Stephen Jaffe, Composer

Recent seasons have marked the introduction of two milestones for composer Stephen Jaffe: the world premiere of the Concerto for Cello and Orchestra by the National Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin conducting, with David Hardy, cello soloist (at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.); and the premiere recording of the Concerto for Violin and Orchestra with the Odense Symphony of Denmark, Gregory Fulkerson, violin, and Donald Palma conducting. Both have met with warm acclaim. STEPHEN JAFFE's music has been featured at major concerts and festivals including the Nottingham, Tanglewood, and Oregon Bach Festivals, and performed throughout the U.S., Europe, and China by ensembles including the R.A.I. of Rome, Slovenska Filharmonija (Slovenian Philharmonic), the National Symphony, the San Francisco, North Carolina and New Jersey Symphonies, Berlin's Spectrum Concerts, London's Lontano, and many others. Bridge Records has issued three discs of the composer's music. [Preview Volume III here] In addition to the concertos for cello and orchestra (2004) and violin and orchestra (2000), Stephen Jaffe's newest completed compositions include Light Dances (Chamber Concerto No. 2), written for Philadelphia's Network for New Music, and String Quartet No. 2 ("Aeolian and Sylvan Figures") commissioned by the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society for the Miami Quartet, as well as two orchestral works written for the North Carolina Symphony: Poetry of the Piedmont, and Cithara mea (Evocations): Spanish Music Notebook for Orchestra, based on Spanish Renaissance music. Homage to the Breath: Instrumental and Vocal Meditations for Mezzo-soprano and Ten Instruments, with a text by Thich Nhat Hanh, was introduced at the Hirschorn Museum in Washington, D.C.

Jaffe has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Rome Prize, the Kennedy Center Friedheim Award, the American Academy of Arts and Letters Prize, Brandeis Creative Arts Citation, and fellowships from Tanglewood, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Guggenheim Foundation. Jaffe studied composition at the Conservatoire de Musique in Geneva, and continued his studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He is Mary D.B.T. and James H. Semans Professor of Music at Duke University, where he has taught since 1981. Together with Scott Lindroth, Jaffe directs Duke's contemporary music concert series Encounters: with the Music of Our Time, and works with a inventive and gifted group of young composers.

See also:  http://www.presser.com/jaffe.html

Recordings
Selected Large Ensemble Works
Selected Vocal and Chamber Works
Residencies
Awards
Interviews and Selected Writings
Publications
Selected Reviews
Encounters with the Music of Our Time - Duke University
Photo Gallery
Links to Teaching at Duke University
Links to Other Sites of Interest

Recordings

Many of these recordings may be previewed through the iTunes, Bridge Records, and Alexander Street websites.

	The Music of Stephen Jaffe, Volume 3. (Bridge 9255) Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, Poetry of the Piedmont, Cut Time, and Homage to the Breath: Instrumental and Vocal Meditations for mezzo soprano and ten players. Performers include: David Hardy, cello; Odense Symphony Orchestra of Denmark (Paul Mann, conducting); North Carolina Symphony (Grant Llewellyn, conducting); and the 21st Century Consort (Milagro Vargas, mezzo-soprano, Christopher Kendall, conducting).
	The Music of Stephen Jaffe, Volume 2, including Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, and Chamber Concerto (“Singing Figures”) for Oboe and Ensemble. Bridge Records 9141. Performers include: Gregory Fulkerson, violin; Stephen Taylor, oboe; the Odense Symphony Orchestra of Denmark; and Speculum Musicae. See http://www.bridgerecords.com/sj_artist.htm
	Designs (2002) for flute, guitar and percussion; Three Figures and a Ground (1989) for flute and piano. Arizona University Recordings, AUR CD 3123. Featuring Christine Gustafson, flute; William Anderson, guitar; Christopher Dean, percussion; and Lisa Emmenheiser, piano.
	Spinoff for guitar on New Dance David Starobin, guitar. Bridge 9084 (1998). (Grammy Award Nominee, Best Instrumental soloist, 1999)
	Impromptu for piano, on Strange Attractors: New American Music for Piano, Albany CD (Troy 231). Patricia Goodson, piano (1997)
	Fort Juniper Songs for soprano, mezzo-soprano and piano, on To Sun, To Feast & To Converse: New American Music for Vocal Duet. Albany CD (Troy 172). Terry Rhodes, soprano, Ellen Williams, mezzo-soprano, Stephen Jaffe, piano (1995)
	Stephen Jaffe : The Rhythm of the Running Plough, Double Sonata, and Four Songs with Ensemble, Bridge CD BCD 9047. Speculum Musicae, D'Anna Fortunato, Anton Nel, Barry Snyder, Prism Orchestra (1994)
	Three Figures and a Ground on The Now and Present Flute, Neuma 450-88. Patricia Spencer, flute, Linda Hall, piano (1994)
	First Quartet for string quartet, Ciompi Quartet, Albany Records, Troy CD 073 (1993)
	Centering for two violins, Linda Quan, Curtis Macomber, violins. C.R.I. 513 (1983)

