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9. Laurence Wallach

Laurence Wallach

Areas of Specialization

• Composition
• Harpsichord and piano music
• Baroque music
• Modern and contemporary music
• Charles Ives

Interests

Research Interests: Charles Ives, Johannes Brahms, the piano (history and literature)

Teaching Interests: Composition, music history, music theory, chamber music performance

Other Interests: Composing for varied ensembles including orchestra, percussion, small chamber groups; performing chamber music literature for keyboard, strings, and woodwinds; accompanying solo song literature

Favorite/Regular Courses Offered

• Tonal Harmony
• Counterpoint
• Haydn and Mozart
• Beethoven and Schubert
• Romantic Music
• Modern and Contemporary Music
• Composition
• Chamber Music for Small Groups
• Seminar 3

Biography

PhD & MA in Musicology (minor in Composition), Columbia University
BA in Music, Columbia University

In 1977-8, Dr. Wallach attended a year-long post-doctoral seminar in piano performances from 1775 to 1850 at the University of North Carolina funded by a National Endowment in the Humanities grant. He also attended Malcolm Bilson's master-class in fortepiano performance at the Aston Magna Academy in 1982. As a composer, he has fulfilled commissions for major works from the chamber group Infusion (1985), the Ariel Chamber Players (1987), the Atlantic Sinfonietta (1989 and 1992), the Colgate College Choir (1996), the Da Capo Chamber Players (1999), the Housatonic River Summer Festival (2004), the Prometheus Piano Quartet (2006), the Walden Chamber Players (2008), the New England Conservatory Percussion Ensemble (2014), and the Claflin Hill Symphony Orchestra (2016) and has produced many additional works, primarily instrumental, during that time. His "Prelude and Fugue" for violas da gamba was published in 2015. Larry Wallach performs regularly as pianist and harpsichordist, both at Simon's Rock and elsewhere, including performances in Texas, St. Croix, and California. Dr. Wallach has taught at Columbia College and School of General Studies, as well as at the CUNY SEEK Program and the Herbert Lehmann College in the Bronx. He has been teaching at Simon's Rock since 1972.

Highlights

• Winner of composition competition at the New School of Music, Cambridge, MA (1986)
• Performed at the Bard Retrospective Festival, "Charles Ives and his World" (1996)
• Wrote six articles in the volume "The Compleat Brahms" edited by Leon Botstein (1999)
• Concerto for harp, percussion, and chamber ensemble performed at Merkin Hall in New York (1992), favorably reviewed by Alex Ross in the New York Times
• Music reviews posted on-line at the Berkshire Review and NYArts websites since 2009
• Named Livingston Hall Chair in Music at Bard College at Simon's Rock (2004)