Christian Wolff, a renowned composer and Dartmouth professor of music and classics emeritus is the 2011 recipient of the Walter Cerf Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts from the Vermont Arts Council. Wolff will be honored in a ceremony on November 4 at the Capitol Plaza in Montpelier, Vt.
Christian Wolff, Strauss Professor of Music and professor of classics, emeritus, will receive the Vermont Arts Council lifetime achievement award on November 4. (courtesy of Merce Cunningham Dance Company)
An active performer and improviser as well as composer, Wolff studied piano with Grete Sultan and composition, briefly, with John Cage. Mostly self-taught as composer, the work of Cage, Morton Feldman, David Tudor and Earle Brown have been important to him. His work has been especially concerned with allowing performers (both professional and amateur) various degrees of freedom in the process of performance.
Wolff’s career in the arts includes a long association with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, which culminated in his performance as part of the live musical ensemble accompanying the company when its farewell “Legacy” tour came to Hopkins Center this past July.
Read the full story on the Hopkins Center website.