EncyclopediaFoss, Lukas
Foss, Lukas (fôs) [key], 1922–, American composer, pianist, and conductor, b. Berlin as Lukas Fuchs. He came to the United States in 1937, studied at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, and became a citizen in 1942. His composition Four Inventions, for piano, was published when he was 15. In 1957, while professor of composition at the Univ. of California, Los Angeles, he founded the Improvisation Chamber Ensemble, which performed many of his experimental works. From 1963 to 1971 he was music director and conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, where he became noted for performing avant-garde compositions. Teaching at the State Univ. of New York at Buffalo during this period, he also founded (1963) its Center for Creative and Performing Arts. In 1971 he was named music director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, remaining in the post until 1990; from 1981 to 1986 he also was the conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.
As a composer, Foss has created a wide variety of works in a great many musical forms. He was initially influenced by American composers, notably Aaron Copland, and produced traditional works such as The Tempest (1942), an orchestral suite; The Prairie (1944), a cantata based on Carl Sandburg's poem; and Griffelkin (1955), an opera. His later interest in improvisational techniques and aleatory music is reflected in such works as his chamber piece Elytres (1964). Still later, he turned to minimalism and a postmodern eclecticism, as in his Renaissance Concerto (1986).
See K. L. Perone, Lukas Foss: A Bio-Bibliography (1991).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
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