See also: http://www.bridgerecords.com/

Selected Large Ensemble Works

Cíthera mea (Evocations), Spanish Music Notebook para orquesta/for orchestra (16'). North Carolina Symphony/ Grant Llewellyn
Cut time for Orchestra (2004) 2’ National Symphony/ Leonard Slatkin
Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra (2003) 28’ National Symphony/ Leonard Slatkin/ David Hardy, Cello solo
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra  (1997-99) 35' Greensboro Symphony/ Stuart Malina/ Nicholas Kitchen, Violin solo
Songs of Turning (1996) for Chorus and Orchestra 25' Oregon Bach Festival/Oregon Repertory Singers/Gilbert Seeley/ soloists: James Madalena, Terry Rhodes
Four Images (1983; rev. 1987) for Orchestra 21' New Jersey Symphony/Hugh Wolff
Autumnal (1986) for Orchestra 24' New Hampshire Symphony/James Bolle
The Rhythm of the Running Plough (1988) for chamber orchestra 14' Prism Orchestra/Robert Black
Three Yiddish Songs (1978) for soprano and orchestra 23'
Three Images (1979) for chorus and chamber orchestra 15'
Rega Raga (1975) for Jazz Ensemble 16-20'

Selected Chamber Works

Light Dances (Chamber Concerto No. 2) for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, percussion and piano (2010) 24’ Network for New Music, Philadelphia
Four Pieces Quasi Sonata (2006) for viola and piano 17’ Jonathan Bagg/Donald Berman
Sonata (in four parts) (2008) for cello and piano (24’) Kennedy Center Chamber Players David Hardy, Lambert Orkis
String Quartet No. 2 (Aeolian and Sylvan Figures) (2006) 18’ Miami Quartet
First Quartet (1991) string quartet 33' Kennedy Center Friedheim Award, 1991 Ciompi Quartet
Designs (2002) for flute, guitar and percussion 15’ National Center for the Arts, Taiwan/ Christine Gustafson
Crazy Quilt (2001) for flute, oboe and cello 5'  Composers Conference and Chamber Music Festival
Homage to the Breath (2000-01) Instrumental and Vocal Meditations for mezzo-soprano and ten players, with a text by Thich Nhat Hanh 24' 
21st Century Consort/Christopher Kendall/Milagro Vargas
Offering (1996) flute, harp and viola 16' Aureole Trio/Mallarmé Chamber Players
Spinoff (1998) guitar 3' David Starobin
Chamber Concerto ("Singing Figures") Oboe solo, vln., vla., vc. piano, harpsichord, celesta (two players) 21' Orchestra of St. Luke’s/Composer
Pedal Point (1993) baritone, 3 vle., 4 vc., timpani 18' Duke University Summer Festival/Tonu Kalam/ P. Becker, bar.
Double Sonata (1989) two pianos 22' Anton Nel/Barry Snyder
Three Figures and a Ground (1987) flute and piano   18' Patricia Spencer/David Oie
Fort Juniper Songs (1989) soprano, mezzo-soprano and piano 18' Terry Rhodes, Ellen Williams/ Michael Zenge
Four Songs With Ensemble (1988)  mezzo-sop., alto fl (& fl.), vla., vc., pno. 18' An Appalachian Summer/ Composer cond./Katherien Ciesinski, mezzo-sopr.
The Reassurance (1995) high voice and piano 5' AIDS Quilt Songbook/Terry Rhodes, soprano/composer, piano
Triptych (1995) piano and woodwind quintet 22' Hexagon
Quartet from Arch (1981) violin, cello, clarinet and piano Diachronos Ensemble
Partita (1981) cello, piano and percussion Da Capo Chamber Players

Selected Vocal Music

Fort Juniper Songs (1989) soprano, mezzo-soprano and piano 18' Terry Rhodes, Ellen Williams/ Michael Zenge
Who Cooks for You? (2009) mezzo-soprano, alto flute, guitar, viola 3’ Monadnock Music: Jana Batty, mezzo-soprano
Four Songs With Ensemble (1988)  mezzo-sop., alto fl (& fl.), vla., vc., pno. 18' An Appalachian Summer/ Composer cond./Katherien Ciesinski, mezzo-sopr.
The Reassurance (1995) high voice and piano 5' AIDS Quilt Songbook/Terry Rhodes, soprano/composer, piano
Homage to the Breath (2000-01) Instrumental and Vocal Meditations for mezzo-soprano and ten players, with a text by Thich Nhat Hanh 24' 
21st Century Consort/Christopher Kendall/Milagro Vargas
Pedal Point (1993) baritone, 3 vle., 4 vc., timpani 18' Duke University Summer Festival/Tonu Kalam/ P. Becker, bar.

