David Rakowski

{{short description|American composer and typeface designer (born 1958)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2020}}

David Rakowski (born June 13, 1958, St. Albans, Vermont) is an American composer and typeface designer.{{cite web |title=MyFonts biography |url=https://www.myfonts.com/person/David_Rakowski/ |publisher=MyFonts.com |accessdate=October 9, 2020}}{{cite web |last1=Devroye |first1=Luc |title=Biography, David Charles Randolph Rakowski |url=http://luc.devroye.org/fonts-28542.html |publisher=Luc Devroye |accessdate=October 9, 2020}} He studied under such composers as Robert Ceely, John Heiss, Milton Babbitt, Peter Westergaard, Paul Lansky, and Luciano Berio. In 2006, he was awarded the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's 2004–2006 Elise L. Stoeger Prize.{{cite web |title=David Rakowski Is 2004–06 Stoeger Prize Winner |work=NewMusicBox |date=February 12, 2004 |url=http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/David-Rakowski-is-200406-Stoeger-Prize-Winner/ |accessdate=January 25, 2016}} He has twice been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Music: in 1999 for Persistent Memory and in 2002 for his second symphony Ten of a Kind.{{cite web |title=Winners of the 2002 Pulitzer Prizes |work=The New York Times |date=April 9, 2002 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/09/nyregion/09PRI.html?pagewanted=all |accessdate=January 25, 2016}}{{cite web |last=Oteri |first=Frank J. |title=David Rakowski: The Piano Etude Guy |work=NewMusicBox |date=November 1, 2007 |url=http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/David-Rakowski-is-200406-Stoeger-Prize-Winner/ |accessdate=January 25, 2016}}

He has released dozens of typefaces since the 1990s, mostly as freeware, which include both original designs and revivals (such as "Lemiesz" – a free version of Publicity Gothic, 1916 – and "Harting", a typewriter face in the "grunge" style.)