Larry Thomas Bell

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[edit] Biography

Larry Thomas Bell has been recognized by The Chicago Tribune as "a major talent," composer Larry Bell has been awarded the Rome Prize, fellowships from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations, and the Charles Ives Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and grants from the American Music Center, the American Symphony Orchestra League, and Meet the Composer. He has been a resident composer at Bennington College, the Woodstock/Fringe Festival, the American Academy in Rome, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Bellagio Study and Conference Center, and the MacDowell Colony.

Bell's music has been widely performed in the United States and abroad by such orchestras and ensembles as the Seattle Symphony, RAI Orchestra of Rome, Juilliard Philharmonia, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Ruse Philharmonia (Bulgaria), Hopkins Symphony Orchestra, University of Miami Symphony, ÖENM (Salzburg Mozarteum), Boston Chamber Music Society, Speculum Musicae, St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble, New York New Music Ensemble,Borromeo String Quartet, North/South Consonance, and Music Today (NYC), as well as at festivals in Ravinia, Aspen, Valencia (Spain), Pontino (Italy), San Salvador, Russia (Moscow Autumn), and New Zealand. The Juilliard String Quartet premiered Bell's first String Quartet, written when the composer was only twenty-one. Bell's music has been commissioned and performed by a distinguished array of performers including Eric Bartlett, Joel Krosnick, Andres Diaz, Ayano Ninomiya, Sara Davis Buechner, D'Anna Fortunato, John Muratore, and conductors Jorge Mester, Gerard Schwarz, Gil Rose, and Benjamin Zander. He and his music have also been the subject of documentaries on National Public Radio's "New Directions in Europe," and Concertzender, Radio Amsterdam. Recordings of Bell's works appear on North/South Recordings, Barking Dog Records,Vienna Modern Masters, New England Conservatory Recordings, Pont Neuf, and Albany Records.

As a pianist Bell performs his music regularly and has championed works by American composers. He has given recitals throughout the United States, as well as in Italy, Austria, and Japan. Bell is frequently heard on Boston's WGBH-FM radio, has given their first live broadcast on the World Wide Web of his trio Mahler in Blue Light, and performed as soloist on CDs of his Piano Concerto and Piano Sonata and as an assisting artist on the recordings River of Ponds (the complete cello music), The Book of Moonlight (the complete violin music) and Larry Bell Vocal Music. Bell's music is published by Casa Rustica Publication and Ione Press, a division of ECS Publishing. His work is licensed for performance through Broadcast Music, Inc (BMI) and he is represented by Rosalie Calabrese Management.

Bell received his DMA from The Juilliard School, working in composition with Vincent Persichetti and Roger Sessions, in solfège with Renée Longy, piano with Joseph Bloch and with Joseph Rollino privately in Rome. He later taught in Juilliard's Pre-College Division. Bell is chair of music theory at the New England Conservatory of Music Division of Preparatory and Continuing Education. Larry Bell resides in Boston and is married to musicologist Andrea Olmstead.

[1] Larry Bell's website

[2] Andrea Olmstead's website

Works list:

DARK ORANGE CONCERTO, a Concerto for Viola and Winds (2005) Op. 77

THE TRIUMPH OF LIGHTNESS, a Concerto for Cello and Chamber Orchestra (2004) Op.70

SPIRITUALS, a chamber symphony for ten players (2004) Op. 68

HANSEL AND GRETEL, a Fable for Narrator and Orchestra (2001) Op.59

SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND EXPERIENCE (2000) Op.55

HARMONY IN BLUE AND SILVER (1999) Op.52

SHORT SYMPHONY FOR BAND (1999) Op.47

THE SENTIMENTAL MUSE Op.45 Concerto for Bassoon (1997)

SONG AND DANCE (1997) Op.44

IDUMEA SYMPHONY Op.40 Symphony No. 2 (1996)

PIANO CONCERTO (1989) Op.33

SACRED SYMPHONIES (1985) Op.23

THE IDEA OF ORDER AT KEY WEST (1981) Op.13 A Double Concerto for Soprano and Violin

