Lansing D. 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 at writing music were not exercises in counterpoint, but as the guitarist and songwriter for punk rock bands in San Francisco 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).
Described as "a major talent and a deep thinker with a great ear" by the American Composers Orchestra and "an engaging, gifted composer...writing smart, compelling and fascinating music with a bluesy edge and infectious punch" by Gramophone Magazine, Lansing McLoskey has had his music performed to critical acclaim across the U.S. and in twelve other countries on six continents. His music has an emotional intensity that appeals to academic and amateur alike, defying traditional stylistic pigeonholes.
He has won numerous national and international awards, and in 2009 he became the first composer in the 43 year history of the ISU Contemporary Music Festival to win both the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra Composition Competition and the “Music Now” Competition, both blind-juried national competitions with two independent juries. Among his other awards are the 2009 newEar First Annual Composition Competition, the 2009 American Composers Forum/LA National Composition Competition, the Omaha Symphony International New Music Competition (First Prize), the Kenneth Davenport National Competition for Orchestral Works (First Prize), Charles Ives Center Orchestral Composition Competition, Lee Ettelson Composers Award, the Paris New Music Review International Composition Competition (First Prize), and the SCI/ASCAP 2000 National Student Composition Competition (First Prize). He was awarded the distinguished Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts & Letters, and in 2002 received an Astral Career Grant from The National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. In 2004 he was appointed to a five-year term on the Board of Advisors of the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition.
McLoskey
has received dozens of commissions and grants, including from Meet The
Composer, the National Endowment for the Arts, Pew Charitable Trusts,
The Fromm Foundation (as part of a special grant to Composers in Red
Sneakers), ASCAP, the Barlow Endowment, Music At The
Anthology for The New Millennium Ensemble, violist Leticia Oaks Strong
of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, King's Chapel (Boston), Tapestry, the
American-Scandinavian Foundation, and many others. McLoskey's
music has been performed at nearly two dozen music festivals, including
the Piccolo Spoleto Festival where he was one of the
Composers-in-Residence. He received fellowships to the Wellesley
Composers Conference and the Advanced Masterclass at the Aspen Music
School. Recent performances include those at Tanglewood, the
International Contemporary Art Festival in León, Mexico, the
Aspen Institute, the XVIII International Jazz Festival in Lima, Peru, a
performance in Rome by The Freon Ensemble, and premieres
in Boston, Chicago, Miami, New York, and Melbourne, Australia.
Recent commissions include those from Dinosaur Annex Music
Ensemble, and The Crossing Choir as part of the Philadelphia Music
Project.
McLoskey completed a Ph.D. at Harvard University, where he directed The Harvard Group for New Music. He holds degrees with honors from UC Santa Barbara and the USC Thornton School of Music, with additional studies at The Royal Danish Academy of Music. His principle teachers were Mario Davidovsky, Stephen Hartke, and Bernard Rands. His book Twentieth Century Danish Music remains the only comprehensive research guide on the topic, and he was awarded the Haug Prize for Scandinavian Studies in recognition of his contributions to the field.
Currently
McLoskey is an Associate Professor at the University of Miami Frost
School of Music. From 2004-2009 he was Co-President of Composers
in Red Sneakers, one of the oldest composer consortiums in the country.
His music is released on Albany, Wergo Schallplatten, Capstone,
Tantara, and Beauport Classics, and available from Subito Music Corp.
and ACA Publishing. A monograph CD of his music - Sixth Species - was
released to critical praise in 2008, and two CDreleases are slated for 2010, including his award-winning orchestral work Prex Penitentialis. His works are available from ACA Publishing, Mostly Marimba Productions, and Subito Music Publishing.
In addition to his compositional and research activities, McLoskey has been active in the field of early music. He was the founder and director of Clamores Antiqui (an early music vocal ensemble based in Los Angeles), co-founder of Musica Prospectus Insularum, and has directed numerous church choirs. He studied contemporary & Renaissance choral techniques with Bo Holten and the renowned Danish choir Ars Nova, and at the Amherst Early Music Festival. He was also a music critic for The Boston Early Music News. In 2006/07 he was the Director of The Other Voices, a chamber choir at the University of Miami specializing in medieval, Renaissance, and post-WWII repertoire.
Click here to see a list of upcoming concerts.Click here to see review excerpts.
Click here to see a list of current projects.
For a detailed CV, click here.