Lansing McLoskey

Website:
www.lansingmcloskey.com

Described as "A major talent...and a deep thinker with a great ear" by the American Composers Orchestra, Lansing McLoskey (b.1964) came to the world of composition via a somewhat unorthodox route. The proverbial "Three B's" for him were not Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, but rather The Beatles, Bauhaus and Black Flag. His first experiences in composition were not exercises in counterpoint, but rather as the guitarist and songwriter for punk rock bands in the San Francisco Bay Area in the early 1980's. It was actually through these years in the visceral world of punk that he first developed a love for classical music (but that's another story).

McLoskey has had his music performed to critical acclaim across the U.S. and in twelve other countries on six continents. He has received dozens of commissions and grants, including from Meet The Composer, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Fromm Foundation, ASCAP, the Barlow Endowment, Music At The Anthology, violist Leticia Oaks-Strong of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and many others. Among his national and international awards are the Omaha Symphony International New Music Competition (First Prize), the Kenneth Davenport National Competition for Orchestral Works (First Prize), the Charles Ives Center Orchestral Composition Competition, the Lee Ettelson Composers Award, Paris New Music Review International Composition Competition (First Prize), SCI/ASCAP National Student Composition Competition (First Prize), the Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and an NFAA Astral Career Grant. He has written for and been performed by such renowned ensembles as The Hilliard Ensemble, Speculum Musicae, and the New Millennium Ensemble. Recent performances include the premiere of "The Madding Crowd" by Triton Brass at Tanglewood, a performance of "OK-OK" at the XVIII International Jazz Festival in Lima, Peru, and a performance of "Theft" at the International Contemporary Art Festival in León, Mexico. Current projects include new works for Dinosaur Annex, the Melbourne Chamber Choir, and a concerto for brass quintet and the Boston Conservatory Wind Ensemble.

McLoskey completed his Ph.D. at Harvard University, with additional studies at the USC School of Music and the Royal Danish Academy of Music. He is on the Board of Advisors of the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition, and is President of Composers in Red Sneakers, Inc. McLoskey currently teaches at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. His music is released on Albany, Wergo Schallplatten, Capstone, Tantara, Beauport Classics, and Petroleum By-Products Records. A complete CD of his music (Sixth Species) was just released on Albany this fall.