CONTINUUM (1971) Op.3

NOVELETTE (1970) Op.1

ENCORE No. 1 "Canon" Op. 78 no. 1 (2006)

ENCORE No. 2 "Lament" Op. 78 no. 2 (2006)

POP SET (2005) Op. 74 double bass and piano

String Quartet No. 3, "Homage to Beethoven" (2004) Op. 71 String Quartet

TARAB (2003) Op. 66

JUST AS I AM (2002) Op. 62

FOUR LYRICS for Trumpet and Piano (2001) Op.60

HARMONIUM, Eight Poems for Brass Quintet (1997)

MAHLER IN BLUE LIGHT (1996) Op.43

FOUR PIECES IN FAMILIAR STYLE (1995) Op.41

QUINTESSENCE (1993) Op.39

WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND (1992) Op.38

PIANO QUARTET (1991) Op.36

CONCERTO FOR OBOE AND FIVE Op.32 INSTRUMENTS (1988)

THE BOOK OF MOONLIGHT (1987) Op.31

RIVER OF PONDS (1986) Op.25

SLEEP SONG, a children's piece (1984) Op.18

FANTASIA ON AN IMAGINARY HYMN (1983) Op.17

STRING QUARTET NO. 2 (1982) Op.16

ECLOGUE (1973) Op.5

STRING QUARTET NO. 1 (1973) Op.6

MIRAGE (1972) Op.4

NOVELETTE (1971) Op.1

CAPRICE No. 7, Echo and Narcissus (2005) Op. 75

HANSEL AND GRETEL, a Fable for Narrator and Orchestra (2001) Op.59

LATE NIGHT THOUGHTS ON LISTENING TO MAHLER'S NINTH SYMPHONY (1991) Op.35

THE BLACK CAT (1987) Op.28

GINGER"S CABARET (2006) Op. 81

DREAM WITHIN A DREAM (2006) Op. 79

SONGS OF TIME AND ETERNITY (2002) Op. 64

SHAKESPEARE SONNETS (2001) Op.58

TEN POEMS OF WILLIAM BLAKE (based on Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience) (2000) Op.53

THE IMMORTAL BELOVED (based on letters by Ludwig van Beethoven) (1999) Op.50

TWO HAIKU (based on texts by Santoka and Issa) (1999) Op.49

A CRY AGAINST THE TWILIGHT (1996) Op.42

FOUR SACRED SONGS (1984) Op.20

INCIDENT (1984) Op.19

PROLOGUE and THE END OF THE WORLD (1982) Op.14

REALITY IS AN ACTIVITY OF THE MOST AUGUST IMAGINATION (1976) Op.8

DOMINATION OF BLACK (1971) Op.2

PIANO SONATA NO. 3 (2006) Op. 83 (Remembering György Ligeti)

MUSIC OF THE SPHERES (2006) Op. 82

ELEGY (2005) Op. 72

FOUR CHORALE PRELUDES (2003) Op. 67

SUITE FROM HANSEL AND GRETEL (2003) Op. 65

PIANO SONTAT NO. 2 "TÂLA" (2002) Op. 61

REMINISCENCES AND REFLECTIONS Op.46

BLUES THEME WITH VARIATIONS (1992) Op.37

PIANO SONATA (1990) Op.34

PARABLE OF THE PARABOLA (1988) Op.30

THE EVANGELICAL (1986) Op.26

FIRST TANGO IN LONDON (1985) Op.22

REVIVALS (1984) Op.21

MINIATURE DIVERSIONS (1983) Op.15

VARIATIONS (1974) Op.7

DARK ORANGE PARTITA for solo viola (2005) Op. 76

CAPRICE No. 7, Echo and Narcissus (2005) Op. 75

LITURGICAL SUITE (2004) Op. 69

CAPRICE No. 6 (2005) Op.73

CAPRICE No.5 (2001) Op.57

CAPRICE No.4 (2001) Op.56

CAPRICE No.3 (2000) Op.54

CAPRICE No.2 (1999) Op.51

IN MEMORY OF ROGER SESSIONS (1987) Op.29

A SACRED HARP (1986) Op.27

CELESTIAL REFRAIN (1985) Op.24

CAPRICE (1978) Op.12