“ebullient…vivid, dynamically-charged leadership”
The New York Times
George Tsontakis has led an illustrious career as a composer, conductor and audience music educator. Equally at home with classical and contemporary idioms, he has conducted orchestras and choirs in the U.S. and abroad
Mr. Tsontakis studied conducting with Jorge Mester, in the Corsp Perfezionamente at the Teatro Communale di Bologna, as a conducting fellow at the Aaron Copland School of Music with Maurice Peress. He has conducted orchestras as diverse as the European Kiev Chamber Orchestra, the Athens Camerata, the Bohuslav Martinu Phil as well as the Aspen Festival Orchestra and Chamber Symphony, the National Orchestral Association and the LA Chamber Orchestra, among others. He was the founding conductor-director of the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, from 1991-1998.
He has held music directorships of the Manhattan based Riverside Orchestra and Centre Symphony several seasons as well as the Metropolitan Greek Chorale (1979-95). He has conducted concertos with many noted soloists, including NY Phil principals Joseph Robinson (Oboe), Phil Myers (Horn), Tim Smith (Trumpet) and Warren Deck (Tuba) as wellas Robert Chen (concertmaster, Chicago Symphony), violist Lawrence Dutton (Emerson Quartet), cellist Alexis Pia Gerlach, Gershwin specialist Norman Krieger and David Krakauer, classical and klezmer virtuoso.
As Music Director of the Metropolitan Greek Chorale, and Orchestra, Mr. Tsontakis has led a dozen world premieres on their Alice Tully Hall series, including his heralded “Erotokritos” to a sold out house as well as the US Premieres of Mikis Theodorakis’s “Zorba Ballet” and his oratorio “Axion Esti”. He has conducted contemporary works for the CRI and INNOVA labels.
As a composer, George Tsontakis has been the recipient of the two richest prizes awarded in all of classical music; the international Grawemeyer Award, in 2005, for his Second Violin Concerto and the 2007 Ives Living, from the American Academy. He studied with Roger Sessions at Juilliard and in Rome, with Franco Donatoni. Born in Astoria, NY into Cretan heritage, he has become an important figure in the music of Greece and his music is increasingly performed abroad, with several performances in Europe every season. Most of his music has been recorded by Hyperion and Koch, leading to two Grammy Nominations for Best Classical Composition. He is Distinguished Composer-in-Residence at the Bard Conservatory and at the Aspen Music Festival.He served as Composer-in-Residence with the Oxford (England) Philomusica and is continuing a six-year Music Alive residency with the Albany Symphony and served as Composer in Residence with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in 2009-10. He lives in New York’s Catskill Mountains.
Established in 1959, the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra Composer’s Award is the oldest award of its kind in the nation. Its purpose is to recognize and honor contemporary composers who are making a particularly significant contribution in the field of symphonic music, not only through their own creative efforts but also as effective personal advocates of new approaches to the broadening of critical and appreciative standards. While the judgment of any creative work ultimately rests upon the artist, it is nevertheless true that, in music as in other arts, appreciation often stems from personal association. The appearance of an outstanding composer before the more than 2,500 patrons of the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra generates not only greater interest in his work but also a more appreciative hearing of contemporary music.
The Composer's Award is given as the key feature of a program designed to encourage and actively develop a special interest in modern music and contemporary composers on the part of the audiences of the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, to the end that this Pennsylvania community may serve as an example in the advancement of greater understanding and appreciation of contemporary music everywhere.
The award is made in connection with a regular concert by the Lancaster Symphony at which a representative work of the composer being honored is performed. In the acceptance of the award, the composer gives a short talk, summarizing his/her individual approach to musical composition.
1959 - Howard Hanson
1960 - Peter Mennin
1963 - Henry Cowell
1964 - Vincent Persichetti
1965 - William Schuman
1966 - Walter Piston
1967 - Norman Dello Joio
1968 - Alan Hovhaness
1969 - Roger Sessions
1970 - Paul Creston
1971 - Virgil Thomson
1972 - Gunther Schuller
1973 - Gian Carlo Menotti
1974 - Leroy Anderson
1975 - Richard Yardumian
1976 - David Amram
1977 - David Diamond
1978 - Louis A. Mennini
1979 - Robert Ward
1980 - Morton Gould
1981 - Jacob Druckman
1982 - Ned Rorem
1983 - David Del Tredici
1984 - Elie Siegmeister
1985 - Benjamin Lees
1986 - George Rochberg
1987 - Ellen Taaffe Zwilich
1988 - John Corigliano
1989 - Ulysses Kay
1990 - John Harbison
1991 - Stephen Albert
1992 - Joseph Schwantner
1993 - Russell Peck
1994 - Stephen Paulus
1995 - David Ott
1996 - William Bolcom
1998 - George T. Walker
1999 - James “Kimo” Williams
2000 - Christopher Rouse
2001 - Aaron Jay Kernis
2002 - Lukas Foss
2003 - Joan Tower
2004 - Bernard Rands
2005 - Michael Daugherty
2006 - Richard Danielpour
2007 - Peter Schickele
2008 - Jennifer Higdon
2009 - Miguel del Aguila
2010 - Peter Boyer
2011 - Christopher Theofanidis
2012 - George Tsontakis