News
UCONN Magazine features Kenneth Fuchs
UCONN, the alumni magazine of the University of Connecticut, featured Kenneth Fuchs, professor of music composition, in its summer 2019 issue. Read the article: Master Class »Fuchs CD receives GRAMMY® Award
The Recording Academy announced at the 61st annual awards ceremony in Los Angeles, February 10, 2019, that Kenneth Fuchs’s album “Piano Concerto ‘Spiritualist’; Poems of Life; Glacier; Rush” won the 2018 GRAMMY Award in the category Best Classical Compendium. Fuchs joined conductor JoAnn Falletta on the GRAMMY stage to accept the award, which also went to producer Tim Handley.Fifth disc with the London Symphony Orchestra
Click on photo to see a video about the recording.
Kenneth Fuchs continued his series of recordings with the London Symphony Orchestra on August 21–22, 2017, at Abbey Road Studios, along with conductor JoAnn Falletta, producer Tim Handley and engineer Jonathan Allen. The disc, released on August 10, 2018, includes three concerti and a song cycle for countertenor and orchestra:- Piano Concerto ("Spiritualist," After Three Paintings by Helen Frankenthaler), with pianist Jeffrey Biegel
- Poems of Life, (Twelve Poems by Judith G. Wolf for Countertenor, Violoncello and Orchestra), with countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen
- Rush (Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra), with saxophonist Timothy McAllister
- Glacier (Concerto for Electric Guitar and Orchestra), with guitarist D. J. Sparr
Fuchs composes bass trombone concerto
Kenneth Fuchs, Wesley Mayhew, bass trombone, and Adam R. WIlliamson, United States Coast Guard Band
A consortium of 21 outstanding bass trombonists commissioned Kenneth Fuchs to write a Bass Trombone Concerto. The Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Christian Lindberg and featuring soloist Randall Hawes, bass trombonist of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, performed the world première on December 15, 2018, at the Lätzsch Trombone Festival in Enschede, The Netherlands. Fuchs created versions for both orchestra and band. The United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own,” conducted by Leader and Commander Colonel Andrew J. Esch, performed the band version March 9, 2019, at the American Trombone Workshop. Bass trombonists Gerry Pagano (St. Louis Symphony Orchestra), John Rojak (American Brass Quintet), and Russ Zokaites (Morehead State University) shared the solo line.Russ Zokaites & Mark Gibson, College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati, Lead Commissioners
David Bobroff, Iceland Symphony Orchestra
Dennis Bubert, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra
Justin Clark, Berne Symphony Orchestra, Switzerland
Capt. Kenneth Collins & MU1 Michael J. Brown, United States Navy Band, Washington, D.C.
George Curran, New York Philharmonic & Rutgers University
Jeff Dee, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
Scott J. Dunn, Baldwin High School, Baldwin, New York
John Engelkes, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
Col. Andrew J. Esch & MSG Sam Woodhead, United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own,” Washington, D.C.
Kyle Gordon, Houston Grand Opera Orchestra
Randall Hawes, Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Col. Larry H. Lang & SMSgt Jay Heltzer, United States Air Force Band, Washington, D.C.
Gabriel Langfur, Boston University
James Markey, Boston Symphony Orchestra
Steve Norrell, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, New York City
Peter Norton, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Gerry Pagano, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra
John Rojak, American Brass Quintet
Nicholas Schwartz, New York City Ballet Orchestra
LCDr Adam R. Williamson & MU1 Wesley Mayhew, United States Coast Guard Band, New London, ConnecticutConcerto for alto saxophone published
Among the works featured on Kenneth Fuchs’s GRAMMY Award-winning album is Rush (Concerto for Alto Saxophone), which was commissioned by Ryan Janus, principal saxophonist of the United States Air Force Academy Band, and a consortium of saxophonists and ensemble conductors. The work is composed in a two-movement form, each about seven minutes in duration, connected by an extended cadenza for the saxophone soloist. The first movement, which begins with a short cadenza that introduces the thematic material of the work, is a rhapsodic Adagietto with transparent textures. The second movement, which begins with an extended cadenza that introduces blue notes into the harmonic language, is cast in the form of a jazz-inflected passacaglia with ten variations and a coda. Solo part and piano reduction available at Hal Leonard.Falling Man at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum
Baritone Jarrett Ott performs Falling Man
The National September 11 Memorial & Museum, as part of its commemoration of the 15th anniversary of 9/11, presented Falling Man at the museum on October 7, 2016. The performance, as a monodrama, featured baritone Jarrett Ott, musical direction by Kevin Stites, and projections using original photos from 9/11, including photos from the museum’s collection. The presentation was in artistic partnership with The Juilliard School and Steinway & Sons. Following the performance, Don DeLillo, the author of the text (adapted by J. D. McClatchy), joined artist Eric Fischl and Kenneth Fuchs in a discussion of artistic responses to the events of 9/11. See a video of the performance here »Surprised by Beauty: A Listener’s Guide to the Recovery of Modern Music
Surprised by Beauty by Robert R. Reilly has been released in a revised and expanded edition that devotes a chapter to the music of Kenneth Fuchs. The chapter collects previous writings (some quoted on the Reviews page of this website), including the following appreciations of the music of Kenneth Fuchs:- “There is little in contemporary music that is as directly expressive as the music of Kenneth Fuchs. It goes right to the heart and stays there. If you think America’s song has already been sung, you need to listen to him.”
- “Fuchs is an exemplar of the recovery of American music.”
- “He is endowed with a major melodic gift.”
- “Like Aaron Copland, Fuchs has a way of capturing the stirrings of the human heart and the yearnings of the soul in highly spirited, soaring music. His works carry within themselves an inimitably American sense of expectancy, of horizons glimpsed and striven for, and, finally, of boldly announced arrivals.”
U.S. Coast Guard Band records Fuchs band works
Lieutenant Commander Adam R. WIlliamson with Kenneth Fuchs
The United States Coast Guard Band, stationed at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, has recorded the complete band works of Kenneth Fuchs. Naxos will release the finished recording in August 2020. Band Director Lieutenant Commander Adam R. WIlliamson conducts- From the Field to the Sky
- Rush (Saxophone Concerto)
- On Silver Wings
- Burning Blue
- United Artists (for band)
- Forever Free (for band)
- Christina’s World
- Discover the Wild
- Point of Tranquility, composed especially for the Coast Guard Band