(b Berlin, 15 Aug 1922). American composer, conductor and pianist of German parentage. He studied in Berlin, Paris (1933-7) and with Scalero and Thompson at the Curtis Institute, as well as with Hindemith at Yale (1939-40). In 1953 he was appointed professor of music at UCLA. He was music director of the Buffalo PO (1963-70) and in 1971 became conductor of the Brooklyn PO, introducing much new music. From 1981 to 1986 he was also music director of the Milwaukee SO. As a programme planner and conductor he has been unorthodox. His early music, with neo-classical and American folk elements, made his reputation as a composer, but in the late 1950s he began working with improvisation, and his subsequent works draw on diverse modernisms, including electronics.
Foss, Lukas (fôs), 1922-2009, American composer, pianist, and conductor, b. Berlin as Lukas Fuchs. He came to the United States in 1937, attended the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, studied conducting with Serge Koussevitzky and composition with Paul Hindemith at Yale, and became a citizen in 1942. His composition Four Inventions, for piano, was published when he was 15. In 1957, while a professor of composition at the Univ. of California, Los Angeles, he founded the Improvisation Chamber Ensemble, which performed many of his experimental works. From 1963 to 1970 he was music director and conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, where he became noted for performing avant-garde compositions. Teaching at the State Univ. of New York at Buffalo during this period, he also founded (1963) its Center for Creative and Performing Arts. In 1971 he was named music director of what became the Brooklyn Philharmonic, transforming a community ensemble into a significant New York orchestra; he remained in the post until 1990. He also directed the Jerusalem Symphony (1972-76) and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (1980-86).
As a composer, Foss created a wide variety of works in a great many musical forms. He was initially influenced by American composers, notably Aaron Copland, and produced traditional works such as The Tempest (1942), an orchestral suite; The Prairie (1944), a cantata based on Carl Sandburg's poem; and Griffelkin (1955), an opera. His later interest in improvisational techniques and aleatory music is reflected in such works as his chamber piece Elytres (1964). Still later, he turned to minimalism and a postmodern eclecticism, as in his Renaissance Concerto (1986).
Bibliography
See K. L. Perone, Lukas Foss: A Bio-Bibliography (1991).
Representative Albums: "Piano Concertos, Elegy for Anne Frank," "Echoi"
Biography
American composer, conductor and educator, Lukas Foss, has contributed profoundly to the circulation and appreciation of music from the 20th century. He began his musical studies in Berlin, where he studied piano and theory with Julius Goldstein (Herford). Goldstein introduced Foss to the music of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven, which proved to have a profound effect on Foss's musical development. In 1933, Foss went to Paris, where he studied piano with Lazare Levy, as well as composition with Noel Gallon, orchestration with Felix Wolfes and flute with Marcel Moyse. Foss remained in Paris until 1937, when he moved, with his family, to the United States, where he continued his musical instruction at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. In addition to his Curtis studies, Foss studied conducting with Koussevitzky during the summers from 1939 to 1943 at the Berkshire Music Center. He also studied composition with Paul Hindemith as a special student at Yale from 1939 to 1940.
Foss began to compose at the age of 15, and at the age of 22, won the New York Music Critic's Award for his cantata, Prairie, which was premiered by the Collegiate Chorale, under the direction of Robert Shaw. From 1944-50, Foss served as the pianist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In 1945, he was the youngest composer ever to receive a Guggenheim fellowship. From 1950-51, he was a fellow at the American Academy in Rome, and received a Fulbright grant for 1950-52.
In February of 1953, Foss received an appointment as professor of music at the University of California at Los Angeles, where he taught composition and conducting. While at UCLA, Foss founded the Improvisation Chamber Ensemble. He served from 1963-1970 as music director and conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1963, at the State University of New York at Buffalo, Foss founded, and became the director of, the Center for Creative and Performing Arts. He has also traveled widely, appearing as a guest conductor with many American and European Orchestras, and lecturing at many North American colleges and universities.
In 1971, Foss became the conductor of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, a position which he held until 1990, when he was named Conductor-Laureate. In 1972, he was appointed conductor of the Kol Israel Orchestra of Jerusalem. From 1972-3, Foss served as composer-in-residence at the Manhattan School of Music in New York, and from 1981-86, was conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony.
Foss is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and, from 1989-90, served as composer in residence at the Tanglewood Music Center. Foss became Professor of Music at the School for the Arts at Boston University in 1991.
The compositions of Lukas Foss illustrate two main periods in his artistic development, separated by a transitional phase, which is characterized by controlled improvisation. The works of the first period are predominantly neo-classic and eclectic in style, which he infused with elements of American popularism. The transitional period began in 1956 when he began to formulate what he referred to as "system and chance music" for his work with the Improvisation Chamber Ensemble. This led to an abandonment of tonality and the classical fixed forms in favor of serialism, indeterminacy and graphic notation. ~ Stephen Kingsbury, All Music Guide
Lukas Foss was born in Berlin, Germany in 1922. He studied with Julius Goldstein-Herford. After the rise of Nazism in Germany, he and his family moved to Paris in 1933, where he studied piano with Lazare Lévy, composition with Noël Gallon, orchestration with Felix Wolfes, and flute with Louis Moyse. In 1937 he moved to the United States, where he changed his name to Lukas Foss. He studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, with Isabelle Vengerova (piano), Rosario Scalero (composition) and Fritz Reiner (conducting). He also studied with Sergei Koussevitzky during the summers from 1939 to 1943 at the Berkshire Music Center (now known as the Tanglewood Music Center) and, as a special student, composition with Paul Hindemith at Yale University from 1939 to 1940.[1] He became an American citizen in 1942.[2]
^ Passenger list of the S.S. Volendam, port of New York, 21 September 1939. Passenger list of the S.S. Mauretania, port of New York, 15 October 1951. Revisiting 'The Prairie', The New Yorker, July 23, 2007.
