Lukas Foss (born Lukas Fuchs, August 15, 1922 in Berlin, Germany) is an American composer and conductor. He studied with Julius Goldstein. He moved to Paris in 1933 where he studied piano with Lazare Lévy, composition with Noël Gallon, orchestration with Felix Wolfes, and flute with Louis Moyse. In 1937 he moved to America and studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, with Sergei Koussevitzky during the summers from 1939 to 1943 at the Berkshire Music Center, and, as a special student, composition with Paul Hindemith at Yale University from 1939 to 1940. August 15 is the 227th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (228th in leap years), with 138 days remaining. ... 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... For other uses, see Berlin (disambiguation). ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... See Conductor for other possible uses of the word. ... Lazare Lévy (January 18, 1882 – September 20, 1964) was a French pianist and teacher. ... The Curtis Institute of Music is a music school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that offers courses of study leading to a performance Diploma, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in Opera, and Professional Studies Certificate in Opera. ... Philadelphia is a village located in Jefferson County, New York. ... Sergei Aleksandrovich Koussevitzky (July 26, 1874 – June 4, 1951), better known as Serge, was a Russian-born conductor. ... Paul Hindemith (November 16, 1895 – December 28, 1963) was a German composer, violist, teacher, theorist and conductor. ... Yale redirects here. ...

Foss was appointed professor of music at the University of California at Los Angeles in 1953, replacing Arnold Schoenberg. While there he founded the Improvisation Chamber Ensemble. He founded the Center for Creative and Performing Arts in 1963 while at the University at Buffalo. He has been Professor of Music, Theory and Composition at Boston University since 1991. His notable students include Claire Polin. The University of California, Los Angeles, popularly known as UCLA, is a public, coeducational university situated in the neighborhood of Westwood within the city of Los Angeles. ... Arnold Schoenberg, Los Angeles, 1938 Schoenberg redirects here. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... For the unrelated Jesuit university in Chestnut Hill, see Boston College. ... Claire Polin (1926-1995) was an American composer of contemporary classical music and flutist. ...

His works include Baroque Variations, Time Cycle (1960), Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird (1978), Echoi (1963), Renaissance Concerto (1990). His early works are neoclassical in style, he began using controlled improvisation and chance procedures with the twelve tone technique and serialism, while his later works are polystylistic. Improvisation is the act of making something up as it is performed. ... Aleatory (or aleatoric) means pertaining to luck, and derives from the Latin word alea, the rolling dice. ... Twelve-tone technique is a system of musical composition devised by Arnold Schoenberg. ... Serialism is a technique for composing music so that each tone of a row sounds before any tone repeats. ... Polystylism is the use of multiple styles or techniques and is seen as a postmodern characteristic. ...

He is grouped in the "Boston school" along with Arthur Berger, Irving Fine, Alexie Haieff, Harold Shapero, and Claudio Spies. Arthur Berger (May 15, 1912 in New York, NY - 7 October 2003) was a composer who has been described as a New Mannerist. ... Irving Fine (December 3, 1914–August 23, 1962) was a US composer. ... Harold Shapero (born 29 April 1920) is an American composer. ...

External links

• All Music Guide: Lukas Foss
• Humanities Web: Lukas Foss Index
• CDeMusic: Lukas Foss
• New Albion Artists: Lukas Foss
• Lukas Foss Lecture A Twentieth-Century Composer's Confessions about the Creative Process

Listening

• Art of the States: Lukas Foss
• Lukas Foss interview from American Mavericks site