Paul Moravec, Composer

Paul Moravec was born in Buffalo, New York, and subsequently attended the Lawrenceville School, graduating in 1975. He received his B.A. in composition from Harvard University in 1980; while there, he performed with the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum, one of the Holden Choirs. He won the Prix de Rome and studied at the American Academy in Rome after graduating. He then received the Master of Music (1982) and Doctor of Musical Arts (1987) in composition, both from Columbia University.

Moravec has taught at Dartmouth College (1987–96) and Hunter College (1997–98). He is currently a University Professor in the music department at Adelphi University on Long Island, and also serves on the composition faculty at the Mannes School of Music, contributing to what The New York Times has called a "renaissance" in a college that went through academic and financial difficulties in the 1990s.

Mr. Moravec is regularly sought out by leading performing artists and ensembles. Performance highlights this season include Songs of Love and War with the Oratorio Society of New York at Carnegie Hall, The Time Gallery at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and Tempest Fantasy with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Recent world premieres include Anniversary Dances with the Ying Quartet; Atmosfera a Villa Aurelia with the Lark Quartet; Mark Twain Sez with cellist Matt Haimovitz; Cornopean Airs with the American Brass Quintet; The Time Gallery with eighth blackbird at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Morph with the String Orchestra of New York (SONYC); Cool Fire and Chamber Symphony for the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival; Capital Unknowns for the Albany Symphony; Everyone Sang for Troy Cook and the Marilyn Horne Foundation; Parables for the New York Festival of Song, Vita Brevis, a song cycle for tenor Paul Sperry; Useful Knowledge, a cantata commissioned by the American Philosophical Society for Ben Franklin's tercentenary; No Words, commissioned by Concert Artist Guild for pianist James Lent and the Gay Gotham Chorus; and two works for the Elements String Quartet.

Paul Moravec's discography includes Tempest Fantasy, performed by Trio Solisti with clarinetist David Krakauer, on Naxos American Classics; The Time Gallery, performed by eighth blackbird also on Naxos; Songs of Love and War for Chorus and Orchestra on a CD featuring The Dessoff Choirs & Orchestra; Sonata for Violin and Piano performed by the Bachmann/Klibonoff Duo for BMG/RCA Red Seal; Double Action, Evermore, and Ariel Fantasy, performed by the Bachmann/Klibonoff Duo on an Endeavour Classics CD entitled "The Red Violin."; Atmosfera a Villa Aurelia and Vince & Jan , performed by the Lark Quartet on an Endeavour Classics CD entitled "Klap Ur Handz"; Morph, performed by the String Orchestra of New York on an Albany disc, Spiritdance, an orchestral work on the Vienna Modern Masters label; an album of chamber compositions titled Circular Dreams on CRI; and Vita Brevis, with Paul Sperry, tenor, and the composer at the piano, on Albany Records.

Besides the Pulitzer Prize, Paul's music has earned numerous distinctions, including the Rome Prize Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, three awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Rockefeller Foundation. A graduate of Harvard College and Columbia University, he has taught at Columbia, Dartmouth, and Hunter College and currently holds the special position of University Professor at Adelphi University. He was reccently Paul Fromm Composer-in-Residence at the American Academy in Rome, served as Artist-in-Residence at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ, and also elected to membership in the American Philosophical Society