Richard Danielpour


Richard Danielpour is an American composer.

Early life

Danielpour was born in New York City of Persian Jewish descent and grew up in New York City and West Palm Beach, Florida. He studied at Oberlin College and the New England Conservatory of Music, and later at the Juilliard School of Music, where he received a DMA in composition in 1986. His primary composition professors at Juilliard were Vincent Persichetti and Peter Mennin. Danielpour previously taught at the Manhattan School of Music and the Curtis Institute of Music, and is currently on the faculty at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Music

In common with many other American composers of the post-war generation, Danielpour began his career in a serialist milieu, but rejected it in the late 1980s in favor of a more ecumenical and "accessible" idiom. He cites the Beatles—along with John Adams, Christopher Rouse, and Joseph Schwantner—as influences on his more recent musical style. Danielpour's notable works include First Light for chamber orchestra, three symphonies, four piano concerti, the ballet Anima mundi, and the opera Margaret Garner.
His students include Marcus Paus and Wang Jie.

Select list of works

Operas

Danielpour's current and forthcoming projects includes works for Yo-Yo Ma, the Iris Chamber Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, Guarneri Quartet, Atlanta Symphony, Nashville Symphony, Music from Copland House, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, Singapore Symphony, Orchestre National de Lyon and the WDR Symphony Orchestra, Cologne.