Christopher Theofanidis

Christopher Theofanidis has had performances by many leading orchestras from around the world, including the London Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Moscow Soloists, the National, Atlanta, Baltimore, St. Louis, Detroit Symphonies, and many others. He also served as Composer of the Year for the Pittsburgh Symphony during their 2006-2007 Season, for which he wrote a violin concerto for Sarah Chang. Theofanidis holds degrees from Yale, the Eastman School of Music, and the University of Houston, and has been the recipient of the International Masterprize (hosted at the Barbican Centre in London), the Rome Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, six ASCAP Gould Prizes, a Fulbright Fellowship to France, a Tanglewood Fellowhship, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Charles Ives Fellowship. In 2007 he was nominated for a Grammy for best composition for his chorus and orchestra work, The Here and Now, based on the poetry of Rumi. His orchestral concert work, Rainbow Body, has been one of the most performed new orchestral works of the last ten years, having been performed by over 100 orchestras internationally. He currently teaches at Yale University. For more information visit www.theofanidismusic.com

Bassoon Concerto
Of his Bassoon Concerto, Theofanidis says, “I wrote my bassoon concerto for my good friend Martin Kuuskmann, whom I had known since 1992 from my days as a student at Yale, commissioned for Absolute Ensemble.” The virtuosic piece incorporates a style of melodic ornamentation heard in the Greek Orthodox Church, which is also found throughout the Balkan region, and requires the soloist to make use of circular breathing techniques.