Rodney Lister

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Rodney Lister
Born31 May 1951
NationalityAmerican
Notable workFriendly Fire, The Harvest According, Of Mere Being, American Carnage
WebsiteOfficial website

Rodney Lister is an American composer, educator, and pianist. He currently lives in Somerville, Massachusetts.[1]

Biography[change | change source]

Rodney grew up in Nashville, where he was a student at Blair Academy and studied piano with Enid Katahn. He was a student at The New England Conservatory (Bachelor of Music Degree, with honors, 1973), where he studied composition with Malcolm Peyton and piano with Robert Helps, David Hagan, and Irma Wolpe. He was a Bernstein Fellow at The Tanglewood Music Centre in 1973, where he worked with Donald Martino, Lesley Bassett, Gyorgy Ligeti, and Peter Maxwell Davies. After living in London, where he studied privately with Peter Maxwell Davies, he attended Brandeis University (Master of Fine Arts Degree, 1977), studying with Arthur Berger and Harold Shapero. Later he returned to Brandeis and received a Doctorate Degree in 2000. He also studied with Davies at the Dartington Hall Summer School of Music (1975,1978, 1980-1982). He also studied privately with Virgil Thomson.[2][3]

Career[change | change source]

Rodney is on the composition faculty of the Boston University School of Music, and is the director of Time's Arrow, the School's New Music Ensemble. He also teaches at the Preparatory School of The New England Conservatory, where he is the chairman of the composition department and the director of the school's annual festival of contemporary music. He is also on the faculty of Greenwood Music Camp, where he is composer in residence.[4][5]

He has received commission and fellowships from The Fire of London, College New Music, The Fromm Foundation, The Tanglewood Music Center, The Koussevitzky Foundation at the Library of Congress, The Master Singer, Greenwood Music Camp, The MacDowell Colony, The Virginia Center of the Creative Arts, among others, and his works have been performed by Phyllis Curtin, Joel Smirnoff, Jane Manning the Ciara Quartet, the Blair Quartet, Rebecca Fischer, Jonah Sirota, Lucas Button, Norman Fischer, John Hollander, and Tammy Grimes among others.[6][7]

He has Written about the music of Arthur Berger, Virgil Thomson, and Peter Maxwell Davies, as well as numerous reviews in publications such as Tempo, American Music, and Sequenza 21.

Some of his former Students include: Jay Rauch,[8] Aaron Michael,[9] Stephen Feigenbaum,[10][11] Finn Mattingly,[12] Alex Rinn,[13] Samuel Beebe,[14] William Hawkins,[15] Ben Yee-Paulson,[16] Forrest Eimold, Lara Poe, among others.

Notable Works[change | change source]

• Somewhere To Get To (1996)

• The Harvest According (2004)

• Songs to Harvest (2006)[17]

• Friendly Fire (2012)[18]

• Complicated Grief (2014)

• Squares and Oblongs (2015)[19]

• Only Living (2017)

• The Four Seasons (2023)[20]

Recordings[change | change source]

• Faith Based Initiatives: Music by Rodney Lister, Charles Blandy (tenor), Jonah Sirota (viola), Chiara Quartet, Collage New Music, David Hoose (conductor). Metier CD. July 2022.[21]

• Expanding Spaces: Boston University Wind Ensemble, David J. Martins, Conductor. Summit Records #738, Feb. 2019.[22]

• A Christmas Album: Music by Rodney Lister, Charles Ives, Virgil Thomson, Conrad Susa and Carlisle Floyd. Performed by The Choir of the Church of Advent, The Harvard Glee Club and others. Arsis Audio CD #117.

• Somewhere to Get To: Music of Rodney Lister. Arsis Audio CD #144.

• American Music for Piano Four Hands: Music of Arthur Berger, Harold Shapero and Virgil Thomson, with Rodney Lister, David Kopp, pianist. New World Records #80536-2.

Publications[change | change source]

• Liner Notes for a recording by Craig Rutenberg of Portraits for Piano and other works by Virgil Thomson, 2016.

• Liner Notes for The Complete Songs of Virgil Thomson, New World Records.

• "BBC Proms 2013: Gerald Barry, Peter Eötvös, Nishat Kahn, Frederic Rzewski and Mark Anthony Turnage." Tempo, Vol. 68, No. 267 (January 2014), PP. 55-57.

