Christopher Cerrone

Christopher Cerrone (born March 5, 1984) is an American composer based in New York City. He was a 2014 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize,[1] a 2014 Fromm Foundation commission recipient,[2] a 2015 Rome Prize winner in Music Composition,[3] and has received numerous awards from ASCAP.[4][5][6]

Biography

Cerrone was born in Huntington, New York, United States. He studied music composition at the Manhattan School of Music with Nils Vigeland and Reiko Fueting,[7] and then earned his Masters and Doctoral degrees at Yale studying with Martin Bresnick, David Lang, Christopher Theofanidis, Ingram Marshall, and Ezra Laderman.[8]

In 2014 Cerrone's opera Invisible Cities based on Italo Calvino's novel Invisible Cities was produced by the Los Angeles-based opera company The Industry, the LA Dance Project, and Sennheiser. The production received glowing reviews and had a sold-out run of performances.[9][10][11] Cerrone has received commissions from ensembles including eighth blackbird,[12] the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Present Music,[13] and he has been the Composer-in-Residence with the Albany Symphony Orchestra,[14] and with Exploring the Metropolis/ConEdison.[15]

Cerrone was a founding member and co-Artistic Director of Red Light New Music[16][17] and currently a member of the composers' collective Sleeping Giant, consisting of Timo Andres, Christopher Cerrone, Jacob Cooper, Ted Hearne, Robert Honstein, and Andrew Norman.[18][19]

His works are published by Project Schott New York[20] and Schott Music.[21]

Selected works

Opera

  • In a Grove (2022) for four singers (SCtTB), nine instruments, and electronics[22]
  • Invisible Cities (2009–2013) for four solo voices, chamber choir, chamber orchestra, and electronics
  • All Wounds Bleed (2011) for soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, and piano

Orchestra

  • High Windows (2013) concerto for string orchestra
  • Still Life with Violin and Orchestra (2010) for violin and orchestra
  • Invisible Overture (2008) for orchestra

Chamber orchestra

  • Flows Beneath (2012) for steel pan ensemble and 10 person chamber orchestra

Solo and chamber

  • Double Happiness (2012) for electric guitar, percussion, and electronics
  • Memory Palace (2012) for solo percussionist and electronics
  • Recovering (2011/12) for clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, trombone, vibraphone, violin, and double bass
  • The Night Mare (2011) for flute, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin, cello, and electronics
  • Hoyt–Schermerhorn (2010) for solo piano and electronics
  • Reading a Wave (2008/2010) for nine instruments placed throughout the audience.
  • Variations on a Still Point (2006/7) for guitar, saxophone, percussion, and piano

Vocal

  • I will learn to love a person (2013) for soprano, saxophone (or clarinet), percussion, and piano or soprano and piano
  • That Night with the Green Sky (2012) for soprano and piano
  • How to Breathe Underwater (2011) for baritone, trumpet, trombone, bass clarinet, and pre-recorded electronics
  • Requiem [for K.V.] (2007/2009) for solo amplified voice and live electronics. Text by Kurt Vonnegut.
  • three e.e. cummings poems (2004) for SSAATTBB choir

Awards and nominations

Ovation Awards

  • 2014: Nominated for Book and for Lyrics/Music for an Original Musical for The Industry's production of Invisible Cities[23]

References

  1. ^ "The Pulitzer Prizes – Citation". pulitzer.org.
  2. ^ "Christopher Cerrone". harvard.edu.
  3. ^ Gordon, Ted (2015-04-17). "PSNY: Christopher Cerrone Awarded 2015–16 Rome Prize". Eamdc.com. Retrieved 2015-07-09.
  4. ^ "Leonard Bernstein Award". www.ascap.com.
  5. ^ "The 2014 ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composers Awards". www.ascap.com.
  6. ^ "The ASCAP Foundation Names Recipients of the 2011 Morton Gould Young Composer Awards". www.ascap.com.
  7. ^ "S01E23 – Christopher Cerrone". Greenroom Conversations: The Process Unplugged.
  8. ^ "christopher cerrone Archives – Yale School of Music". Yale School of Music.
  9. ^ "Review: An inward tour through 'Invisible Cities'". Los Angeles Times. 21 October 2013.
  10. ^ "Is This the Opera of the Future?". WIRED. 22 October 2013.
  11. ^ "WQXR – New York's Classical Music Radio Station". wqxr.org.
  12. ^ "eighth blackbird". carnegiehall.org. Archived from the original on 2015-04-03. Retrieved 2015-04-02.
  13. ^ Los Angeles Times (11 February 2014). "L.A. Philharmonic 2014–15 season includes Dessner, Cerrone works". Los Angeles Times.
  14. ^ "2013 Music Alive Residency Awardees – New Music USA". newmusicusa.org.
  15. ^ "Christopher Cerrone at Brooklyn Youth Chorus Academy". Exploring the Metropolis, Inc. Archived from the original on 2015-04-04. Retrieved 2015-04-02.
  16. ^ Kozinn, Allan (8 October 2011). "Red Light New Music Plays christopher Cerrone Review". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-07-09.
  17. ^ Adrianne Koteen (29 May 2012). "Red Light New Music at Symphony Space". I CARE IF YOU LISTEN.
  18. ^ "Sleeping Giant Collective and the Albany Symphony – New Music USA". newmusicusa.org.
  19. ^ Adrianne Koteen (6 June 2012). "Under the influence: Deviant Septet commissions Sleeping Giant". I CARE IF YOU LISTEN.
  20. ^ "PSNY: Christopher Cerrone Works". Eamdc.com. Retrieved 2015-07-09.
  21. ^ "Schott Music – Shop – Search results". schott-music.com.
  22. ^ Waleson, Heidi (2022-02-22). "'In a Grove' Review: Kurosawa at the Opera House". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2022-03-04.
  23. ^ "Ovation Awards Nominees Announced". 22 September 2014. Archived from the original on 13 July 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2015.