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Ian Krouse
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American composer IAN KROUSE was born in 1956 in Olney, Maryland. He was hailed in Gramophone as “one of the most communicative and intriguing young composers on the music scene today,” while Soundboard has aptly described his music as "absorbing, brutal, beautiful, and harsh, all at the same time." His works are particularly well known to lovers of guitar music, especially those who follow the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet (LAGQ). Mr. Krouse's music has been performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, (whose performances of his Concerto for Bass Clarinet were broadcast over one thousand times on Public Radio International), the Korean American Symphony Orchestra, the Mexico City Chamber Orchestra, the Pasadena Chamber Orchestra, the Ukrainian Radio and Television Orchestra, the Armenian and Cairo Philharmonic Orchestras, the American Youth Symphony, and the UCLA and USC Orchestras, among others, while his works for wind ensembles appear regularly on the programs of the major university wind groups throughout the US. His works receive thousands of radio and internet broadcasts annually all around the world. The compact disc premiere of Cantar de los Cantares with soprano Jessica Rivera, clarinetist Eleanor Weingartner, and pianist Mark Lowell Carver, will be released by Urtext Digital Classics in 2008. Mr. Krouse has performed as a guest artist with the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet for the Delos release of his Labyrinth (On A Theme of Led Zeppelin), his third guitar quartet to be recorded and toured by the group. In February, 2000, Mr. Krouse's first solo disc was released by Koch International Classics, featuring Maria Bachmann's searing performance of his Rhapsody for Violin and Orchestra, with the New Zealand Philharmonic conducted by James Sedares, Tientos for flute and string trio, performed by Boston based Dinosaur Annex, Cuando se abre en la mañana, performed by soprano Sun Young Kim and guitarist Scott Tennant, and Thamar y Amnón, performed by the Debussy Trio. Other widely distributed releases include guitarist Jason Vieaux's performance of Variations on a Moldavian Hora, on Naxos, and Scott Tennant's performances of Air and Da Chara, with flutist James Walker, for Delos. In 2001, Krouse released a critically acclaimed disc with the Los Angeles based Debussy Trio, including Tri Chairde, Tres Canciones Sobre Lorca, Cinco Canciones Insólitas, and Lullaby. He has received dozens of awards, including an AT&T American Encores Grant (for the second performance of an orchestral work), three opera development grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, and several from the American Composer’s Forum and Meet the Composer, as well as those from the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations and the Atlantic-Richfield Corporation. He has won the BMI Award and the Gaudeamus Festival Prize, was a semi-finalist in the Kennedy Center Friedheim Awards, and a finalist in the Barlow Competition, and Big Ten Commissioning Project. Sixteen of his works have been commercially recorded on the Urtext Digital Classics, Koch, Delos, Naxos, RCM, Lisaddell, GSP and GHA labels among others, some several times. His principal teachers were Halsey Stevens, James Hopkins, and Morten Lauridsen. Additional studies were with Earle Brown, William Kraft, and Leonard Rosenman. Early studies in composition were with Barton McLean, and David Barton. Mr. Krouse, who holds a B.M., and Performer’s and Composer’s Certificates from Indiana University at South Bend, and an M.M. and D.M.A. in composition from the University of Southern California, is a Professor of Music at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he has served until quite recently as the Chairman of the Music Department. He resides in Southern California, with his wife and three children.
Recent premieres include the composer’s Los Angeles Disney Hall debut with Cho-hon, for soprano and orchestra, with the Korean American Symphony Orchestra led by Jong Bae, Cantar de los Cantares and Invocation, both written for American soprano Jessica Rivera, Piano Murmurs, for clarinet, violin, cello and piano, On the Beach At Night for baritone and winds, and it is at moments after i have dreamed for the Los Angeles Chamber Singers. Recently he returned from a successful recital tour with American soprano Katherine Giaquinto, culminating in performances of Invocation at the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory, and another in the throne room of Catherine Palace, both in St. Petersburg, Russia. Throughout the year, Mr. Krouse’s works will be performed in Seoul, Frankfurt, Mexico City, Manila, and numerous other venues around the world, in addition to many performances across the USA and Canada.