Richard Festinger (born 1 March 1948) is an American composer of contemporary classical music, pianist and educator.

Biography

Festinger was born in

Newton, Massachusetts Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located roughly west of Downtown Boston, and comprises a patchwork of thirteen villages. The city borders Boston to the northeast and southeast (via the neighborhoods of ...

. He received his B.A. in music, magna cum laude, from San Francisco State University, and his Ph.D. in music composition from the University of California, Berkeley. He was the founding director of Earplay, a new chamber music ensemble based in the Bay Area. He has been a resident artist at the MacDowell Colony, Camargo Foundation,

Cité internationale des arts The Cité internationale des arts is an artist-in-residence building complex which accommodates artists of all specialities and nationalities in Paris. It comprises two sites, one located in the Marais and the other in Montmartre. Approximately ...

in Paris, Yaddo, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller (" ...

Bellagio Study Center, the Ligurian Study Center in

Bogliasco Bogliasco () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Genoa in the Italian region Liguria, located about southeast of Genoa. Together with the ''comuni'' of Camogli, Recco, Pieve Ligure and Sori, it is part of the so-call ...

, Italy, Fundación Valparaíso, Mojácar, Almeria, Spain, Ucross Foundation Centre International d’Accueil et d’Échanges des Récollets, the

Aaron Copland House The Aaron Copland House, also known as Rock Hill or Copland House, is the former home of composer Aaron Copland for the last 30 years of his life, and now also a creative center for American music. Located on Washington Street in Cortlandt Mano ...

, the Oberpfälzer Künstlerhaus, and the Central Conservatory of Music in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. He was commissioned by the Fromm Foundation in 2003 to compose his work ''Hidden Spring'' for the Cygnus Ensemble. Also in 2003 Works and Process at the Guggenheim commissioned and premiered his settings of poet/author

Denis Johnson Denis Hale Johnson (July 1, 1949 – May 24, 2017) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and poet. He is perhaps best known for his debut short story collection, ''Jesus' Son (short story collection), Jesus' Son'' (1992). His most succes ...

, ''The Coming of Age'' with Amy Burton, soprano and The Group for Contemporary Music conducted by Bradley Lubman. In 2009 pianist Marilyn Nonken toured with Festinger's large scale piano solo, ''Le Pianiste''. Early in his career Festinger played guitar and toured with folk singer

Joan Baez Joan Chandos Baez (, ; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing mo ...

including a performance at

Woodstock The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. Billed as "a ...

. Shortly afterwards, intent on pursuing a performing career in jazz, he attended the Berklee School of Music in Boston, where he studied composition with

Herb Pomeroy Irving Herbert Pomeroy III (April 15, 1930 – August 11, 2007) was an American jazz trumpeter, teacher, and the founder of the MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble. Early life Pomeroy was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, United States. He began playing ...

and improvisation with

Gary Burton Gary Burton (born January 23, 1943) is an American jazz Vibraphone, vibraphonist, composer, and educator. Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the prevailing two-mallet technique. This approach caused ...

. Returning to

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 ...

in 1972 he performed extensively for several years as a jazz guitarist while pursuing a growing interest in classical music and composition. Festinger earned his B.A. from San Francisco State and later his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley where he worked with

Andrew Imbrie Andrew Welsh Imbrie (April 6, 1921 – December 5, 2007) was an American contemporary classical music composer and pianist. Career Imbrie was born in New York City and began his musical training as a pianist when he was 4. In 1937, he went to Par ...

. Festinger is Professor of Theory and Composition at

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It was established in 1899 as the San Francisco State Normal School and is ...

, where he is also the artistic director of the Morrison Artists Chamber Music Series.

Compositions

* ''Incognito'' (2014) text:

Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massac ...

, soprano and baritone * ''Winds of May'' (2014) text:

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

, soprano and two classical guitars * ''Love Wanders There'' (2013) text: James Joyce, soprano and two classical guitars * ''Kleinen Doch Emsigen'' (2013) flute, clarinet, viola, cello *''Portrait''(2012) unaccompanied violin * ''Violacanta'' (2012) unaccompanied viola * ''Upon The Viol'' (2012) unaccompanied cello * ''To a Pilgrim'' (2011) bass clarinet and cello * ''Spring Ice'' (2010) soprano and violin, on 12th-century Japanese poems * ''Enchainement'' (2009) for solo viola * ''Le Pianiste'' (2009) solo piano three pieces after paintings of

Roberto Matta Roberto Sebastián Antonio Matta Echaurren (; November 11, 1911 – November 23, 2002), usually known simply as Matta, also as Sebastián Matta or Roberto Matta, was one of Chile's best-known Painting, painters and a seminal figure in 20th ...

