As the Young Concert Artists Composer-in-Residence, 22-year-old composer Chris Rogerson is given two commissions to write for artists on the YCA roster.  The second work is written for violinist Benjamin Beilman who will give its premiere performances in his debut concerts in the 2011-2012 Young Concert Artists Series at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC and in New York at Merkin Concert Hall.

In addition to Mr. Rogerson receiving a First Music commission from the New York Youth Symphony, to be performed at Carnegie Hall this season, the Grand Rapids Symphony (MI) will perform his works Noble Pond, A Prayer for Spring, and Luminosity and his new work Air, written for Robert Belinic, will be premiered at the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts (VA) and performed at the Kravis Center for Performing Arts (FL). His work Noble Pond was performed this summer at the Aspen Music Festival as winner of the 2011 Jacob Druckman award, and Oaken Sky was premiered by the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra.   Premieres in the 2009-10 season included Lullaby: no bad dreams for violin and piano, commissioned by “Curtis on Tour,” which was performed by Curtis’s contemporary music ensemble, “Curtis 20/21” at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York The Ravinia Festival (IL), Longwood Gardens (PA), the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts (CA), University of California, Davis, and venues in Detroit, Seattle, Rockport and Orno in Maine.  Other commissions last season included Night and the City by the Amherst Symphony Orchestra, and Luminosity, by the Buffalo Philharmonic.

Mr. Rogerson’s music has been performed by the JACK Quartet, the VERGE ensemble, Third Angle New Music Ensemble, the Norfolk Contemporary Ensemble, the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, and by members of the New World Symphony.  Recently awarded a MacDowell Colony fellowship and the winner of the New York Art Ensemble 2010 Composition Competition, Mr. Rogerson has also been 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, 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 the Music from Angel Fire Festival (NM) in 2009, and was a guest composer at the Vivace String Camp (NY) in 2009 and the Chautauqua Institute in 2008.

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 degree at the Curtis Institute of Music, studying composition with Jennifer Higdon.  He is currently pursuing a Master’s degree at Yale University studying composition with Aaron Jay Kernis and Martin Bresnick.  Mr. Rogerson has participated in composition master classes with John Corigliano, Osvaldo Golijov, Michael Tilson Thomas, William Bolcom, Krystof Penderecki, and Christopher Theofanidis.     

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

Oaken Sky for Orchestra (8 minutes)
(2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, timpani, 2 percussion, harp, piano / celesta, strings)
Written for the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra in 2011, to be premiered on August 3rd, 2011 at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium. 

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

Air for solo guitar (6 minutes)
Written for Robert Belenić, to be premiered November 2011 at the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts.

Bradwell-on-the-Sea for solo cello (12 minutes)
Commissioned by Brook Speltz, premiered on March 21, 2011 at Sprague Memorial Hall at Yale University.

‘Til it was dark for solo piano (15 minutes)
Commissioned by Young Concert Artists, Inc., written for Charlie Albright, premiered February 14, 2011 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.

Quiet Song and Exaltation (6 minutes)
Commissioned by Richard Andaya in 2010

Simple Prayers for solo clarinet (6-7 minutes)

Commissioned by Ruokai Chen in 2010

Premiered at the Curtis Institute of Music

in passing for mixed chamber ensemble (7 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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