Edward Hart

Edward Hart (born December 6, 1965) is an American composer and educator whose compositions have been performed throughout the United States, Latin America, Africa, and Europe including performances in New York, Los Angeles, Kyiv, Vienna, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Johannesburg, Boston, and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. His works include concerti for violin, piano, string quartet, and guitar, various orchestral works, chamber music, solo piano compositions, choral music, and art songs. In 2023, an album entitled Under an Indigo Sky was released by Navona Records including two works, A Charleston Concerto featuring the Harlem Quartet, and Under and Indigo Sky featuring violin soloist Yuriy Bekker. The album was recorded in 2019 and 2022 with the ChaCharleston Symphony under the direction of Ken Lam.
== Life ==
Hart was born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina, where he developed an early interest in piano and salt-water fishing in the coastal estuaries. He attended Porter-Gaud School through high school and in 1984 enrolled as an economics major at the College of Charleston. During his sophomore year, he became a music composition major and studied with composer David Maves. Subsequently, he completed a master's degree and a doctorate in music composition at the University of South Carolina under the tutelage of composer Gordon “Dick” Goodwin. Hart is on the music faculty at the College of Charleston where he has served since 1993 as a professor of music composition, chair of the Department of Music, and dean of the School of the Arts. He is married to novelist Beth Webb Hart with whom he has two children, Frances and Edward.
== Career ==
After graduate school, Hart returned to Charleston where he co-founded the Lowcountry Heritage Society (1994-2004), an arts group dedicated to the production of newly created art, music, theatre, and literature about or inspired by the South Carolina Lowcountry. This led to the performance of many of his early works including the string quartet The Quiet Hour and the orchestral composition Overture to 1865. Hart’s interest in subject matter associated with his native region has remained a consistent feature of his creative output.
In 2003, Hart’s piano concerto, A Tidal Concerto, was premiered by the Charleston Symphony under the direction of David Stahl. The work has since been performed elsewhere in the United States, Uruguay, and Ukraine.
In 2004, Hart was commissioned by Mexican guitar virtuoso Roberto Limón to write the guitar concerto Three Images of Baja California for the Orquesta de Baja California. This led to a Mexican tour including the inaugural concert of the XXXII Edition of the Cervantino International Festival at the Juárez Theater in the city of Guanajuato with President Vicente Fox in attendance.
In 2005, Hart met tenor Darryl Taylor, founder of the African American Art Song Alliance, who commissioned him to write the song cycle The Caged Bird Sings, based on poetry by Paul Laurence Dunbar. The cycle has received dozens of performances by several singers including a 2006 performance at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Hart has a longstanding relationship with the Charleston Symphony which named him composer in residence in 2019. The orchestra has performed his works on over a dozen occasions including a 2012 performance of his violin concerto Under an Indigo Sky that was, at the time, the highest-grossing single performance in the orchestra’s history. Under an Indigo Sky was written for violinist Yuriy Bekker and has been performed widely in the United States and in Ukraine. Hart’s musical connection with Ukraine is substantial including 15 performances with nine different orchestras.
In 2017, the Shanghai Quartet commissioned Hart to write Discovery, a single movement work for string quartet and orchestra which was premiered in Montclair, New Jersey. This commission lead to the creation of a three-movement string quartet concerto entitled A Charleston Concerto. This was premiered and recorded with the Charleston Symphony featuring the Harlem Quartet in April 2022. This work along with Under an Indigo Sky is featured on an album entitled Under an Indigo Sky released in March 2023 by Navona Records.
Hart’s works include concerti for violin, piano, string quartet, and guitar, various orchestral works, chamber music, solo piano compositions, choral music, and art songs. Ensembles that have performed his music include the Kyiv Philharmonic, Arpeggione Chamber Orchestra (Austria), Orquesta de Baja California, Philharmonica de Montevideo, Symphony of the Americas, Charleston Symphony, Lviv Philharmonic, and the Harlem, Shanghai, and Arabella quartets.
== Works ==
Orchestral
* A Charleston Concerto – Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra
* Under an Indigo Sky – Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
* A Tidal Concerto – Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
* Three Images of Baja California – Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra
* Dover Beach – Orchestra and Chorus
* Three Latin Rivers – Chamber Orchestra
* Three Gullah Tunes – Piano and String Orchestra
* Dunbar Songs – Soprano and Orchestra
* April Interlude – String Quartet and String Orchestra
* Salvation – Orchestra and Chorus 
* Overture to 1865 
* A Gullah Fanfare
* Sullivan’s Symphony
Chamber Music
* Amori Vini – String Quartet
* The Quiet Hour – String Quartet
* Three Latin Rivers – Mixed Septet
* Three Gullah Tunes – Piano Trio
* Seascapes – Piano and Piccolo Trio
* Literary Suite – Mixed Quintet
* Black Water Nocturne – Piano Quintet
* Fanfare for George Washington – Brass Quintet
Keyboard
* Blue Impromptu – Piano
* Listening to the Oak – Piano
* Pursuit of Paradise – Piano
* Fox in My Flowers – Piano
* Storm and Jasmine – Piano
* Le Joie du Printemps – Organ
Choral
* Timrod Songs – SATB Choir
* Adopted Son – SATB Choir
* Great Michael – Organ, Trumpet, and Choir
* Enter his Gates – Organ and Choir
* A New Heart and a New Spirit – Choir and Organ
Art Song Cycles
* Dunbar Songs – Soprano and Piano
* The Caged Bird Sings – Tenor, Cello, and Piano
* Garden Songs – Soprano, Mezzo Soprano, Piano
* Songs of Stars and Fire – Mezzo Soprano and Piano
* Of Love Land and God – Tenor and Soprano
* Two Passionate Songs –Tenor, and Piano
* As a Star – Soprano and Tenor
Category:American people
Category:American composers
Category:1965 births