George Tsontakis

{{short description|American composer and conductor (born 1951)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = George Tsontakis

| image =

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_name =

| birth_date = October 24, 1951

| birth_place = Astoria, Queens, New York City

| death_date =

| death_place =

| nationality = American

| other_names =

| occupation = Composer, conductor

| years_active =

| known_for =

| notable_works =

}}

George Tsontakis (born Astoria, Queens, New York City, October 24, 1951) is an American composer and conductor.

Early life and education

He was born in New York City, and is of Greek descent.

Tsontakis studied composition with Hugo Weisgall and Roger Sessions at the Juilliard School from 1974 to 1978, and later with Franco Donatoni at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome.

Career

His music has been performed and broadcast by major orchestras, chamber ensembles, and festivals throughout North and South America, Europe and Japan.

Tsontakis was honored with the "Academy Award" in 1995 from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and was the fourth recipient of the coveted Ives Living Fellowship, in 2007. Pianist Stephen Hough's recording of Tsontakis's "Ghost Variations" on Hyperion Records was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition,{{cite web |url=http://www.grammy.com/grammy_awards/51st_show/list.aspx |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2009-01-30 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205000239/http://www.grammy.com/GRAMMY_Awards/51st_Show/list.aspx |archivedate=2008-12-05 }} and was the only classical recording among Time magazine's 1998 Top Ten Recordings. Tsontakis received the Berlin Prize from the American Academy in Berlin in 2002, and the University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition for his Violin Concerto No. 2 in 2005.{{Cite web|url=http://www.laco.org/composer/365|title = Composer José Enrique González Medina on Writing Music Musicians Love | Table Talk|date = 7 March 2020}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.classical-composers.org/comp/tsontakis|title = George Tsontakis|date = 18 May 2006}}{{cite web |url=http://www.yaddo.org/yaddo/GeorgeTsontakis2.shtml |title=Yaddo Composer George Tsontakis Wins Prestigious Charles Ives Award |accessdate=2010-09-26 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070111102220/http://www.yaddo.org/yaddo/GeorgeTsontakis2.shtml |archivedate=2007-01-11 }}{{Cite web|url=http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/533986|title=Composer George Tsontakis Wins Prestigious Charles Ives Award|date=12 December 2006}}

A proficient conductor of orchestral and choral music, Tsontakis has been a composer-in-residence with the Aspen Music Festival and conductor and the founding director of the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble at the Aspen Music School, where he teaches composition. He was an assistant professor at the Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music, and has served on the faculty of Sarah Lawrence College. He is Distinguished Faculty, Composer-in-Residence of the Bard College Conservatory of Music in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.{{cite web |url=http://www.bard.edu/academics/faculty/faculty.php?action=details&id=1615 |title=George Tsontakis |website=www.bard.edu |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060901095121/http://www.bard.edu/academics/faculty/faculty.php?action=details&id=1615 |archive-date=2006-09-01}} He was a Weil fellow at Auburn University Montgomery.

Tsontakis's music has been recorded by Hyperion, Koch, Innova, and Naxos.{{Cite web |last=College |first=Bard |title=George Tsontakis at Bard College |url=https://music.bard.edu/faculty/george-tsontakis/ |access-date=2024-06-17 |website=music.bard.edu |language=en}}

In 2008, his Violin Concerto No. 2, recorded by violinist Steven Copes and the SPCO,

was nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best Classical Contemporary Composition, but lost to John Corigliano's Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan. He is Distinguished Composer-in-Residence at the Bard College Conservatory.{{Cite web |title=Recordings by George Tsontakis {{!}} Now available to stream and purchase at Naxos |url=https://www.naxos.com/Bio/Person/George_Tsontakis/106096 |access-date=2024-06-17 |website=www.naxos.com}}