James Primosch biographical note
When honoring him with its Goddard Lieberson Fellowship, the American Academy of Arts and
Letters noted that "A rare economy of means and a strain of religious mysticism distinguish the
music of James Primosch... Through articulate, transparent textures, he creates a wide range of
musical emotion." Andrew Porter stated in The New Yorker that Primosch "scores with a sure,
light hand" and critics for the New York Times, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and
the Dallas Morning News have characterized his music as "impressive", "striking", "grandly
romantic", "stunning" and "very approachable".
Primosch’s compositional voice encompasses a broad range of expressive types. His music can be
intensely lyrical, as in the song cycle Holy the Firm (composed for Dawn Upshaw) or dazzlingly
angular as in Secret Geometry for piano and electronic sound. His affection for jazz is reflected in
works like the Piano Quintet, while his work as a church musician informs the many pieces in his
catalog based on sacred songs or religious texts.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1956, James Primosch studied at Cleveland State University, the
University of Pennsylvania, and Columbia University. He counts Mario Davidovsky, George
Crumb and Richard Wernick among his principal teachers.
Primosch's instrumental, vocal, and electronic works have been performed throughout the United
States and in Europe by such ensembles as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the St. Paul Chamber
Orchestra, Collage, the New York New Music Ensemble, and the Twentieth Century Consort.
His Icons was played at the ISCM/League of Composers World Music Days in Hong Kong, and
Dawn Upshaw included a song by Primosch in her Carnegie Hall recital debut. Commissioned
works by Primosch have been premiered by the Chicago Symphony, Speculum Musicae, the
Cantata Singers, and pianist Lambert Orkis. A second Chicago Symphony commission will be
premiered in October, 2009. He is currently at work on a commission for the Albany Symphony.
Among the honors he has received are a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, a
Guggenheim Fellowship, two prizes from the American Academy-Institute of Arts and Letters, a
Regional Artists Fellowship to the American Academy in Rome, a Pew Fellowship in the Arts,
the Stoeger Prize of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and a fellowship to the
Tanglewood Music Center where he studied with John Harbison. Organizations commissioning
Primosch include the Koussevitzky and Fromm Foundations, the Mendelssohn Club of
Philadelphia, the Folger Consort, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, the Barlow
Endowment, and the Network for New Music. In 1994 he served as composer-in-residence at
the Marlboro Music Festival. Recordings of eleven compositions by Primosch have appeared on
the Albany, Azica, Bard, Bridge, CRI, Centaur, and New World labels, with new discs of vocal
and choral works planned.
James Primosch is also active as a pianist, particularly in the realm of contemporary music. He
was a prizewinner at the Gaudeamus Interpreters Competition in Rotterdam, and appears on
recordings for New World, CRI, the Smithsonian Collection, and Crystal Records. He has
worked as a jazz pianist and a liturgical musician.
Since 1988 he has served on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, where he directs the
Presser Electronic Music Studio. 3/30/09