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Biography
Lukas Foss (August 15, 1922 – February 1, 2009) was a German-born United States|American composer , conducting|conductor , and pianist.
Music career
Foss was born Lukas Fuchs in Berlin , Germany in 1922. His father was the philosopher and scholar Martin Foss|Martin Fuchs . 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 with his parents and brother to the United States, where his father (on advice from the Quakers who had taken the family in upon arrival in Philadelphia) changed the family name from Fuchs to Foss . He studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia , with Isabelle Vengerova (piano), Rosario Scalero (composition) and Fritz Reiner (conducting).
At Curtis, Foss began a lifelong friendship with classmate Leonard Bernstein , who later described Foss as an "authentic genius". In 1961 Bernstein would conduct the premiere of Foss's Time Cycle , while Foss would conduct the premiere of Bernstein's Symphonic Dances from West Side Story .Rubin, Susan G: Music Was It: Young Leonard Bernstein (2011). Watertown, MA. Charlesbridge. ISBN: 9781580893442. Page 142-3.
Foss 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.cite news|title=Obituary for Composer Lukas Foss|work= Opera News |author=|date=July 2009, vol 74, no. 1|accessdate= June 20, 2009 He became an American citizen in 1942.cite news|url= http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/02/arts/music/02foss.html? _r=2| title=Lukas Foss, Composer at Home in Many Stylistic Currents, Dies at 86|work=New York Times|author=Allan Kozinn| date=March 29, 1998|accessdate=June 20, 2009
Foss was appointed professor of music at University of California, Los Angeles|UCLA in 1953, replacing Arnold Schoenberg . While there he founded the Improvisation Chamber Ensemble , which made its Boston debut in 1962 for the Peabody Mason Concert series. Christian Science Monitor , 23 March 1962, Louis Chapin, "Lukas Foss at Sanders", Boston He founded the Center for Creative and Performing Arts in 1963 while at the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York|State University of New York at Buffalo .
From 1963 to 1970 he was Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra . From 1971-1988 he was Music Director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic (formerly Brooklyn Philharmonia). From 1981 to 1986, he was conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra . He was a Professor of Music, Theory, and Composition at Boston University beginning in 1991. His notable students include Faye-Ellen Silverman , Claire Polin and Rocco Di Pietro .
He is grouped in the "Boston school" along with ArthurBerger , Irving Fine , Alexei Haieff , Harold Shapero , and Claudio Spies .
He was a National Patron of Delta Omicron , an international professional music fraternity. http://delta-omicron.org/index00.html Delta OmicronFailed verification|date=April 2010
Lukas Foss died at his home in Manhattan on February 1, 2009, aged 86, from a heart attack.
Wife: Cornelia Brendel Foss, artist/painter; born in Berlin in 1931, married in 1951Passenger 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. http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2007/07/23/070723ta_talk_mead Revisiting 'The Prairie', The New Yorker , July 23, 2007.
Son: Christopher Brendel Foss, documentary filmmaker, corporate consultant on social and environmental engagement/sustainability communications
http://www.newalbion.com/artists/fossl/ New Albion Artists: Lukas Foss
http://amherstsaxophonequartet.buffalo.edu/Foss.htm Lukas Foss Lecture A Twentieth-Century Composer's Confessions about the Creative Process
http://artofthestates.org/cgi-bin/composer.pl? comp=122 Art of the States: Lukas Foss
Interviews
http://musicmavericks.publicradio.org/features/rafiles/interviews/interview_foss.ram Lukas Foss interview by Gabrielle Zuckerman , from American Mavericks site
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php? storyId=100334791 Lukas Foss interview by Terry Gross , from Fresh Air program, originally broadcast October 7, 1987
http://www.bruceduffie.com/foss.html Interview with Lukas Foss by Bruce Duffie, February 2, 1987
Persondata | NAME = Foss, Lukas | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = | DATE OF BIRTH = August 15, 1922 | PLACE OF BIRTH = Berlin, Germany | DATE OF DEATH = February 1, 2009 | PLACE OF DEATH = New York City DEFAULTSORT:Foss, Lukas Category:20th-century classical composers Category:21st-century classical composers Category:Jewish American classical musicians Category:Jewish American classical composers Category:American musicians of German descent Category:American composers Category:American conductors (music) Category:German composers Category:German conductors (music) Category:Contemporary classical music performers Category:American people of German-Jewish descent Category:Guggenheim Fellows Category:Curtis Institute of Music alumni Category:University at Buffalo alumni Category:German emigrants to Israel Category:German emigrants to the United States Category:People from Berlin Category:Rome Prize winners Category:Deaths from myocardial infarction Category:1922 births Category:2009 deaths