• "CORRIGENDUM: Marc Blitzstein: His Life, His Work, His World." Tempo, Vol. 68, No0 267 (January 2014), p. 69.

• "Boston: John Harbison's Sixth Symphony." Tempo, Vol. 66, No. 260 (April 2012), p. 62.

• "New York, Gotham Chamber Opera: Nico Muhly's Dark Sisters'." Tempo, Vol.66, No.260 (April 2012), pp. 5-56.

• "Boston, Mass.: new concertos by Schuller and Birthwistle." Tempo, vol. 65, No. 257 (July 2011), pp. 69-70.

• "London, BBC Proms 2009: Glass, Andriessen, Vivier." Tempo, Vol. 64, No. 251 (January 2010), pp. 39-41.

• "Another Completely Interesting Opera" Part I Tempo, Vol. 64, No. 254 (Octuber 2010), ○ Part II Tempo, Vol. 65, No. 256 (April 2011).

• Boston: Elliott Carter Celebrations." Tempo, Vol. 63, No. 248 (April 2019), pp.48-50.

• "Proms 2008 (3): Carter, Hillborg, Messiaen, Chen Yi, Inspire." Tempo, Vol. 63, No. 247 (January 2009), pp. 51-54.

• "Boston: William Bolcom's Eighth Symphony." Tempo, Vol. 62, No. 245 (July 2008), pp.56-57.

• "Boston: Elliott Carter's Horn Concerto." Tempo, Vol. 62, No. 244 (April 2008), p. 33

References[change | change source]

  1. ↑ "Rodney Lister | College of Fine Arts". www.bu.edu. Retrieved 2024-01-25.
  2. ↑ "Rodney Lister". pfoho.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2024-01-25.
  3. ↑ "Rodney Lister". Collage New Music. Retrieved 2024-01-25.
  4. ↑ "Faculty". Greenwood Music Camp. Retrieved 2024-01-25.
  5. ↑ "Rodney Lister | New England Conservatory". necmusic.edu. Retrieved 2024-01-25.
  6. ↑ "Rodney Lister". Universal Edition. Retrieved 2024-01-25.
  7. ↑ "Rodney Lister". frommfoundation.fas.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2024-01-25.
  8. ↑ "Bio". JAY RAUCH composer/performer. Retrieved 2024-01-25.
  9. ↑ "Aaron Michael Smith - about". aaronmichaelcomp.myportfolio.com. Retrieved 2024-01-25.
  10. ↑ "Stephen Feigenbaum". From the Top. Retrieved 2024-01-25.
  11. ↑ "Stephen Feigenbaum, Composer". www.stephenfeigenbaum.com. Retrieved 2024-01-25.
  12. ↑ "About". Finn Mattingly. Retrieved 2024-01-25.
  13. ↑ "Bio". Alexa Rinn, composer. Retrieved 2024-01-25.
  14. ↑ "2014 | Samuel Beebe". Boston Choral Ensemble. Retrieved 2024-01-25.
  15. ↑ "2018 Alba Festival Composition Fellows". ALBA MUSIC FESTIVAL COMPOSITION PROGRAM. Retrieved 2024-01-25.
  16. ↑ "Ben Yee-Paulson". Navona Records. Retrieved 2024-01-25.
  17. ↑ "RODNEY LISTER (b. 1951)Songs to Harvest (2006): Texts by Catullus, Hölderlin, and David Ferry". Oxford Academic. Retrieved 2024-01-25.
  18. ↑ Nelson-King, Peter (2013). "Boston, Longy School of Music: Rodney Lister's 'Friendly Fire'". Tempo. 67 (266): 70–73. ISSN 0040-2982.
  19. ↑ "The Story behind the BU Wind Ensemble's New Album, Expanding Spaces". Boston University. Retrieved 2024-01-25.
  20. ↑ DeVoto, Mark (2023-04-17). "Collage Outs Three Works and Reprises One". The Boston Musical Intelligencer. Retrieved 2024-01-25.
  21. ↑ "Announcing A Second Release from Composer Rodney Lister | Divine Art Recordings". Divine Art Recording Group. Retrieved 2024-01-25.
  22. ↑ "Expanding Spaces – Boston University Wind Ensemble, David J. Martins, Conductor". Summit Records. Retrieved 2024-01-25.
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