21-year-old American composer Chris Rogerson is the newly chosen Young Concert Artists Composer-in-Residence.  Mr. Rogerson will be commissioned to write two works for musicians on the Young Concert Artists roster.  Each will give the premiere performances in their Young Concert Artists Series debuts at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC and in New York at Merkin Concert Hall, beginning this season with pianist Charlie Albright.

2010 has been a prolific year for Mr. Rogerson so far, with many exciting premieres, including Lullaby: no bad dreams for violin and piano, commissioned by “Curtis on Tour,” which was performed at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York and at other venues across the country.  Other commissions include Night and the City, for the Amherst Symphony Orchestra, and Luminosity, for the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.  Winner of the New York Art Ensemble 2010 Composition Competition, Mr. Rogerson’s String Quartet No. 1 was premiered by the JACK Quartet at the Tribeca New Music Festival at Merkin Concert Hall.

Mr. Rogerson’s music has been performed by the VERGE ensemble, Third Angle New Music Ensemble, the Norfolk Contemporary Ensemble, the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, and by members of the New World Symphony.  He was the recipient of the 2009 Presser Music Award, the 2008 Morton Gould Young Composer Award from ASCAP and has won prizes from the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts, the National Association for Music Education, the New York Art Ensemble, and counter)induction, a composer/performer collective.  He was a fellow at the Aspen Music Festival in 2010 and Yale School of Music's Norfolk New Music Workshop in 2008, the Young Composer-in-Residence at Music from Angel Fire Festival in 2009, and was a guest composer at the Vivace String Camp in 2009 and the Chautauqua Institute in 2008.  Mr. Rogerson has participated in the Bowdoin Music Festival, the California Summer Music, the Cleveland Institute of Music Young Composers' Program, June in Buffalo, and the European Youth Summer Music Festival.

Born in 1988 in Amherst, New York, Mr. Rogerson started playing the piano at the age of two and the cello at eight.  He graduated with a Bachelor’s in Music at the Curtis Institute of Music, studying composition with Jennifer Higdon, and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree at Yale University.  Mr. Rogerson has participated in composition master classes with John Corigliano, Aaron Jay Kernis, Osvaldo Golijov, Michael Tilson Thomas, William Bolcom, Krystof Penderecki, and Christopher Theofanidis.  An avid sports fan, he wrote the fight song Ring the Bell, Fightin’ Phils, for the Philadelphia Phillies, to celebrate their 2008 World Series win. 

Instrumental - Large Ensemble

Luminosity for orchestra (5 minutes)

 (2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, tuba, timpani, 2 percussion, harp, and strings)

Commissioned by the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in 2010

Night and the City for orchestra (6 minutes)

(2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, tuba, timpani, 2 percussion, harp, and strings)

Commissioned by the Amherst Symphony Orchestra in 2010

Noble Pond for orchestra (7 to 8 minutes)

(2 flutes (2^nd doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, tuba, timpani, 3 percussion, harp, and strings)

Premiered by the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, Kuok-man Lio, conductor, 2009

A Prayer for Spring for orchestra (5 minutes)

(piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, tuba, timpani, 3 percussion, harp, piano, and strings)

Premiered by the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, JoAnn Falletta, conductor, 2009

Blitzkrieg for orchestra (10 minutes)

(piccolo, 2 flutes, 3 oboes, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 2 trombones, bass trombone, tuba, timpani, 3 percussion, harp, celeste, and strings)

Performed by the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Robert Franz, conductor, 2008

Premiered by the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, Kuok-man Lio, conductor, 2007

Instrumental – Solo and Chamber

Simple Prayers for solo clarinet (6-7 minutes)

Commissioned by Ruokai Chen in 2010

Premiered at the Curtis Institute of Music

Leaf for mixed chamber ensemble (5-6 minutes)

(for flute, clarinet, violin, violoncello, piano, percussion)

Premiered at Aspen Music Festival by Aspen Contemporary Ensemble in 2010

Meditation and Caprice for solo viola (6 minutes)

Commissioned by Milena Pajaro van-de-Stadt in 2010

A Song for a Friend for cello and piano (4 minutes)

Commissioned by Natalie Helm in 2010

Lullaby: no bad dreams for violin and piano (7 minutes)

Commissioned by Curtis-on-Tour for Ben Beilman and Yekwon Soo

Performed at venues including Jazz at Lincoln Center and the Library of Congress in 2010

String Quartet No. 1 (12 minutes)

- 2010 New York Art Ensemble Composition Contest Winner

Commissioned by Music from Angel Fire, Ida Kavafian, Director

Performed at venues including Merkin Concert Hall in New York in 2010

Brothers for piano trio (10 minutes)

-2009 counter)induction composition competition winner

Premiered at the Tenri Cultural Center in New York City in 2010

Fractured Light for viola and piano (18 minutes)

Commissioned by the Curtis Institute of Music in 2008

Noble Pond for piano (7 minutes)

Premiered by pianist Hans Boepple in Pebble Beach, California in 2008

Willing for mixed chamber ensemble (10 minutes)

Premiered by the Yale Contemporary Ensemble, Julian Pellicano, conductor, 2008

Four Autumn Landscapes for clarinet and piano (17 minutes)

-2008 ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composers Award

Premiered by clarinetist Yao Zhai

Performed at venues including Chamber Music Northwest

Five Elegies for Piano Quintet (33 minutes)

-2007 National Foundation for the Advancement of the ARTSaward Winner

Premiered at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia in 2006

Piano Sonata No. 1 (7 minutes)

-2006 New York State Schools Music Association Composition Contest Winner

Premiered at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY in 2006

Meditation: Duo for violin and cello (10 minutes)

Premiered by Helen Kim and David Kealhofer in Pebble Beach, California in 2005

Exodus: Sonata for Unaccompanied Cello (15 minutes)

-2005 National Association for Music Education Composition Contest Winner

Vocal

Aberrant Rain for tenor, clarinet, cello, and piano (5 minutes)

Birches for baritone and chamber orchestra (10 minutes)

-2007 National Foundation for the Advancement of the ARTSaward Winner

Little Boy Blue for tenor and piano (5 minutes)

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