David Del Tredici born 16 March 1937Born in Cloverdale, near Los Angeles, David Del Tredici is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer and pianist. A child prodigy on the piano, he performed as a concert pianist until 1960.
He enrolled in the University of California at Berkeley in 1955 to study piano, but showed flair for composition and was encouraged to take his studies in that direction. He has subsequently taught at several universities and music colleges, including Boston, New York, Yale & the Juilliard.
He is best known for his series of vocal & instrumental works based on Lewis Carroll`s Alice books; he has also written works based on James Joyce, and many Victorian and American writers. Literature has been a constant influence throughout his work.
In recent years he has started to write more and more works based on the gay experience, and based on work by gay writers, especially since 1996, when he attended a workshop in gay sexuality and self-acceptance.
In addition to the Pulitzer Prize, he has also received a Guggenheim Fellowship and Woodrow Wilson fellowship, a Brandeis Creative Arts Award, a Friedheim Award, grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, and election to the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. His works are regularly commissioned by major orchestras in America and abroad. His On Wings of Song was premiered in New York City in 2004 as part of the Riverside Opera Ensemble's 20th Anniversary Concert.
Del Tredici met his partner Ray Warman in 1999, and they held their commitment ceremony in 2000.
David Del Tredici Official Website