Episode 21 - Christopher Stark

Composer Chris Stark joins me to reflect upon the legacy of David Maslanka. Chris studied with David for a year and shares some of his memories before discussing his own exciting career.

Topics:

• David Maslanka as a teacher, composer, and man and the lessons that Chris learned while his student
• Chris' background in Montana and his thoughts about writing for wind ensemble
• Writing the music for the upcoming movie Novitiate and advice for young composers

Links:

• Christopher Stark
• Washington University
• Novitiate
• Chris Stark: Velocity Meadows
• David Gillingham: Waking Angels
• Joseph Schwantner: ...and the mountains rising nowhere
• David Maslanka: Symphony no. 4
• World Chess Hall of Fame

Biography:

A 2017 Guggenheim Fellow, Christopher Stark (b. 1980, St. Ignatius, MT) is a fast-rising and dynamic young composer equally at ease in the diverse mediums of contemporary classical, electronic, and film. The New York Times has called his music, "fetching and colorful," and he has received prestigious awards from the Fromm Foundation at Harvard University, Chamber Music America, and ASCAP. In 2012, he was a resident composer at Civitella Ranieri, a fifteenth-century castle in Umbria, Italy, and in June of 2016 he was in-residence at Aaron Copland's former home in the Hudson Valley. Recent highlights have included performances at the 2016 Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and at the Whitney Museum of American Art as part of the 2016 NY Philharmonic Biennial. Stark currently resides in St. Louis where he is Assistant Professor of Music Composition at Washington University in St. Louis.

Closing music: "Augenblick" by Christopher Stark. Recording by Jerry Junkin and the University of Texas Wind Ensemble.