Martin Bresnick
Martin Bresnick (born 1946) is a composer of contemporary classical music, film scores and experimental music. Education and early career. Bresnick grew up in the Bronx, and is a graduate of New York City's specialized High School of Music and Art. He was educated at the University of Hartford (B.A. '67), Stanford University (M.A. '68, D.M.A. '72), and the Akademie für Musik, Vienna ('69–'70), and studied composition with John Chowning, György Ligeti and Gottfried von Einem. He went on to teach at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Stanford University and the Yale School of Music. Career . Bresnick’s work has received many prizes, among them: Fulbright Fellowship (1969–70), three NEA Composer Grants (1974, 1979, 1990), Rome Prize Fellowship (1975–76), MacDowell Fellowship (1977), First Prize, Premio Ancona (1980), First Prize, International Sinfonia Musicale Competition (1982), Connecticut Commission on the Arts Grant, with Chamber Music America (1983), The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Elise L. Stoeger Prize for Chamber Music (1996), "Charles Ives Living" award, American Academy of Arts & Letters (1998), Composer-in Residence, American Academy In Rome (1999), Berlin Prize Fellow, American Academy in Berlin (2001) a Guggenheim Fellowship (2003), and was elected to membership, American  Academy of Arts and Letters (2006). Bresnick is currently a professor at the Yale School of Music, where he has been a widely influential teacher of contemporary composition. His teaching has been recognized by a Walter J. Gores Award for Excellence in Teaching at Stanford University, a Morse Fellowship from Yale University (1980–81), the ASCAP Foundation's Aaron Copland Prize for teaching, and the Yale School of Music’s highest honor, the Sanford Medal for Service to Music. See: . Bresnick has been recognized as having composed a large catalog of respected works while teaching and as an influential voice at  the Yale School of Music. Notable recent performances including a 60th birthday retrospective at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall, the premiere of his oratorio “Passions of Bloom” on the International Festival of Arts and Ideas, the premiere of his fourth string quartet “The Planet on the Table” by the Brentano String Quartet, and a performance of his piano concerto “Caprichos Enfaticos” at the Nasher Sculpture Center. Film work. As a composer for films, he has contributed many scores for documentary films, including "Arthur and Lillie" (1975) and "The Day After Trinity" (1980), both of which were nominated for Academy Awards . He also composed the score for the PBS documentary "". Major works. Bresnick's compositions tend to be concise and direct in expression, and span a wide spectrum of genres. Some of his works were composed as a cycle called "Opere della Musica Povera", or "Works of a Poor Music." Opera Oratorio Orchestra Large ensemble Small ensemble Solo compositions Vocal compositions