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Kramer, Jonathan D. (b. December 7, 1942, Hartford, Connecticut – d. June 2, 2004, New York City). American composer of mostly orchestral and chamber works that have been performed throughout the Americas and in Asia and Europe.
Prof. Kramer studied with Pierre Boulez, Leon Kirchner and Billy Jim Layton at Harvard University, where he earned his BA in 1965. He then had post-graduate studies with Karlheinz Stockhausen at the University of California at Davis in 1966-67 and with Jean-Claude Eloy, Richard Felciano, Andrew W. Imbrie, Roger Sessions, and Seymour Shifrin at the University of California at Berkeley, where he earned his MA in 1967 and his PhD in 1969. He also studied computer music with John Chowning at Stanford University in 1967-68.
His works have been played at the ISCM World Music Days three times (Jerusalem, 1980; Amsterdam, 1985; Warsaw, 1992) and his Music for Piano V represented the USA at the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers in 1983.
In addition to his activities as a composer, he served as program annotator for the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra from 1967-70, the National Orchestral Association from 1989-92 and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 1992-93. Since 1980, he has served in this capacity with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
He is also active as a writer and his articles have appeared in numerous books and journals. His books are Listen to the Music (1988; published in the UK as Listening to Music, 1991; translated as Invitación a la música, 1993) and The Time of Music (1988) and he edited Time in Contemporary Musical Thought (1993). He is currently completing a book on music and postmodernism.
He briefly taught at the University of California at Berkeley in 1969-70 and at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in 1970-71, as well as at Yale University from 1971-78 and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music from 1978-90. Since 1988, he has taught at Columbia University.
CONTACT INFORMATION
E-mail address: jdk4@columbia.edu
SELECT LIST OF WORKS
STAGE: For Broken Piano, Truck, Shaving Cream, Fruit Salad, Toilet, Wife, San Francisco, Color TV, and, tape, slide projections, 1969-70; Blue Music, actor, tape, 1970-72; An Imaginary Dance, tape, slide projections, 1970-73; Irrealities, 2 dancers, tape, slide projections, 1970-73; Fanfare, 2 actors, tape, 1973-76; En noir et blanc, actor, dancer, piano (2 players), 1988
ORCHESTRAL: Variations, symphonic band, 1967-69; Requiem for the Innocent, 1970; Moving Music, 13 clarinets, 1975-76; Moments in and out of Time, 1981-83; Musica pro Musica, 1986-87; About Face, 1988-89; Remembrance of a People (text by Roger Goodman), speaker ad libitum, piano, string orchestra, 1996 (version of chamber work); Rewind, 2000; Obsessions, symphonic band, 2001
CHAMBER MUSIC: Three Pieces, clarinet, 1965-66; Septet, flute, oboe, bassoon, harp, violin, viola, cello, 1968; One for Five in Seven, Mostly, flute, oboe, clarinet, French horn, bassoon, 1971; Five Studies on Six Notes, guitar, 1978 (version of harpsichord work; also version for 3 percussion, 1980); Licks, 3 double basses, 1980-81 (also version with tape, 1980-81); Atlanta Licks, flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, piano, 1984; Another Anniversary (clarinettist also speaks text by Barney Childs), clarinet, 1989; Another Sunrise, flute, oboe, bassoon, viola, cello, piano, percussion, 1990; A Game, cello, piano, 1988-92; Notta Sonata, 2 pianos, 2-3 percussion, 1992-93; Serbelloni Serenade, clarinet, violin, piano, 1995; Remembrance of a People (text by Roger Goodman), speaker ad libitum, piano, string quartet, double bass, 1996 (also version for piano, string orchestra); Surreality Check, violin, cello, piano, 1998; Imbrication, flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, 2000; Imagined Ancestors, clarinet, violin, cello, piano 4 hands, 2002-03
CHORAL: No Beginning, No End (text by Peretz Markish [translated by Armand Schwerner]), mixed chorus, orchestra, 1982-83; Into the Labyrinth (text by Molly Myerowitz), mixed chorus, piano, 1985-86
PIANO: Music for Piano I, 1966; Music for Piano II, 1967; Music for Piano III, 1968; Music for Piano IV, 1969-72; Five Tunes, 1970-78; Music for Piano V, 1979-80; Music for Piano VI, 'Whirled Piece', 1997
HARPSICHORD: Five Studies on Six Notes, 1976-77 (also versions for guitar; 3 percussion); The Sunrise Sonata, 1984-85
ELECTROACOUSTIC: The Canons of Blackearth, 4 percussion, tape, 1972-73; Renascence, clarinet, tape, tape delay system, 1974 (also versions for clarinet, tape, 1977, revised 1985; clarinet, computer, 1997)
(Last updated on June 9, 2004)
