Called “gloriously luminous” by The Philadelphia Inquirer, the music of Keith Fitch has been consistently noted for its intense expressivity and unique sense of color and sonority. Reviewing a performance of his work Totem by Wolfgang Sawallisch and The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Wall Street Journal praised “the sheer concentration of his writing, and its power to express a complex, unseen presence shaping the course of musical events.” His works have been performed throughout the United States and Japan by many of today’s leading ensembles and soloists, including The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the American Composers Orchestra, the New York Youth Symphony, the Christopher String Quartet, and new music ensembles around the country. Additionally, Dr. Fitch’s music has been heard at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the June in Buffalo Festival, the Midwest Composers’ Symposium, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, Milwaukee PremiereFest, New York’s Carnegie and Merkin Halls, and in university settings nationwide. Among his more recent activities are commissions for a solo marimba work for percussionist James Preiss (to be premiered in Spring 2005), a piano quintet for members of the Brentano String Quartet (commissioned by Swarthmore College), and performances in New York (including at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center), France, and Japan.
A native of Indiana, Keith Fitch (b. 1966) began composing at the age of eight and began formal musical training on the double bass at age eleven. While still in high school (age sixteen), he received his first professional orchestral performance. He received his education at the Indiana University School of Music, where he completed his Doctorate in 1995. While at Indiana, he studied composition with Frederick Fox, Eugene O’Brien, and Claude Baker, double bass with Bruce Bransby and Murray Grodner, and chamber music with Rostislav Dubinsky. Among his many awards are the annual Dean’s Prize for Composition at Indiana (1987-89, 1991-92, 1994), the Kate and Cole Porter Memorial Fellowship (Indiana University, 1993-95), three ASCAP Young Composer Awards (1989, 1993, 1995), three National Society of Arts and Letters awards (1990 [Career Award], 1992, 1993), and a 1994 Individual Artist Grant from the Indiana Arts Commission. He has been a resident fellow at The MacDowell Colony (1998, 2001), the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (2002, 2003, 2004), The Charles Ives Center for American Music (1991), and the Atlantic Center for the Arts (1989). In the fall of 2001, he returned to Indiana University as a visiting member of the composition faculty. In the summer of 2002, he served as Resident Composer at the Chamber Music Conference and Composers’ Forum of the East, held at Vassar College. He currently resides in New York City, where he is on the composition and chamber music faculties of the Mannes College of Music. Dr. Fitch’s music is published by Non Sequitur Music and MMB Music, Inc. of St. Louis.
Copyright © 1998, Non Sequitur Music Publishing
Revised -- January 2005
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