Pines of Rome

Kenneth Fuchs has composed music for orchestra, band, chorus, and various chamber ensembles. With Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lanford Wilson, Fuchs created three chamber musicals, The Great Nebula in Orion, A Betrothal, and Bronto­saurus, which were originally pre­sent­ed by Circle Repertory Company in New York City. His music has been performed in the United States, Europe, and Asia.

The London Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of JoAnn Falletta, has recorded four discs of Fuchs’s music for Naxos American Classics. The first, released in August 2005, was nominated for two GRAMMY® Awards (“Best Instrumental Soloist Performance with Orchestra” and “Producer of the Year, Classical”). Read about recording the first LSO disc here. The second disc, which features music for horn, was released in January 2008. See photos from the recording sessions here. Following the release of this disc, MusicWeb International stated in February 2008, “Fuchs’s distinctive voice is evident from the outset, and his flair for orchestral colours and sheer lyricism shine through.” The third disc, recorded in August 2011 at London’s historic Abbey Road Studios, was released in August 2012. Following the release of this disc, BBC Music Magazine stated, “Kenneth Fuchs writes tonal orchestral music of great imagination. He’s a master of orchestral writing.” The disc was included in the 2012 GRAMMY® Award nominations for the category “Producer of the Year, Classical.” The fourth disc, recorded at Abbey Road Studios in August 2013, featuring baritone Roderick Williams in a program of vocal music based on texts by Don DeLillo, John Updike, and William Blake, was released in August 2014. Gramophone magazine featured the disc in its Awards Issue (October 2014), stating, “Fuchs claims his own expressive warmth and colour…. The performances are exemplary, from baritone Roderick Williams’s commanding artistry to the bold, fresh playing of the London Symphony Orchestra under JoAnn Falletta’s sensitive direction.”

Fuchs’s latest disc of chamber music, released by Naxos in April 2013, includes Falling Canons (Christopher O’Riley, piano), Falling Trio (Trio21), and String Quartet No. 5 “American” (Delray String Quartet). The disc has received outstanding reviews in print and at online sources, including Fanfare magazine, Gramophone magazine, and MusicWeb International. The highly successful disc Kenneth Fuchs: String Quartets 2, 3, 4, performed by the American String Quartet, was released by Albany Records. Following the release of this disc, American Record Guide stated quite simply, “String quartet recordings don’t get much better than this.”

Fuchs has received numerous commissions to write for orchestra, band, and chamber groups. His music has achieved significant recognition through global media exposure. Gramophone magazine created the video blog “A session report – with photos – from Abbey Road for Kenneth Fuchs’s new Naxos album” for its website. SiriusXM Satellite Radio has showcased Fuchs’s music on its “Symphony Hall” and “Pops” channels during “Music Discovery Week” and on the programs “Ask a Musician,” “Composers Roundtable,” and “JoAnn Falletta – Rediscovering Holst and Discovering Hailstork and Fuchs.”

Kenneth Fuchs serves as Professor of Composition at the University of Connecticut. He received his bachelor of music degree in composition from the University of Miami (cum laude) and his master of music and doctor of musical arts degrees in composition from The Juilliard School. Fuchs’s composition teachers include Milton Babbitt, David Del Tredici, David Diamond, Vincent Persichetti, and Alfred Reed. His music is published by the Hal Leonard Corporation, Edward B. Marks Music Company, Theodore Presser Company, and Yelton Rhodes Music, and it has been recorded by Albany, Cala, and Naxos Records.

Kristin Naigus is a Central Florida English horn and oboist who performs in orchestral settings throughout and around the Southeast United States. A frequent attendee of Carolyn Hove’s English Horn Masterclass, Naigus has a deep and abiding interest in world music. She plays numerous reed instruments and maintains a professional website at www.field-of-reeds.net.

Ms. Naigus received her Bachelor of Music Performance degree from the University of Michigan School of Music in Ann Arbor, attended on the University of Michigan Dean’s Scholarship. She received her Master of Music Performance degree from the University of Florida School of Music in Gainesville, where she was also an Oboe / English horn Teaching Assistant.

Naigus, the Principal Oboe of the Space Coast Symphony Orchestra, also performs with the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, the Florida Orchestra, Ocala Symphony Orchestra, Gainesville Chamber Orchestra and has also played with Michigan’s Plymouth Symphony Orchestra in addition to the Southwest Florida Symphony, Palm Beach Symphony, Boca Sinfonia, Naples 5th Avenue Chamber Orchestra and Florida Lakes Symphony Orchestra.

In 2013, Naigus set the “stage on fire” with her solo performance of Aaron J. Kernis’ Colored Field with the Space Coast Symphony Orchestra. Naigus can be heard on various game and film soundtracks.

Her extensive festival participation includes the Hot Springs Music Festival, Idyllwild Music Festival, Henry Mancini Institute and the Sunflower Music Festival.