Peter Askim

{{Short description|American composer and musician}}

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Peter Askim

| image =

| image_size =

| background = non_performing_personnel

| birth_name = Peter Askim

| instrument = Double bass

| genre = classical

| occupation = Composer, Conductor, Educator, Double bassist

| years_active =

| label = Gasparo, Albany

| associated_acts =

| website = http://www.peteraskim.com

}}

Peter Askim is an American composer of modern classical music, conductor, music educator and a double bassist.

Background

Born in Denmark, to a Norwegian father and an American mother, he grew up in Cumberland, Maine.{{cite web

|url = http://www.portlandphoenix.com/music/other_stories/documents/03073097.asp

|title = PCMF is living large

|publisher = The Portland Phoenix

|accessdate = 2008-05-06

}}

He studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna, and holds bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees from Yale University. He also holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Composition from the University of Texas at Austin.

He studied composition with Dan Welcher, Donald Grantham, Anthony Davis,

Jan Radzynkski, Syd Hodkinson and David Finko. His double bass instructors

were George Rubino, Diana Gannett, Donald Palma, Wolfgang Harrer and

Ludwig Streicher.

Musical career

Active as a composer, conductor and double bassist, Peter Askim is currently the Music Director and Composer-in-Residence of the Idyllwild Arts Academy. He has been a member of the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra, and served on the faculty of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where he directed the Contemporary Music Ensemble and taught bass, theory and composition.

Numerous orchestras, music festivals and performers have commissioned

work from Askim, including the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the Honolulu Symphony, Orchestra Asia-Japan, The Yale Symphony Orchestra, the Idyllwild

Arts Orchestra, the Portland Chamber Music Festival, Serenata Santa Fe, Metropolitan Opera soprano Lauren Flanigan, and Grammy-nominated soprano

Judith Kellock. His compositions are published by Liben Music Publishers,

Discordia Music and the International Society of Bassists. His music is

recorded on the Gasparo and Albany labels.

As a conductor, Askim has served as Music Director of Branford Chamber

Orchestra, and makes frequent guest conducting appearances, including the

Wroclaw (Poland) Chamber Orchestra Sotto Voce and the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra. He has premiered numerous works: most recently Swansong by Richard Danielpour.

He is a frequent recitalist for the International Society of Bassists and the International Contrabass Festival. He was a guest recitalist and

teacher at the World Bass Festival in Wroclaw, Poland. He has also

received critical praise as a jazz artist in JazzTimes, the New York Post and New York Newsday.{{cite web

|url = http://www.idyllwildarts.org/academy/arts/music/music_fac.html

|title = Music: Faculty

|publisher = Idyllwild Arts Academy

|accessdate = 2008-05-05

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080514015451/http://www.idyllwildarts.org/academy/arts/music/music_fac.html

|archive-date = 2008-05-14

|url-status = dead

}}

Selected works

Source:{{cite web|url = http://www.peteraskim.com/music.html|title = Peter Askim - Composer, Conductor, Bassist - MUSIC|publisher = Peter Askim|accessdate = 2008-05-05|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080601062511/http://www.peteraskim.com/music.html|archive-date = 2008-06-01|url-status = dead}}

  • Islands: Concerto for Double Bass and String Orchestra
  • Moving, Still for Orchestra
  • As Glaciers Thaw... for String Orchestra
  • ...but the rain... for Shakuhachi and 21-string Koto
  • Eight Solitudes for Bass and Piano
  • Edge for Solo Double Bass
  • Meridians for Orchestra

References

{{Reflist|2}}