Faculty composer Christopher Theofanidis selected for Copland House Residency

Composer Christopher Theofanidis '97DMA was recently selected for a Copland House Residency during the 2013–14 season.

Copland House announced recently that eight gifted American composers from five states and Great Britain have been selected for the coveted all-expenses-paid residencies at Aaron Copland's home. The house, a National Historic Landmark, is located in the lower Hudson Valley of New York.

Copland House Residents live and work, one at a time, at Copland's rustic, hilltop home one hour north of Manhattan for stays ranging from three to eight weeks. There, they will be able to focus uninterruptedly on their creative work in the same bucolic surroundings that Copland enjoyed during the last 30 years of his life. Copland House Residents also become eligible for post-residency awards and performances that advance their work.

A jury including composers Eric Chasalow (himself a former Copland House Resident), Daren Hagen, and Paul Moravec reviewed the applications of 99 composers from 26 states and 5 countries. This is the 16th round of composer residencies since Copland House, which is celebrating its 15th anniversary this season, welcomed its first composer just before Thanksgiving in 1998.

Michael Boriskin, the artistic and executive of Copland House, noted: "These residencies have always embraced both emerging and established artists, and we're very pleased that this year's residents range widely from a well-known, much-performed figure like Chris Theofanidis to young composers at the very beginnings of their careers, like Saad Haddad and Dale Trumbore."