David Del Tredici

After making his piano debut with the San Francisco Symphony at 17, he went on to receive a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley and an M.F.A. in 1964 from Princeton University, studying with composers Earl Kim, Seymour Shifrin, and Roger Sessions.

His early work drew from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland for inspiration, covering a wide variety of musical styles and forms. He was awarded a Pulitzer prize in 1980 for "In Memory of a Summer Day," the first part of Child Alice. Themes of his later works include literature -- notably, Victorian works, contemporary poets, and the works of James Joyce, Allen Ginsberg, Rumi, Federico García Lorca, Thom Gunn, Paul Monette, Colette Inez, and Bram Stoker -- his own personal stories, and his life as a homosexual.

While trained in serial technique, Del Tredici now writes in a tonal style; he is one of the clearest exemplars of neoromanticism.

In addition to the Pulitzer Prize, he has also received a Guggenheim Fellowship and Woodrow Wilson fellowship, a Brandeis Creative Arts Award, a Friedheim Award, grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, and election to the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. His works are regularly commissioned by major orchestras in America and abroad. His "On Wings of Song" was premiered in New York City in 2004 as part of the Riverside Opera Ensemble's 20th Anniversary Concert.

His notable students include John Adams and Tison Street.

Notable works

• Six Songs for voice and piano (text by James Joyce) (1959)
• An Alice Symphony (1969)
• Final Alice, an opera in concert form for soprano, folk ensemble, and orchestra (1976)
• Child Alice ("In Memory of a Summer Day", "Happy Voices", "In the Golden Afternoon", "Quaint Events") for soprano and orchestra (1980 - 81)
• Gay Life (1996-2000)
• The Spider and The Fly for high soprano, high baritone, and orchestra (1998)
• Paul Revere's Ride for Amplified Soprano Solo, SATB Chorus, and Orchestra (2005)

External links

• Official Website
• Boosey & Hawkes biography
• American Mavericks interview
• NewMusicBox: David Del Tredici in conversation with Frank J. Oteri, 2003
• Final Alice program notes, from The Kennedy Center