Up for auction “German Conductor” Lukas Foss Hand Written 5.5X4 Note

ES-477

Lukas

Foss (August 15, 1922 –

February 1, 2009) was a German-American composer, pianist, and conductor. Born Lukas Fuchs in Berlin, Germany in 1922, Foss was soon recognized as a child

prodigy. He began piano and theory lessons with Julius Goldstein [Herford] in

Berlin at the age of six. His parents were Hilde (Schindler) and the

philosopher and scholar Martin Foss. He moved with his family to

Paris in 1933, where he studied piano with Lazare Lévy, composition with Noël Gallon, orchestration with Felix Wolfes, and flute with Marcel Moyse. In 1937 he moved with his parents and brother to

the United States, where his father (on advice from the Quakers who had taken

the family in upon arrival in Philadelphia) changed the family name to Foss. He

studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, with Isabelle Vengerova (piano), Rosario Scalero (composition) and Fritz Reiner (conducting). At Curtis, Foss began a

lifelong friendship with classmate Leonard Bernstein, who later described Foss as an

"authentic genius." In 1961 Bernstein conducted the premiere of

Foss's Time Cycle, while Foss would conduct the premiere of

Bernstein's Symphonic Dances from West Side Story. Foss also studied with Serge Koussevitzky during

the summers from 1939 to 1943 at the Berkshire Music Center (now

known as the Tanglewood Music Center) and, as a special student, composition

with Paul Hindemith at Yale University from 1939 to 1940. He became an American

citizen in 1942. Foss was appointed professor of music at UCLA in

1953, replacing Arnold Schoenberg. While

there he founded the Improvisation Chamber Ensemble, which made its Boston debut in

1962 for the Peabody Mason Concert series. He founded the Center of the Creative and Performing Arts in 1963 while

at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Over six separate

years from 1961 to 1987, Foss was the music director of the Ojai Music Festival. From

1963 to 1970 he was music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.

From 1971 to 1988 he was music director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic (formerly

Brooklyn Philharmonia). From 1981 to 1986, he was conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.[2] He was a professor of music, theory, and

composition at Boston University beginning

in 1991. His notable students include Faye-Ellen Silverman, Claire Polin and Rocco Di Pietro. Foss is grouped in the "Boston school" along

with Arthur Berger, Irving Fine, Alexei Haieff, Harold Shapero, and Claudio Spies. He was a National Patron of Delta Omicron, an international professional music fraternity] In

2000 he was awarded a Gold Medal by the American Academy of Arts and Letters.