Louis Karchin


Louis Karchin is an American composer, conductor and educator who has composed over 90 works including unaccompanied and chamber music, symphonic works and opera.
Karchin was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and is Professor of Music at New York University. He received a B. Mus. degree from the Eastman School of Music, an M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University, and was twice a Leonard Bernstein Fellow at Tanglewood. His principal teachers included Samuel Adler, Joseph Schwantner, Leon Kirchner, Earl Kim and Gunther Schuller.
WWW louiskarchin.com

Composer

Karchin's music has been recognized by awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. He has received commissions from the Serge Koussevitzky, Fromm, and Barlow Foundations.
His 70-minute chamber opera, Romulus, a setting of the Alexandre Dumas, père play, was premiered at the Peter B. Lewis Theatre of the Guggenheim Museum in May, 2007" and subsequently issued on a Naxos CD. Other major works include American Visions, a vocal-instrumental song-cycle on poems of Yevgeny Yevtushenko, and a masque, Orpheus, based on a poem by Stanley Kunitz. Of the latter, critic Jules Langert wrote of its San Francisco premiere that "he music seemed in constant flux, creating strong, richly textured sonorities… and brilliant splashes of color; this Orpheus floated on an incandescent fabric of sound."

Conductor

Active as a conductor and presenter of new music, Karchin co-founded the Harvard Group for New Music, the Chamber Players of the League-ISCM, and the Orchestra of the League of Composers. With these groups, he conducted New York or world premieres of works by Elliott Carter, Charles Wuorinen, Joan Tower, Julia Wolfe, Milton Babbitt, Bernard Rands, David Rakowski, Arthur Kreiger, and Jason Treuting, among others.

Selected compositions

Two Lyrics for Solo Cello Four Songs on Poems of Seamus Heaney for soprano and chamber ensembleEvocations clarinet and percussionChamber Symphony Three Epigrams for piano compilation of Celebration, Expressions, and UpheavalsThe Gods of Winter Poetry by Dana Gioia for baritone and chamber ensembleChesapeake Festival Overture for orchestra. Commissioned by the Fromm Foundation at Harvard for the Chesapeake Symphony and the Alba Music Festival.Rhapsody for violin and pianoMatrix and Dream Poetry of Paul Auster, for soprano and piano, commissioned by Works & Process at the Guggenheim Orpheus A masque for baritone, chamber ensemble and dancers. Poetry by Stanley KunitzTo the Sun Orphic Hymn circa 300 A. D., for soprano and pianoTo the Stars Orphic Hymn circa 300 A. D. for a cappella chorusCarmen de Boheme for soprano and pianoGhost Waltz for pianoQuartet for Percussion Commissioned by the Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation of the Library of Congress for the Talujon Percussion QuartetAmerican Visions: Two Songs on Poems of Yevgeny Yevtushenko Heckscher Foundation Award, 1999String Quartet No. 2 Rustic Dances violin, clarinet and marimbaSonata da Camera for violin and pianoRicercare violin, unaccompaniedGalactic Folds for chamber ensembleString Quartet Romulus, an opera in one act, based on a play by Alexander Dumas Prizewinner, National Opera Association, 1990 Chamber Opera CompetitionSonata for Violoncello and Piano Songs of Distance and Light for soprano and chamber ensemble. Poetry by Elizabeth Bishop and Jennifer RoseFive Songs on Poems of Sue Standing Songs of John Keats for soprano and chamber ensembleViola Variations for viola and piano Capriccio for violin and seven instruments. First prize winner, New Music Consort Competition, 1981Fantasy for violin or viola solo

Selected recordings

Five Compositions
  • Jane Eyre Naxos 2019Dark Mountains/Distant Lights To the Sun and Stars
  • Romulus an opera in one act. Katrina Thurman, Steven Ebel, Thomas Meglioranza, Wilbur Pauley, Washington Square Ensemble, Karchin conducting. Matrix: Music of Louis Karchin. Albany Records ; Roethke Songs, Fanfare/Pavane, Fanfare for Marty, Voyages, Quartet for Percussion, Plaint, Matrix and Dream - poem of Paul AusterOrpheus and Other Vocal Works. Albany Records American Visions New World Records Rustic Dances, American Visions: Two Songs on Poems of Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Cascades, Sonata da camera, A Way Separate…, String Quartet #2 Music of Louis Karchin New World/CRI Galactic Folds, Songs of Distance and Light, Ricercare, ''Sonata for Violoncello and Piano''