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).
Hailed as
"a major talent and a deep thinker with a great ear" by the American
Composers Orchestra and "one of the best composers of [his]
generation," Lansing has had his music performed to critical acclaim
across the U.S. and in eleven other countries on five
continents.
His music has an emotional intensity that appeals to academic and
amateur alike, defying traditional stylistic-pigeonholes.
Among
his numerous 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, the Paris New Music Review International
Composition Competition "60 Seconds" (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 the Board of Advisors of
the
Barlow Endowment for Music Composition.
Lansing has received dozens of commissions and grants, including from
the National Endowment for the Arts, The Fromm Foundation, ASCAP, the
Barlow Endowment, Music At The Anthology & The New Millennium
Ensemble, The Calyx Trio, violist Leticia Oaks Strong of the Los
Angeles Philharmonic, Sequitur, King's Chapel & Liber
unUsualis,
Tapestry, Boston Secession, the Indiana University Contemporary Vocal
Ensemble, cellist Holly Reeves of the Anacapa Quartet, pianist Grant
Johannesen, the American-Scandinavian Foundation, internationally
acclaimed violinist Linda Wang, and many others. He has
written
for & been performed by such renowned ensembles as The Hilliard
Ensemble, Speculum Musicae, The Chicago Ensemble, and the Atlantic
Brass Quintet. Lansing's music has been performed at over a
dozen
music festivals, including the Piccolo Spoleto Festival where he was
one of the Composers-in-Residence. He also received
fellowships
to the Wellesley Composers Conference and the Advanced Master Class at
the Aspen Music School.
Lansing completed a Ph.D. at Harvard University, where he directed The
Harvard Group for New Music. He holds degrees with honors
from
the U.C. Santa Barbara and the U.S.C. Thornton School of Music (where
he was selected as the Departmental Outstanding Graduate), with
additional studies at Longy School of Music and The Royal Danish
Academy of Music. Among his principle teachers are two
Pulitzer
Prize winning composers, Mario Davidovsky and Bernard Rands.
Since returning from Denmark he has presented papers, lectured, and
published articles on contemporary Danish music, and was awarded the
Haug Prize for Scandinavian Studies in recognition of his contributions
to the field. His book Twentieth Century Danish Music is
published by Greenwood Press (1998).
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 has performed with such luminaries as James Tyler, Laurie Monahan, Alejandro Planchart, Nigel Rogers, and members of Sonus, Musica Viva, Anonymous 4 , Liber unUsualis , and Bimbetta. He was also active as a music critic for The Boston Early Music News. Currently he is the Director of The Other Voices, an chamber choir at the University of Miami specializing in medieval, Renaissance, and post-WWII repertoire.
Currently
an Asst. Professor at the Frost School of Music at the University of
Miami, Lansing taught previously at Harvard University, Wellesley
College, and Longy School of Music. Lansing is also a member
of
Composers in Red Sneakers, one of the longest running composer
consortiums in the country. His music is available on Wergo
Schallplatten, Albany, Capstone, Tantara, LogX, and Petroleum
By-Products Records.
Click here to see review excerpts.
Click here to see a list of current projects.
For a detailed CV, click here.