For complete information, including performance materials, contact Theodore Presser Co. at (610) 592-1222, or see their web pages at http://www.presser.com/Composers/info.cfm?Name=STEPHENJAFFE

Residencies

Walden School, Dublin, New Hampshire, July 2009.

Composers Conference and Chamber Music Center, Wellesley College, Massachusetts, July 20-26, 2008.

Atlantic Center for the Arts, Florida, May 14- June 3, 2006.

Awards

November 28, 2006. KIRA (Koussevitsky International Recording Award) for Concerto for Violin and Orchestra

November 22, 2005.  Composer of the Year, Classical Recording Foundation Fourth Annual Award Ceremony.  Weill Hall, New York.  Performances include Concerto for Violin and the premiere of Adagio Con Sordino (with Gregory Fulkerson, violin, and the composer, piano).

Thanks to all who participated in Harmonies for Habitat, a musical celebration of Steve's 50th birthday at Beth El Synagogue in Durham.  The event, which featured, art, food and music, including performances of Offering and the First Quartet; and raised over $11,000 for Habitat for Humanity of Durham. The contribution, joined with those of other organizations, was used to build a house.

Interviews and Selected Writings

Online interviews with Stephen Jaffe discussing 1) what it's like the first time a new piece is played, 2) how form affects a piece, 3) how pieces evolve over time, can be found at the Kennedy Center website.

Essays on selected works:

Cithara Mea (Evocations): Spanish Music Notebook for Orchestra
Concerto for Cello and Orchestra
String Quartet No. 2
Fort Juniper Songs

Opera Today Interview (on the Music of Bach, and the cantata Songs of Turning)

Selected biographical articles (Washington Post, News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)

Selected Publications at Theodore Presser Company (Merion Music, Inc.) (610) 592-1222

New Scores Available from Theodore Presser Company:

Light Dances (Chamber Concerto No. 2) for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, percussion and piano, 2010 "my whole creative life is a dance with the light" (Brian Peterson)
Sonata (in four parts) for Cello and Piano (23') 144-40545 - piano score and part
Four Pieces Quasi Sonata for viola and piano (17') 144-40544 - piano score and part
String Quartet No. 2 ("Aeolian and Sylvan Figures") 144-40506 - full set; 144-40506M - set of parts; 144- 40506S - score
Poetry of the Piedmont (6') 446-41245 – study score
Cut-Time (2') for orchestra
Spinoff, for guitar
Impromptu, for piano 140-4077, $8.00 (Recording: Albany/Troy 231)
Offering, for flute, harp & viola 144-40353S
Concerto, for violin and orchestra 446-41253 - study score
Concerto for Cello and Orchestra (2004) 446-41195 – study score
Three Figures and a Ground, for flute and piano 144-40170
Cut Time Shout (140-400990) and Double Sonata (440-40099)
Ballade: Quartet from ARCH (1981) for violin, clarinet, cello and piano formerly published by MMB, Inc. Newly available through Theodore Presser Company

Selected Reviews

A selection of reviews, mostly appearing on the Bridge Records and Theodore Presser Company websites:

LIGHT DANCES (Chamber Concerto No. 2) 24'

"Stephen Jaffe's Light Dances takes its theme from a phrase by artist and essayist Brian Peterson: "My whole creative life is a dance around the light." Jaffe... took full advantage of the bass clarinet, which added a big voice to the finale. Light Dances is a busy piece, with plenty of things going on, but it's all done with a light touch, with effects like a passage in which bare-stick percussion snakes through music for winds and string quartet." (Purdom, Broad Street Review)

"The music was full of glissandos, finger-snapping, and other imaginative use of his wind-and-percussion dominated ensemble - recalling, in its own 21st century way, the inquisitive inventiveness of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos." (Stearns, Philadelphia Inquirer)

"As the name suggests, this is a jaunty, even whimsical work, a three-movement neo-classical chamber concerto. The percussion added a driving beat to the outer sections, and the pop veneer was enhanced by rhythmic foot shuffling and snapping fingers."(Burwasser, Broad Street Review)

