James Primosch

Pew Fellow, 1996
Music

James Primosch (1956–2021) was a composer and pianist. His body of work earned him a Virgil Thomson Award in Vocal Music, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, prizes from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and numerous other honors. His compositions have been performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Collage, the New York New Music Ensemble, The Crossing, PRISM Quartet, and many other ensembles, and he released recordings of 35 of his compositions. Primosch served as a music professor at the University of Pennsylvania from 1988 until his death. He earned his BA from Cleveland State University, his MFA from the University of Pennsylvania, and his PhD from Columbia University.