Lauridsen

Morten Lauridsen is Distinguished Professor of Composition at the USC Thornton School of Music. From 1994 to 2001, he was composer-in-residence of the Los Angeles Master Chorale. His seven vocal cycles—Les Chansons des Roses, Mid-Winter Songs, Cuatro Canciones, A Winter Come, Madrigali: Six “FireSongs” on Renaissance Italian Poems, Nocturnes, and Lux Aeterna—and his series of a cappella motets (including O Magnum Mysterium) are regularly performed by distinguished ensembles. Lauridsen’s works have been recorded on more than 150 CDs, four of which received Grammy nominations. In 2006, he was named an “American Choral Master” by the National Endowment for the Arts; the following year, he received the National Medal of Arts in a White House ceremony, the highest award given to artists by the United States government, “for his composition of radiant choral works combining musical beauty, power, and spiritual depth that have thrilled audiences worldwide.”