Biography

Elliott Schwartz was born in New York City and studied composition with Otto Luening and Jack Beeson at Columbia University. Since 1964 he has taught at Bowdoin College, where he holds the Robert K. Beckwith Professorship of Music. He has also held extended visiting residencies at the University of California (Santa Barbara and San Diego campuses), Harvard University, Ohio State University, the London College of Music, Trinity College of Music (UK), and Cambridge University (UK). Schwartz has served as president of the College Music Society, Vice-President of the American Music Center, and national chair of the Society of Composers, Inc. (SCI).

Schwartz's compositions have been performed by such groups as the Minnesota Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Chicago Chamber Orchestra, and the Youth Orchestra of the Netherlands; they have also been featured at numerous international music centers and festivals including Tanglewood, the Library of Congress, Monday Evening Concerts (Los Angeles), Spoleto Festival (Charleston), the Bath, York and Kings Lynn Festivals (England), DeIjsbreker (Amsterdam), Music of the Americas (London), "Leningrad Spring", International Double Reed Festival (Rotterdam), and the European Youth Orchestra Festival (Copenhagen). Recent appearances as guest composer-lecturer include New York (Merkin Hall, NYU, SUNY/Stony Brook, and the Museum of Modern Art), Berkeley (Sounds New), Boston (Extension Works, Tufts), London (Royal Academy of Music, and the Institute for United States Studies/University of London), the Tokyo College of Music, the Reykjavik Conservatory (Iceland), and the Weimar Hochschule (Germany).

In addition to composing, Schwartz has written extensively on musical topics. His books include "The Symphonies of Ralph Vaughan Williams","Music: Ways of Listening","Electronic Music: A Listener's Guide","Music since 1945" (of which he is co-author with Daniel Godfrey) and the anthology"Contemporary Composers on Contemporary Music" (which he co-edited with the late Barney Childs). His compositions are published by G. Schirmer, Carl Fischer, MMB, and Theodore Presser; CD recordings of his music can be heard on the New World, CRI, Capstone, Innova, Vienna Modern Masters and GM labels.

In the coming 2003-2004 season, Schwartz will appear as guest composer-performer in New York, London, Boston and Baltimore, and will hold residencies at Rutgers University, Goldsmiths College (University of London), and Oxford University (UK). In addition, he will travel to Germany to introduce his new chamber work By George at the international "Handel MusikTage (held in the city of Halle, Handel's birthplace). A CD recording of Schwartz's orchestral music will be released by Albany Records in 2004.

Further Information

• Pan Pipes 2004-2005 Annual American Composer Update
• Pan Pipes 2003-2004 Annual American Composer Update
• Pan Pipes 2002-2003 Annual American Composer Update
• Pan Pipes 2001-2002 Annual American Composer Update
• Pan Pipes 2000-2001 Annual American Composer Update
• Pan Pipes 1999-2000 Annual American Composer Update
• Elliott Schwartz's website www.schwartzmusic.com

Contact Information
P.O. Box 451
South Freeport, ME 04078
E-mail: eschwar@bowdoin.edu