Lukas Foss

The MacDowell Colony

The Composers

Lukas Foss
(1922- )

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American composer, pianist and conductor. Foss was born in Berlin. In 1937 at age 15 he came to the United States to study at Philadelphia's Curtis Institute of Music. He studied composition with Randall Thompson and Paul Hindemith. Foss conducted the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra from 1963 to 1971. From 1971- 1990 he was conductor of the Brooklyn Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra. He also conducted the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra from 1981-1986. His early work was influenced by American composers like Aaron Copland. He adopted a more minimalist style in later works. He has taught composition at Tanglewood, and has been composer-in-residence at Harvard, the Manhattan School of Music, Carnegie Mellon University, Yale University, and Boston University. He has also been guest conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, the London Symphony, the Leningrad Symphony, the Boston Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, and the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra. He is currently Professor of Music at Boston University and is Conductor-Laureate of the Brooklyn Philharmonic and the Milwaukee Symphony.