Biography
Bernard Rands, born in Sheffield, England, during 1934, later took American citizenship and produced approachable large-scale compositions whose language draws upon the European avant-garde lineage. The Pulitzer Prize for Music came to him in 1984, accompanied by numerous other distinguished honors. His training began with simultaneous work in literature and music at the University of Wales, then shifted decisively after he traveled to Darmstadt, Germany, for instruction from Pierre Boulez and Bruno Maderna. Further studies in Milan placed him with Luigi Dallapiccola and Luciano Berio, whose influences surface in the lyrical yet intensely dramatic character of his own voice. Early commissions followed his formal education, among them the 1969 orchestral score Per esempio written for the West Riding Youth Orchestra in Yorkshire. Periods at the University of Illinois and Princeton University nurtured an affinity for American life, leading him to relocate in 1975 and acquire citizenship eight years afterward. By that point his scores were reaching major ensembles on both sides of the Atlantic, underscoring the unusual measure of recognition he attained in Britain and the United States alike. The BBC Symphony Orchestra introduced several important pieces, including Mésalliance in 1972 under Boulez. The National Symphony Chamber Orchestra commissioned and premiered Madrigali in 1977. Zubin Mehta conducted the New York Philharmonic in the 1983 first performance of the orchestral song cycle Canti del sole, which received the Pulitzer the following year. In 2004 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Between 1989 and 1995 he served as composer-in-residence with the Philadelphia Orchestra, while the Cleveland Orchestra and the Boston and Chicago Symphony Orchestras maintained active interest in his music. Two operas stand among his works: Belladonna from 1999 and Vincent, centered on the life of Vincent van Gogh, completed in 2010. His eightieth birthday was marked in 2014 by the Boston Symphony premiere of the Concerto for piano and orchestra with soloist Jonathan Biss. A recording of the tone poem Chains Like the Sea appeared from the BBC Philharmonic in 2019. Rands is married to composer Augusta Read Thomas; the couple resides in Chicago, where their compositions have occasionally shared concert programs.