Martin Boykan

Biography

Martin Boykan (1931-2021) studied composition with Walter Piston, Aaron Copland and Paul Hindemith, and piano with Eduard Steuermann. He received a BA from Harvard University, 1951, and an MM from Yale University, 1953. In 1953–55 he was in Vienna on a Fulbright Fellowship, and upon his return founded the Brandeis Chamber Ensemble whose other members included Robert Koff (Juilliard Quartet), Nancy Cirillo (Wellesley), Eugene Lehner (Kolisch Quartet) and Madeline Foley (Marlborough Festival). This ensemble performed widely with a repertory divided equally between contemporary music and the tradition. At the same time Boykan appeared regularly as a pianist with soloists such as Joseph Silverstein and Jan de Gaetani. In 1964–65, he was the pianist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Boykan has written for a wide variety of instrumental combinations including 4 string quartets, a concerto for large ensemble, many trios, duos and solo works, song cycles for voice and piano as well as instrumental ensembles and choral music. His symphony for orchestra and baritone solo was premiered by the Utah Symphony in 1993, and his concerto for violin and orchestra was premiered by Curt Macomber in 2008 with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project conducted by Gil Rose. His work is widely performed and has been presented by almost all of the current new music ensembles including the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, The New York New Music Ensemble, Speculum Musicae, the League ISCM, Earplay, Musica Viva and Collage New Music.

He received the Jeunesse Musicales award for his String Quartet No.1 in 1967 and the League ISCM award for Elegy in 1982. Other awards include a Rockefeller grant, NEA award, Guggenheim Fellowship, a Fulbright, as well as a recording award and the Walter Hinrichsen Publication Award from the American Academy and National Institute of Arts and Letters. In 1994 he was awarded a Senior Fulbright to Israel. He has received numerous commissions from chamber ensembles as well as commissions from the Koussevitzky Foundation in the Library of Congress, and the Fromm Foundation. In 2011 Boykan was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York.

At present Boykan is an Emeritus Professor of Music, Brandeis University. He has been Composer in Residence at the Composer's Conference in Wellesley and the University of Utah, Visiting Professor at Columbia University, New York University and Bar Ilan University (Israel) and has lectured widely in institutions such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, The American Academy in Berlin, etc. He has served on many panels, including the Rome Prize, the Fromm Commission, the New York Council for the Arts (CAPS) and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Over the years he has taught many hundreds of students including such well known composers as Steve Mackey, Peter Lieberson, Marjorie Merryman and Ross Bauer.

ACE Publications

36 title(s)
Composer Title SCORING/INSTRUMENTATION Year
Martin Boykan AS ONCE ON A DESERTED STREET...
clarinet, horn, violin, cello, piano
Martin Boykan City of Gold Flute
Martin Boykan CONCERTO FOR THIRTEEN PLAYERS Sinfonietta
1(+picc)02(2=bcl)1 - 1110 - hp, pno, 1111
Martin Boykan CONCERTO FOR VIOLIN AND ORCHESTRA vln solo, 2222, 4231, timp, hp, 2perc, str
Martin Boykan DIPTYCH
flute, Eng. Hn, violin, cello, guitar
Martin Boykan ECLOGUE Flute, Horn, Viola, Cello, and Piano
Martin Boykan ELEGY FOR SOPRANO AND SIX INSTRUMENTS Soprano, Flute (Doubling Piccolo), Clarinet (Doubling Bass Clarinet), Violin, Cello, Double Bass, and Piano
Martin Boykan EPITHALAMION Bass voice, violin, harp
Martin Boykan Fantasy-Sonata Piano
Martin Boykan FLUME cl, pf
Martin Boykan MA'ARIV SETTINGS SATB, org
Martin Boykan MOTET m sop, cl, vla, vc
Martin Boykan Motet (for Mezzo-Soprano and Consort of Viols) Mezzo-Soprano, Treble Viol, Tenor Viol, and Bass Viol
Martin Boykan NOCTURNE cello, piano, percussion
Martin Boykan PACKET FOR SUSAN Mezzo-Soprano and Piano
Martin Boykan Power of the Moment - E-Book
Martin Boykan PSALM 121 soprano and string quartet
Martin Boykan ROMANZA Flute and Piano
Martin Boykan SEA GARDENS Soprano and Piano
Martin Boykan SECOND CHANCES m sop, pf
Martin Boykan SOLILOQUIES FOR AN INSOMNIAC Mezzo-Soprano, piano
Martin Boykan SONATA FOR PIANO No. 4
Martin Boykan SONATA FOR VIOLA AND PIANO Viola and Piano
Martin Boykan SONATA NO. 2 FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO
violin, piano
Martin Boykan SONATA NO. 3 FOR PIANO pf

Additional Works

Works with other publishers:

CF Peters, unless otherwise noted;  http://www.sheetmusicplus.com

 

City of Gold for solo flute (1996)

Echoes of Petrarch for flute, clarinet, and piano (1992)

Fantasy-Sonata for Piano  (1986)

Impromptu for violin solo (1993)

Piano Sonata No. 2 (1990) [aka Sonata No. 2 for Piano)

Piano Trio No. 1 for violin, cello, piano (1975)  (published by Mobart Music) - commissioned by Fromm Foundation.

Piano Trio No. 2 for violin, cello, and piano (1997) - CRI CD 841

Psalm 126 for chorus (1965) --published by Mobart (Schott) Music

Sontata (No. 1) for violin and Piano (1994)

Sonata for Cello and Piano (1992)

Sonata for Violin Solo (1998) recorded on CRI CD 898

String Quartet No. 1 (1967)

String Quartet No. 2 (1974)  (published by Mobart Music)

String Quartet No. 3 (1984)

String Quartet No. 4 (1995-96)