* ''Equinox'' (2009) for clarinet and small orchestra * ''Legerdemain'' (2008) solo percussion, hand drums * ''Insect Voices'' (2008) soprano and four players * ''The Locust Tree'' (2007) chorus-SATB (text

William Carlos Williams William Carlos Williams (September 17, 1883 – March 4, 1963) was an American poet and physician closely associated with modernism and imagism. His '' Spring and All'' (1923) was written in the wake of T. S. Eliot's '' The Waste Land'' (1922). ...

) * ''Concerto for Piano and Nine Instruments'' (2007) * ''Between Thought and Thing'' (2006) for eight players * ''The Way Things Go'' (2006) flute, piano * ''From The Beginning'' (2005) String Quartet No. 2 * ''A Machine for Interpreting Dreams'' (2005) for four players * ''Hidden Spring'' (2004) for six players * ''Laws of Motion'' (2004) for five players * ''Diary of a Journey'' (2003) for six players * ''The Coming of Age'' (2003) text:

soprano and six players * ''a dream foretold'' (2001) for four players * ''Construction in Metal and Wood'' (2001) percussion and piano * ''Crossfire'' (2000) two percussion * ''Peripeteia'' (1999) clarinet, violin and cello * ''On the Lightness of the Moon'' (1998) clarinet, violin, viola and piano * ''After Blue'' (1998) flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion, 1998 * ''Dajunso Ma Dor Da Duca'' (1997) nine-part chorus * ''Tapestries'' (1997) violin, cello and piano, 1997 * ''Windsongs'' (1996) flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn * ''Trionometry'' (1996) flute, clarinet and piano, 1996 * ''Violuminescence'' (1995) violin solo and chamber orchestra, 1995 * ''Twinning'' (1994) violin and piano, 1994 * ''String Quartet No.1'' (1994) * ''A Serenade for Six'' (1993) flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion * ''Smokin' with Cocuswood'' (1992) oboe, string quartet and piano * ''Head over Heels'' (1992) solo electronic keyboard with computer * ''Three Little Piano Pieces'' (1992) * ''Octet'' (1991) – flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, violin, viola, cello and piano * ''Sonata for Cello and Piano'' (1990) * ''Variations for Piano'' (1988) * ''Septet'' (1987) – flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, piano and percussion * ''Impromptu'' (1985) clarinet and piano * ''Letters and the Weather of Six Mornings'' (1984) soprano and piano * ''Paysages Modernes'' (1983) large orchestra * ''Song: Beauty is a Shell from the Sea'' (1981) SATB with flute, oboe, bass clarinet, horn, string quartet, harp and guitar * ''Concerto for Piano and Orchestra'' (1980) * ''Triptych'' (1979) solo flute * ''Matin'' (1978) CD * ''Ontogenesis'' (1978) flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano * ''Avian Landscapes'' (1987) CD * ''In Delirium of Sunrise'' (1977) string quartet * ''Cheville'' (1976) large orchestra * ''Divertimento'' (1976) oboe, clarinet, violin and cello * ''Movements for Guitar'' (1976) * ''Prelude for Guitar'' (1971)

Recordings

* ''Music of Richard Festinger.'' New Millenium Ensemble. Bridge Records 9245 * ''Richard Festinger: Tapestries and Other Works.'' Laurel Trio, Earplay, Curtis Macomber. New World/CRI NWCR832 * ''A Serenade for Six.'' New Millenium Ensemble. New World/CRI NWCR772 * ''Septet'', the Earplay ensemble, Centaur CD 2274 * ''Triptych'', Samuel Baron, flute, Contemporary Recording Studios vinyl LP CRS 8738 * Various tracks, Joan Baez, ''One Day at a Time'', Vanguard Records * ''Live at Pangaea, volumes I and II'', Independent Records, San Rafael, CA, vinyl LPs

Footnotes

External links

Official Richard Festinger websiteReview at the Journal of the Society for American Music, Volume 4 – Issue 02 – 2010
{{DEFAULTSORT:Festinger, Richard 1948 births Living people 20th-century American classical composers 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American classical composers 21st-century American male musicians American male classical composers San Francisco State University faculty University of California, Berkeley alumni