The music of composer Adam Schoenberg (b. November 15, 1980 Northampton, MA) has an ability to create “mystery and sensuality” (New York Times), and has been called “open, bold, and optimistic” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution).
Since graduating from The Juilliard School in 2010, Schoenberg received two commissions each from the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (Up! and La Luna Azul) and Kansas City Symphony (American Symphony and Picture Studies). Recent commissions include a co-commission from the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Aspen Music Festival & School, Lexington Philharmonic, Atlanta Chamber Players, Chamber Music Festival of Lexington, and the first-ever concerto for Project Trio.
Recently appointed the 2013/14 Composer-in-Residence of the Lexington Philharmonic, Schoenberg is writing a new work that will be premiered in April 2014. Schoenberg was the first Composer-in-Residence for the Kansas City Symphony under Michael Stern’s tenure for the 2012/13 season. Additional residencies include the Atlanta School of Composers, Aspen Music Festival and School’s M.O.R.E program from 2010-2013, and the 2012 BMI Composer-in-Residence for the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University. He was a 2009 and 2010 MacDowell Fellow, and was the First Prize winner at the 2008 International Brass Chamber Music Festival for best Brass Quintet. In 2007, Schoenberg was awarded ASCAP’s Morton Gould Young Composer Award, Juilliard’s Palmer-Dixon Prize for Most Outstanding Composition, and a Meet the Composer Grant. He received the 2006 Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and has garnered further acclaim from ASCAP and the Society for New Music (winner of the 2004 Brian M. Israel Prize).
Highlights of the 2013/14 season include debuts with the National Symphony Orchestra, Pacific Symphony, Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie of Herford, Germany, and more than 10 performances of Finding Rothko for chamber orchestra. The inauguration of the American Symphony Project (50 Orchestra in 50 states perform Schoenberg’s first symphony, American Symphony) starts in the fall with performances from the Lexington Philharmonic and Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
The American Brass Quintet released a CD of Schoenberg’s quintet as part of their 50th Anniversary CD, and Jack Sutte (Cleveland Orchestra) released a recording of Schoenberg’s trumpet sonata, Separated by Space. The Kansas City Symphony and Reference Recordings with record Schoenberg’s orchestral works in 2014, and pianist, Nadia Shpachenko, is releasing his piano works in December 2013.
Schoenberg earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at The Juilliard School where he studied with John Corigliano and Robert Beaser. He also received his Master of Music degree from Juilliard and his Bachelor of Music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.
A committed educator, Schoenberg is a lecturer, mentor, and arts entrepreneur. On the composition faculty at UCLA, he has presented lectures and master classes for the Young President’s Organization, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, The Juilliard School, University of Kansas, University of Missouri Kansas City, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Washington University, Germantown Performing Arts Centre, Blair School of Music, and the Aspen Music Festival & School. He recently founded the Kansas City Symphony’s Composer Institute which mentors high school composers.
An accomplished Film composer, Schoenberg has scored two feature-length films and several shorts. His most recent score, Graceland, co-written with his father Steven Schoenberg, premiered at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival, and received its nationwide theatrical release in the spring of 2013.
In 2012, Adam Schoenberg entered into a publishing agreement with Ricordi London (part of the Universal Music Publishing Classical group) as their first-ever American classical composer. Schoenberg currently resides in Los Angeles with his wife, playwright and screenwriter Janine Salinas, and their newborn son, Luca.
Go to Adam Schoenberg's website