Paul Moravec

Paul Moravec (born November 2, 1957, in Buffalo, New York) is an American composer and a University Professor at Adelphi University on Long Island, New York. Already a prolific composer, he has been described as a "new tonalist." He is best known for his work Tempest Fantasy, which received the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Music.

Biography

Moravec was born in Buffalo, New York and subsequently attended the Lawrenceville School, graduating in 1975. He received his B.A. in composition from Harvard University in 1980; while there, he performed with the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum, one of the Holden Choirs. He won the Prix de Rome and studied at the American Academy in Rome after graduating. He then received the Master of Music (1982) and Doctor of Musical Arts (1987) in composition, both from Columbia University.

Moravec has taught at Dartmouth College (1987–96) and Hunter College (1997–98). He suffered from clinically diagnosed depression that reached a zenith during the time immediately surrounding his departure from Dartmouth College, and underwent electroshock therapy. He is currently a University Professor in the music department at Adelphi University, and has contributed to what the New York Times has called a "renaissance" in a college that went through academic and financial difficulties in the 1990s.