News
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, includes three concerti and a song cycle for countertenor and orchestra:
- Concerto for Piano and Orchestra ("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 commissioned to compose bass trombone concerto
A consortium of 20 outstanding bass trombonists from throughout the United States and Europe has 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, will perform the world première on December 15, 2018, at the Lätzsch Trombone Festival in Enschede, The Netherlands. Fuchs will create versions for both orchestra and band. The band version will be performed March 9, 2019, at the American Trombone Workshop with The United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own” conducted by Leader and Commander Colonel Andrew J. Esch, featuring bass trombonists George Curran (New York Philharmonic), John Rojak (American Brass Quintet), and Russ Zokaites (Cincinnati College-Conservatory) sharing the solo line.Violinist Julie Rosenfeld commissions and records “Duo for Violin and Piano”
When violinist Julie Rosenfeld accepted her faculty position at the University of Missouri in 2014, she commissioned Kenneth Fuchs and five other American composers to compose works especially for her. In spring 2016, she performed all six works at the University of Missouri, and in 2017 she performed them on the campuses of the commissioned composers. Rosenfeld and her faculty colleague pianist Peter Miyamoto recorded the six works in New York with five-time GRAMMY® Award-winning producer Judith Sherman; all six composers were present. The recording is available on the Albany label (1717). The Music Publishers Association, sponsor of the 2018 Paul Revere Awards for Graphic Excellence, awarded the score first prize in the category "Solos Notesetting, with accompaniment."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.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, is recording the complete band works of Kenneth Fuchs. Naxos will release the finished recording in 2019. 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