Composer and percussionist Michael Colgrass died on July 3, 2019. Born in 1932, he began his musical career in Chicago in 1944 as a jazz drummer. He graduated from the University of Illinois in 1954 with a degree in performance and composition, and his studies included training with Darius Milhaud and Lukas Foss. He served two years as timpanist in the Seventh Army Symphony Orchestra in Stuttgart, Germany, and then spent 11 years supporting his composing as a freelance percussionist in New York City, where his performance venues included the New York Philharmonic, American Ballet Theater, Dizzy Gillespie, the Modern Jazz Quartet, the original West Side Storyorchestra on Broadway, the Columbia 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 premieres of works by John Cage, Elliott Carter, Edgard Varèse, and many others. He continued to study composition with Wallingford Riegger and Ben Weber.

As a percussion soloist he premiered many of his own works: with Emanuel Vardi in “Variations for Four Drums and Viola” (also recorded for MGM Records); in “Fantasy Variations” for percussion soloist and percussion sextet at Carnegie Recital Hall; in “Rhapsodic Fantasy for Fifteen Drums and Orchestra” with the Danish Radio Orchestra; in recordings of his own “Three Brothers” percussion ensemble (Urania Records), and “Percussion Music” (Period Records). He also composed Six Unaccompanied Solos for Snare Drum.

Colgrass received commissions from the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, and the orchestras of Minnesota, Detroit, San Francisco, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Washington, Toronto, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, The Canadian Broadcast 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. “A Flute in the Kingdom of Drums and Bells” (l995) was commissioned by flutist Marina Piccinini and the Nexus percussion ensemble and premiered in the Ford Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto.

He won the 1978 Pulitzer Prize for Music for “Déjà vu,” which was commissioned and premiered by the New York Philharmonic. In addition, he received an Emmy Award in 1982 for a PBS documentary, Soundings: The Music of Michael Colgrass. He was awarded two Guggenheim Fellowships, A Rockefeller Grant, First Prize in the Barlow and Sudler International Wind Ensemble Competitions, and the 1988 Jules Leger Prize for Chamber Music. In 1987, Colgrass was inducted into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame.

He created a method of teaching children—and teachers—how to write music using graphics. His method was adopted by the Nova Scotia education system for inclusion in the junior high curriculum.

Among his recent works are “Crossworlds” (2002) for flute, piano, and orchestra, commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and premiered with soloists Marina Piccinini and Andreas Heafliger. “Pan Trio” was commissioned and premiered by Soundstreams Canada in 2005 and premiered by them with Liam Teague, steel drums, Sanya Eng, harp, and Ryan Scott, percussion. “Side by Side” (2007) for harpsichord and altered piano with Joanne Kong as soloist, was commissioned by the Esprit Orchestra, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), and the Richmond Symphony Orchestra.“Zululand” (2010) for wind ensemble was commissioned and premiered by the University of Wisconsin at River Falls.

As an author, Colgrass wrote My Lessons With Kumi(Meredith Music), a narrative/exercise book, outlining his techniques for performance and creativity. He lectured on personal development and gave workshops throughout the world on the psychology and technique of performance. His newest book, Adventures of an American Composer, is published by Meredith Music. 

Upon his death, his wife, Ulla, said, “Michael did not want any ceremonies after his death, nor did he want you to be sad. Instead, visit him by playing his music and feel his spirit soar.” 

Click here to read “Small Essay on My Early Percussion Music” by Michael Colgrass, published in Percussive Notes, Vol. 34, No. 4, August 1996.

Read Michael Colgrass’s PAS Hall of Fame profile here.