Shirish Korde
Shirish Korde (born June 18, 1945), is a composer who was born in Uganda to Indian parents. He is the Chair of the Music Department at the College of the Holy Cross (Worcester, MA) and has previously been on the faculty of the Berklee College of Music, the New England Conservatory, and Brown University. Korde studied jazz and composition at the Berklee College of Music, analysis and composition at the New England Conservatory, and ethnomusicology at Brown University.
His works include:
- Tenderness of Cranes, for solo flute, influenced by Japanese shakuhachi techniques
- Time Grids, for amplified guitar and tape
- Constellations, for saxophone quartet
- Drowned Woman of the Sky, a song cycle based on poems by Pablo Neruda
- Nesting Cranes (2006), for solo flute and strings, premiered by Jennifer Gunn and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Ludovic Morlot
- Svara-Yantra (2005), a violin concerto premiered by the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra with soloist Joanna Kurkowicz, who also played the American premiere[1]
- Songs of Ecstasy (2008)
- Zikhr: Songs of Longing (2009) for soprano, flute, string trio, harp, tabla and percussion, premiered by the Chameleon Arts Ensemble of Boston[2][3]
Korde has composed five large-scale music-theatre works:
- Chitra (2003), commissioned by Boston Musica Viva and premiered by that ensemble at a concert sponsored by the Celebrity Series of Boston
- Rasa (1999)
- Bhima's Journey
- The Separate Prison
- The Conquistadors
- Phoolan Devi: The Bandit Queen (2010), a multi-media opera based on the life of Phoolan Devi based on a libretto he authored with Lynn Kremer, who directed the premiere performances by Boston Musica Viva at Boston University's Tsai Performance Center.[4][5][6]
These works exhibit influences of Asian dramatic and musical forms, especially Balinese gamelan and shadow puppetry, Vedic chant, Tuva music from Central Asia, North Indian Tala, and shakuhachi music. Jazz elements and computer voice synthesis techniques are also incorporated into his music-theater works.
He was described by Computer Music Journal as one the few "contemporary composers who have been deeply touched by music of non-Western cultures, jazz, and computer technology and who has created a powerful and communicative compositional language."
Korde is the founder of Neuma Records.
[edit] References
- ^ boston.com: Matthew Guerrieri, "Colors of India cascade from violin, tabla, and Philharmonic," October 22, 2007, accessed April 26, 2010
- ^ Boston Musical Intelligencer: David Patterson, "Standing Stillness, Smashing Success," May 18, 2009, accessed April 26, 2010
- ^ boston.com: David Weininger, "A smart, eclectic closer," May 18, 2009, accessed April 26, 2010
- ^ boston.com: David Weininger, "India's Bandit Queen onstage," April 23, 2010, accessed April 26, 2010
- ^ boston.com: Matthew Guerrieri, "'Bandit Queen' chronicles a complicated heroine," April 26, 2010, accessed April 26, 2010
- ^ Boston Musical Intelligencer: Tom Schnauber, "Dancing Most Convincing Element of Phoolan Devi’s Journey to Boston," April 25, 2010, accessed April 26, 2010
[edit] External links
- 1945 births
- Living people
- Berklee College of Music alumni
- 21st-century classical composers
- 20th-century classical composers
- College of the Holy Cross faculty
- American people of Indian descent
- Berklee College of Music faculty
- New England Conservatory faculty
- Brown University faculty
- Ugandan emigrants to the United States
