Every composition by Aaron Jay Kernis bears the stamp of his emotional directness, multilayered response to poetic imagery, and love of fresh, bright vocal and instrumental textures. Kernis's invention is exuberant, wrote Andrew Porter in The New Yorker, capturing in four words the quality' that has propelled this young composer's music to a prominent place on orchestral, chamber, and recital programs throughout the United States and internationally. Using a diversity' of styles, ideas, and impressions to create music of expressive lyricism and engaging wit is one of Kernis's trademarks.
Kernis has written works for a variety of forces, including the recent New Era Dance, commissioned for the 150th Anniversary of the New York Philharmonic and premiered by the Baltimore Symphony; the piano quartet Still Movement with Hymn, commissioned by American Public Radio for Christopher 0'Riley, Pamela Frank, Paul Neubauer, and Carter Brey: Colored Field, an English horn concerto for Julie Giacobassi and the San Francisco Symphony; Goblin Marketfor narrator and ensemble, on a text by Christina Rosseti, for the Birmingham (England) New Music Group; Air for violinist Joshua Bell; an a cappella work for the Birmingham Bach Choir; Lament and Prayer, a work for violin and chamber orchestra for Pamela Frank and the Minnesota Orchestra; and Double Concerto for Violin, Guitar, and Orchestra, commissioned by the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival, and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra for Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and Sharon Isbin. A highlight of Kernis' 1997-98 season is the premiere of his String Quartet No.2 with the Lark Quartet, which also commissioned and premiered his first work in the genre.
Aaron Jay Kernis was born in Philadelphia on 15 January 1960. He began his musical studies on the violin; at age 12 he began teaching himself piano, and, in the following year, composition. He continued his studies at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the Manhattan School of Music, and the Yale School of Music, working with composers as diverse as John Adams, Charles Wuorinen, and Jacob Druckman. Kernis received national acclaim for his first orchestral work, Dream of the Morning Sky, premiered by the New York Philharmonic at the 1983 Horizons Festival.
Kernis is one of the most honored young American composers. In September 1993 he was appointed Composer-in-Residence with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota Public Radio, and the Minnesota Composers Forum. His awards have included the Stoeger Prize from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Rome Prize, an NEA grant, a Beams Prize, a New York Foundation for the Arts Award, and awards from SMI and ASCAP. Recordings of vocal and chamber works by Kernis are available from Composer Recordings, Inc., Nonesuch, and the New Albion label. Argo, with whom Kernis now has an exclusive recording contract, has released Symphony in Waves, with Gerard Schwarz and the New York Chamber Symphony, the String Quartet, performed by the Lark Quartet, New Era Dance, performed by the Baltimore Symphony, and Colored Field and Still Movement with Hymn with the premiering performers. A CD of Kernis'Symphony No. 2, Invisible Mosaic III, and musica celestis, with Hugh Wolff conducting the City' of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, recently won France's Diapason d'or Palmares Award for Best Contemporary Music Disc of the Year. Kemis's music is published exclusively by Associated Music Publishers.
