David Schiff

David Schiff (born August 30, 1945 in New York City) is an American composer, writer and conductor whose music draws on elements of jazz, rock, and klezmer styles, showing the influence of composers as diverse as Stravinsky, Mahler, Charles Mingus, Eric Dolphy and Terry Riley.

His music has been performed by major orchestras and festivals around the United States and by soloists David Shifrin, Regina Carter, David Taylor, Marty Ehrlich, David Krakauer, Nadine Asin and Peter Kogan.

He is the author of books on the music of Elliott Carter, George Gershwin and Duke Ellington.

His work has been honored by the League-ISCM National Composers Competition award and the ASCAP-Deems Taylor award for his book on Elliott Carter.

Schiff grew up in the Bronx and New Rochelle, New York, started playing piano when he was four and composing when he was nine.

He received a B.A in English literature from Columbia University in 1967 and an M.A. from Cambridge University, where he was a Kellett Fellow at Clare College, in 1970.

After pursuing graduate study in English at Columbia Schiff received an MM from the Manhattan School of Music in 1974 and a DMA From the Juilliard School in 1979.

Among his teachers were James Wimer, Irwin Stahl, Roger Smalley, Ludmilla Ulehla, John Corigliano, Ursula Mamlok and Elliott Carter.

While studying with Carter at Juilliard, Schiff was awarded the League-ISCM National Composers Competition for his Elegy for String Quartet and also oversaw the world premiere of his opera Gimpel the Fool (libretto by I. B. Singer).

Since 1980 Schiff has taught at Reed College Portland, Oregon.

He is married to Cantor Judith Blanc Schiff and they have two children.

Schiff has composed works for musical theater, worship, orchestra and various chamber ensembles including large and small jazz orchestras.

Principal works are:

Schiff has written frequently on music for the New York Times, the Atlantic Monthly, Tempo, the Times Literary Supplement (London) and the Nation.

His books include

He also has written entries on Leonard Bernstein and Elliott Carter for the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.