

Hess Oil Company Hess or Heß may refer to: * Hess (surname), also ''Heß'' in German, people with the surname Hess * Hess, Oklahoma, a community in the United States * Hess Educational Organization, the largest private provider of English instruction in the Repub ...

, J. Barclay Collins II, also a client of the same firm (

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP is an American multinational law firm headquartered in Washington, DC. It is the largest lobbying firm in the United States by revenue. Akin Gump has consistently been ranked as among the top law firms in the Un ...

) and chairman of the Board of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, intervened, and Currier lost legal representation. On the New York Times's ArtsBeat blog, oil executive Collins (who retired from the petroleum company in January 2010) was quoted as saying that Currier's lawsuit was “totally without merit.”"Brooklyn Philharmonic Cancels Concerts"
DANIEL J. WAKIN, ''New York Times Arts Beat Blog'', April 17, 2009 It was not until 2008 that Currier again found legal support, being represented by Alex T. Roshuk, and the case was finally filed in

Supreme Court of the State of New York The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in the New York State Unified Court System. (Its Appellate Division is also the highest intermediate appellate court.) It is vested with unlimited civi ...

Kings County in 2009."Composer’s Lawsuit Looms Over Cash-Strapped Brooklyn Philharmonic"
''The Brooklyn Eagle'', Samuel Newhouse, 04-27-2009 Currier was quoted shortly thereafter in the

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

as saying that he only wanted the orchestra to play the work again. Currier later became actively involved with Gaia science itself. With NASA scientist Paul D. Lowman he coauthored a chapter of the book ''Chimeras and Consciousness'', published by MIT Press in 2011. Their paper, ''Life’s Tectonics'', concerns Gaia and the role of life and water on plate tectonics, and when NASA recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of its exobiology progra
(''Seeking Signs of Life'', October 2010)
a passage from their paper was condensed and read as part of the opening keynote speech given by

Lynn Margulis Lynn Margulis (born Lynn Petra Alexander; March 5, 1938 – November 22, 2011) was an American evolutionary biologist, and was the primary modern proponent for the significance of symbiosis in evolution. Historian Jan Sapp has said that "Lynn M ...

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20061113060839/http://www.presser.com/Composers/info.cfm?Name=NATHANCURRIER * http://nathankindcurrier.com * http://natcurr.com
www.gaianvariations.com

University of Virginia * http://www.sacklercompositionprize.uconn.edu/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Currier, Nathan 1960 births Living people 20th-century classical composers 21st-century classical composers American male classical composers American classical composers Jewish American classical composers People from Huntingdon, Pennsylvania Juilliard School alumni University of Virginia faculty 21st-century American composers 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century American Jews