donates his archive to Yale library
Yale’s Irving S. Gilmore Music Library has acquired the entire archive
of renowned American composer Benjamin Lees.
The comprehensive archive, which was a gift from the composer, includes manuscript
sketches and scores for all of Lees’ compositions, as well as correspondence,
concert programs, reviews, photographs and biographical materials.
Born to Russian parents in Harbin, China, in 1924, Lees arrived in the United
States in 1925. He began studying the piano at age 5 and started composing as
a teenager. After military service in World War II he attended the University
of Southern California, and shortly after began advanced studies with legendary
American composer George Antheil, with whom he developed a long-lasting friendship.
Throughout his career, Lees has composed in a wide variety of genres. His works
have been commissioned and performed by ensembles and soloists throughout the
United States and Europe, including the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony
Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and l’Orchestre
Philharmonique de Monte Carlo. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has
commissioned two of his works, Piano Trio No. 2 “Silent Voices,” and “Night
Spectres” for unaccompanied cello.
As a composer, Lees is especially renowned for his orchestral works, which
are represented by five symphonies and numerous concertante works that feature
soloist or small instrumental groups with orchestra. His other concertante works
for small ensembles include concertos for woodwind quintet, brass choir and percussion
ensemble, all with orchestra.
The composer’s many awards include a Fromm Foundation Award, two Guggenheim
Fellowships, a Fulbright Fellowship, a UNESCO Award for String Quartet No. 2
and the Sir Arnold Bax Society Medal, the first awarded to a non-British composer.
He also received a Grammy nomination in 2004 for his Symphony No. 5. Lees’ music
is published exclusively by Boosey & Hawkes.
The Irving S. Gilmore Music Library is one of the preeminent music research collections
in the United States. It holds the music manuscripts and personal papers of Charles
Ives, as well as archives related to Paul Hindemith, Virgil Thomson, Benny Goodman,
Vladimir Horowitz, Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya, Carl Ruggles, Deems Taylor, and
many others. The library is also the home of the Historical Sound Recordings
Collection and the American Musical Theater Collection. To learn more about
the Gilmore Library, visit www.library.yale.edu/musiclib.
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