John Harbison
Composer John Harbison is artistic co-director of the Token Creek Chamber Music Festival. Among his principal works are three string quartets, large orchestral works, three operas, and a cantata, "The Flight Into Egypt," which earned him the Pulitzer Prize (1987). Other awards include the Kennedy Center Friedheim First Prize (1980), a MacArthur Fellowship (1989), and the Heinz Award (1997). Harbsion has been composer-in-residence with the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Tanglewood, Marlboro, Aspen, Ojai, and Santa Fe Festivals, and the American Academy in Rome. Fifty of his pieces have been recorded on Nonesuch, Northeastern, Harmonia Mundi, New World, Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, Koch, Albany, and CRI labels. His opera, The Great Gatsby, received its first performance December 20, 1999 at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Four Psalms, for the fiftieth anniversary of the State of Israel, was presented by the Chicago Symphony and Chorus in April 1999. Premieres in 2001 include Partita with the Minnesota Orchestra, and the ensemble version of North and South with the Chicago Chamber Musicians. Harbison has conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the Cantata Singers, and the Handel and Haydn Society. For many years he has been principal guest conductor of Emmanuel Music, Boston, leading performances of Bach cantatas, seventeenth century motets, and contemporary music. Harbison is Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He serves on the board of directors of the Koussevitsky Foundation and is President of the Copland Fund.