Music of Keith Fitch

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 (chosen by Maestro Sawallisch to celebrate the orchestra’s centennial), 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, Europe, 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. Highlights of recent seasons include performances of Dancing the Shadows by the Da Capo Chamber Players and To sleep, to dream by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center; recent premieres include Manhattan Rolls (solo marimba), Burnt Counterpoint (saxophone and percussion), This Rough Magicke by the St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, and Summer and Shade: Three Dream-dances for Orchestra by The Mannes Orchestra at New York’s Symphony Space. Upcoming projects include a new string quartet for the acclaimed Colorado Quartet and a new work for The Syrinx Trio (principal flute, harp, and viola of the Philadelphia Orchestra).

A native of Indiana, Keith Fitch (b. 1966) began composing at age 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. Subsequently, he attended 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, founder of the Borodin Quartet. Among his many awards are the annual Dean’s Prize for Composition at Indiana (six times), the Kate and Cole Porter Memorial Fellowship at Indiana, three ASCAP Young Composer Awards, three National Society of Arts and Letters awards, an Individual Artist Grant from the Indiana Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts, and, most recently, a Fromm Foundation Commission. He has been a resident fellow at The MacDowell Colony, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, The Charles Ives Center for American Music, and the Atlantic Center for the Art, and has also served as Resident Composer and faculty at the Chamber Music Conference and Composers’ Forum of the East. Highly regarded as a teacher, chamber music coach, and conductor of new music, he has taught at Indiana University, Bard College, and for eleven years served on the faculty of the Mannes College of Music in New York, where he founded the new music ensemble, CIRCE. He currently heads the Composition Department at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he holds the Vincent K. and Edith H. Smith Chair in Composition. Dr. Fitch’s music is published by Non Sequitur Music and MMB Music, Inc. of St. Louis.