John Corigliano
From Free net encyclopedia
John Corigliano (born February 16, 1938) is an American composer of classical music. He is a former student of Otto Luening, Vittorio Giannini, and Paul Creston. His students include Eric Whitacre, Elliot Goldenthal, Avner Dorman, Mason Bates, Jefferson Friedman, among others.
Most of Corigliano's work has been for full symphony orchestra. He employs a wide variety of styles, sometimes even within the same work, but aims to make his work accessible to a relatively large audience.
He has written three symphonies (orchestra, string orchestra, and wind band respectively), concertos for clarinet, flute, violin, oboe, and piano, film scores, various chamber works (including a string quartet), and an opera, The Ghosts of Versailles.
In 1991 he was awarded the Grawemeyer Award for his Symphony No.1. In 2001 he received the Pulitzer Prize for his Symphony No. 2 for String Orchestra. Oscar-nominated for best score for Altered States (1980), his score for the motion picture The Red Violin won an Academy Award 1999. In 2003, he expanded that score into his first Violin Concerto.
Corigliano comes from a musical family. His father was concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic for 23 years, and his mother played piano. He studied composition at Columbia University and at the Manhattan School of Music.
His partner is fellow composer Mark Adamo.