Age, Biography and Wiki

Michael Colgrass was born on 22 April, 1932 in Brookfield, Illinois, is an American and Canadian composer. Discover Michael Colgrass's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Learn How rich is he in this year and how he spends money? Also learn how he earned most of networth at the age of 87 years old?

Popular As N/A
Occupation Composer
Age 87 years old
Zodiac Sign Taurus
Born 22 April, 1932
Birthday 22 April
Birthplace Brookfield, Illinois
Date of death 2 July, 2019
Died Place Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Nationality United States

We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 22 April. He is a member of famous composer with the age 87 years old group.

Michael Colgrass Height, Weight & Measurements

At 87 years old, Michael Colgrass height not available right now. We will update Michael Colgrass's Height, weight, Body Measurements, Eye Color, Hair Color, Shoe & Dress size soon as possible.

Physical Status
Height Not Available
Weight Not Available
Body Measurements Not Available
Eye Color Not Available
Hair Color Not Available

Dating & Relationship status

He is currently single. He is not dating anyone. We don't have much information about He's past relationship and any previous engaged. According to our Database, He has no children.

Family
Parents Not Available
Wife Not Available
Sibling Not Available
Children Not Available

Michael Colgrass Net Worth

His net worth has been growing significantly in 2023-2024. So, how much is Michael Colgrass worth at the age of 87 years old? Michael Colgrass’s income source is mostly from being a successful composer. He is from United States. We have estimated Michael Colgrass's net worth, money, salary, income, and assets.

Net Worth in 2024 $1 Million - $5 Million
Salary in 2024 Under Review
Net Worth in 2023 Pending
Salary in 2023 Under Review
House Not Available
Cars Not Available
Source of Income composer

Michael Colgrass Social Network

Instagram
Linkedin
Twitter
Facebook
Wikipedia
Imdb

Timeline

1932

Michael Charles Colgrass (April 22, 1932 – July 2, 2019) was an American and Canadian musician, composer, and educator.

Colgrass was born in Brookfield, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.

1944

His musical career began in Chicago as a jazz musician (1944–1949).

1954

He graduated from the University of Illinois (1954) with a degree in percussion performance and composition, including studies with Darius Milhaud at the Aspen Festival and Lukas Foss at Tanglewood.

He served two years as timpanist in the U.S. Seventh Army Symphony in Stuttgart, then spent eleven years supporting his composition activities as a free-lance percussionist in the city of New York, where his performance experiences included such varied groups as the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, The Metropolitan Opera, Dizzy Gillespie, the Modern Jazz Recording Orchestra's Stravinsky Conducts Stravinsky series, and numerous ballet, opera, and jazz ensembles.

He organized the percussion sections for Gunther Schuller's recordings and concerts, as well as for recordings and premieres of new works by John Cage, Elliott Carter, Edgard Varèse, and Harry Partch; and he performed with Partch's ensemble.

1958

During his New York period, he continued to study composition with Wallingford Riegger (1958) and Ben Weber (1958–1960).

Colgrass received commissions from the New York Philharmonic and The Boston Symphony (twice), as well as the orchestras of Minnesota, Detroit, San Francisco, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Washington, Toronto (twice), the National Arts Centre Orchestra (twice), The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, the Manhattan and Muir String Quartets, the Brighton Festival in England, the Fromm and Ford Foundations, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and numerous other orchestras, chamber groups, choral groups, and soloists.

1970

The Colgrass family decided to relocate to Toronto in 1970 primarily because of street crime, labor strikes, and civil chaos then rampant in the city of New York, an urban quality-of-life crisis that reached its peak under Mayor John Vliet Lindsay.

"Crime was at its apex at the time in New York and Ulla and I were wondering where to live," Colgrass later told a Toronto journalist.

"We … happened to see a 60 Minutes special on Toronto, with its low crime rate, multiculturalism, and plenty of parks. We liked what we saw."

The move would break Colgrass's life roughly into two parts: an American half followed by a Canadian half.

1978

Colgrass won the 1978 Pulitzer Prize for Music for his symphonic piece Déjà vu, which was commissioned and premiered by the New York Philharmonic.

1982

In addition, he received an Emmy Award in 1982 for a PBS documentary Soundings: The Music of Michael Colgrass. Other awards include two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Rockefeller Grant, First Prize in the Barlow and Sudler International Wind Ensemble Competitions, and the 1988 Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music.

2002

Among his later works is Crossworlds (2002) for flute, piano, and orchestra; this was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and premiered with soloists Marina Piccinini and Andreas Heafliger.

2003

In 2003 he conducted the premiere of his new chamber orchestra version of the Bach-Goldberg Variations with members of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

2004

His articles on these activities appeared in the Music Educators Journal (September 2004) and Adultita, an Italian education magazine.

He also wrote a number of works for children to perform.

As a prose author, Colgrass wrote My Lessons with Kumi, a fictionalized "teaching tale" outlining his techniques for performance and creativity; he also gave workshops throughout the world on the psychology and technique of performance.

2007

Another twenty-first century premiere was Side by Side (2007) for harpsichord, altered piano (one player), and orchestra, commissioned collectively by the Esprit Orchestra, The Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and The Richmond Symphony featuring soloist Joanne Kong.

The Canadian premiere took place on 13 May 2007 in Toronto under conductor Alex Pauk; the American premiere followed on 2 November 2007 in Boston under Gil Rose.

2008

Soon after followed Pan Trio, for steel drums, harp, and percussion (marimba/vibraphone), commissioned and premiered in Toronto on 21 May 2008 by Soundstreams Canada and featuring pans virtuoso Liam Teague.

2010

Colgrass also wrote, in collaboration with his wife and son, Adventures of an American Composer: An Autobiography, published in 2010.

Colgrass lived in Toronto, Ontario, Canada for nearly five decades, while earning his living internationally as a composer.

He was an associate composer of the Canadian Music Centre.

2015

His work was also featured on the Mark Hetzler 2015 recording Blues, Ballads and Beyond.

Colgrass also devised a system of teaching music creativity to children; he taught this to middle- and high-school music teachers, who have in turn used his techniques to teach children to write and perform new music of their own creation.

2019

Colgrass died on July 2, 2019, at the age of 87.

His widow, Ulla, is a journalist and editor who writes about music and the arts; and his son Neal is an editor, journalist, and screenwriter.

THe following is a list of works by Colgrass.