SONATA (in four parts) for Cello and Piano

"Moored, though not slavishly, to traditional tonality, the piece also touches on fleeting jazz idioms, impressionist language and seemingly random gestures of chance music. Yet the result is by no means an eclectic, gimmicky amalgam, but rather a comprehensible whole.." (Washington Post 5/20/08)

Concerto for Violin and Orchestra

"Jaffe's Violin Concerto is a sensational piece that deserves the widest possible dissemination among music lovers." (David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com)
Full review

"...Highly imaginative...calling for some very exotic percussion, including steel drums, the exquisite violin part floats over an intricately colored, late romantic sounding, orchestral landscape." (-Bob McQuiston, www.towerrecords.com)

"His music has a way of reconciling opposites: dense and light, serious and witty, complex and transparent, terse and expansive, playful and challenging to perform. Remarkable is the way the violin seems to always recover its equilibrium after sudden onslaughts from the brass and percussion, especially in the opening movement, singing, leaping, or soaring with a spontaneous lyrical impulse." (Phil Muse, Atlanta Audio Society www.mindspring.com/~chucksaudio)

Concerto for Cello and Orchestra

"A virtuoso piece with genuine intellectual aspirations, combining rapt lyricism with a sense of sonic adventure. (-Washington Post, January, 2004 )

"The most impressive work on this disc is the large-scale, 32-minute Concerto for Cello and Orchestra. In four movements, brilliantly performed by David Hardy, principal cello of the National Symphony, with the Odense Symphony Orchestra conducted by Paul Mann, this concerto exploits all the technical and expressive resources of the cello. The orchestration is particularly imaginative, featuring soloist set against shifting groups of instruments including mandolin and steel drums. Jaffe's brilliant orchestration and accessible tonal language make this work a notable addition to the repertoire. The performances are excellent and recording quality of this CD is first rate. I recommend this disc to anyone interested in 21st century American Music." (American String Teacher 5/09)

Stephen Jaffe's Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra, premiered in 2004 by the National Symphony Orchestra, packs all sorts of ideas and instrumental effects into 30 minutes. The style is complex, unpredictable and riveting (Tim Smith, Baltimore Sun 5/07)

"David Hardy's performance was both electrifying and though provoking, and left many listeners wanting to hear the piece again...Jaffe's Cello Concerto showcases the versatility and lyricism of the cello...As challenging as it was to learn, Hardy believed that it was well worth it. "Everything [Stephen] wrote had a purpose; it wasn't there just to show off."" -Hyun Sun Kim, www.kindercello.org

Double Sonata for two pianos

"...truly original writing that never overstepped conventional bounds, yet never sounded conventional either. ...had that special undefinable quality that makes a listener eager to hear a piece again. It gives both a feeling of being fully intelligible on the first hearing and an impression that subtleties and added delights might lie in wait to reveal themselves on further acquaintance... There is atmosphere (especially in the haunting slow movement) and genuine wit... (Will Crutchfield, New York Times)

"...its slow movement is a tribute to the composers Morton Feldman and Vincent Persichetti, and yoked together something of Feldman's ruminative style and Persichetti's trenchant harmonizations. The outer movements were brisk, rich in detail, and cast in a prickly, compelling chromaticism." (-Allen Kozzin, New York Times)

"...a large ambitious work in four movements, full of bristling energy: jaunty, faintly jazzy rhythms, myriad virtuosic challenges for the players, and a bracing, hyperactive kaleidoscopic jangle." -Tim Page, Newsday

"...a work really imagined for what two pianos and two pianists can do...the whole piece is chock full of ideas and uncommonly assured in activating those ideas... the performance was a knockout." -Richard Dyer, Boston Globe

OFFERING for flute, viola, and harp

"...delightful fantasy...the novelty of the music inspired the players... it has a natural and dramatic progression, sustaining meditative passages without lapsing into the realms of the dull and static." (Kennicott, St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

"Stretching across a 16-minute span, the single-movement work covers a lot of territory, ranging from a slow, quiet introduction with haunting rhythmic figures in the viola to a series of emotionally wrenching climaxes of great power that involve all three players. All this is woven around a prominent harp part demanding exceptional dexterity that seems to be the musical and spiritual core of the piece... warmly received." -John W. Lambert, The Spectator (Raleigh, NC)

First Quartet for String Quartet

"This work of irreproachable workmanship utilizes a grand profusion of thematic ideas. The indications 'Bold', 'Sportive', 'Breathing', or 'Rapid' give care to affirm the unusual clarity of a work to get to know." -Franck Mallett, Le Monde de la Musique

E-mail: sjaffe@duke.edu