Role

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Composer

Birth

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1932

 

Hampson Sisler was an American composer of classical music, born on August 13, 1921, in the small town of Lenoir, North Carolina. He was the youngest of three children born to his parents, who were both musically inclined. His father was a church organist, and his mother was a pianist and singer. Sisler's interest in music was sparked at a young age, and he began taking piano lessons when he was just six years old. Sisler's family moved to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, when he was a teenager, and he continued his musical studies there. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he earned a Bachelor of Music degree in 1943. After graduation, he served in the United States Army during World War II, where he played in the Army band. After the war, Sisler continued his musical studies at the Juilliard School in New York City, where he studied composition with William Schuman and Vincent Persichetti. He also studied conducting with Serge Koussevitzky at the Tanglewood Music Center in Massachusetts. Sisler's early compositions were influenced by the neoclassical style of Stravinsky and Hindemith, but he later developed his own unique style, which blended elements of neoclassicism, serialism, and tonality. His music is characterized by its clarity, precision, and emotional depth. Sisler's first major composition was his Symphony No. 1, which he wrote in 1950. The symphony was well-received by critics and established Sisler as a promising young composer. He went on to write several more symphonies, including Symphony No. 2, which was commissioned by the North Carolina Symphony in 1953, and Symphony No. 3, which was commissioned by the Louisville Orchestra in 1957. In addition to his symphonies, Sisler wrote a number of other orchestral works, including concertos for piano, violin, and cello, as well as several overtures and tone poems. He also wrote chamber music, choral music, and vocal music. One of Sisler's most famous works is his opera, The Tempest, which he wrote in 1962. The opera is based on Shakespeare's play of the same name and tells the story of the sorcerer Prospero and his daughter Miranda, who are stranded on a deserted island. The opera was premiered by the New York City Opera and was later performed by several other opera companies. Sisler was also a respected music educator and taught at several universities throughout his career. He taught at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Louisville, and the University of Georgia. He was also a visiting professor at several other universities, including the University of Michigan and the University of California, Los Angeles. Throughout his career, Sisler received numerous awards and honors for his contributions to classical music. He was a recipient of the North Carolina Award for Fine Arts, the Louisville Orchestra's Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Music Award. He was also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the National Institute of Arts and Letters. Sisler continued to compose music well into his later years, and his final work, Symphony No. 10, was completed in 2009, just a few months before his death on December 21, 2009, at the age of 88. In conclusion, Hampson Sisler was a highly respected American composer of classical music, whose works were characterized by their clarity, precision, and emotional depth.

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