Bronxville High School Band to Go to Boston to Honor John Heiss, Class of 1956
Oct. 16, 2013: On Sunday, October 27, the Bronxville High School Band will travel to Boston to honor a former Bronxville musician, Bronxville High School alumnus John Heiss, Class of 1956.
It has been well over 50 years since John Heiss played an instrument at Bronxville High School, but since then he has had a remarkable musical career.
As far back as the 1970s, Heiss began directing many New England Conservatory (NEC) festivals dedicated to composers or themes. He has also invited many seminal composers to play at the NEC, including Ligeti, Lutoslawski, Berio, Carter, Messiaen, Schuller, and Tippett.
As a tribute to him on his 75th birthday, the NEC is celebrating his life in music with a retrospective concert, as described on the NEC website:
Since 1967, John Heiss has taught New England Conservatory students the roots of 20th-century modernism both in the classroom and as a conductor and coach. His courses on Ives, Schoenberg, and Stravinsky have shaped generations of musicians.
Stravinsky called him the "pitch doctor." We at NEC call him a man who wears many hats: flutist, composer, conductor, writer, mentor, award winner, festival organizer, and beloved teacher. We're paying him back a fraction of his gifts to us with this celebration of his life in music as he hits a birthday milestone.
The following description of his accomplishments appears on the NEC website:
John Heiss is an active composer, conductor, flutist, and teacher. His works have been performed worldwide, receiving premieres by Speculum Musicae, Boston Musica Viva, Collage New Music, the Da Capo Chamber Players, Aeolian Chamber Players, Tanglewood Festival Orchestra, and Alea III. He has received awards and commissions from the National Institute of Arts and Letters, Fromm Foundation, NEA, Rockefeller Foundation, Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities, ASCAP, and the Guggenheim Foundation. His principal publishers are Boosey & Hawkes, E.C. Schirmer, and Elkus & Son.
Heiss has been principal flute of Boston Musica Viva and has performed with many local ensembles, including the BSO.
The Bronxville High School Band will be there to celebrate with many others, including NEC faculty, students, alumni, and family members, and plans to perform two works in honor of Mr. Heiss. The band will drive up in the morning, attend and perform in the 3:00 pm concert, and return that evening.
The concert will feature music written by Heiss over the last 40 years, including Inventions, Contours and Colors (1973), Song of Nature (1975), Birthday Greeting (1977), Epigrams (1985), Lines from Neruda (1997), and Serenade for Flute and Harp (2012).
Pictured here: Bronxville High School Band performing earlier this year.
