KEN FUCHS
Ken Fuchs b. 1956, Dumont, New Jersey
Composer, conductor, and music administrator, Dr. Kenneth Fuchs has received numerous awards and honors for his music, including the Charles E. Ives Scholarship from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, grants from Meet The Composer, the ASCAP Foundation, the American Bandmasters Association, and residencies at The MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, and the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico. Fuchs has written for orchestra, band, chorus, jazz ensemble, and various chamber ensembles. In September 2003, the London Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of JoAnn Falletta, featuring soloist Thomas Stacy, English hornist of the New York Philharmonic, recorded three Fuchs orchestral works: Out of the Dark (Suite for Chamber Orchestra After Three Paintings by Helen Frankenthaler); Eventide (Concerto for English Horn, Percussion, Harp, Celesta and String Orchestra); and An American Place (for orchestra). The disc was released by Naxos Records and received two 2006 Grammy Award nominations: “Best Instrumental Soloist with Orchestra” (Thomas Stacy and JoAnn Falletta for Eventide) and “Producer of the Year, Classical” (Michael Fine). Canticle to the Sun (Concerto for Horn and Orchestra), completed in April 2005, was composed especially for Timothy Jones, principal hornist of the London Symphony Orchestra. An American Place, a large-scale work in one movement for full orchestra, was premiered by the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, JoAnn Falletta conductor, Norfolk, in March 2005. On August 12, 2007 the Festival will present the World Premiere of Fuch's United Artists at the Mission in San Juan Bautista.