American composer, teacher and proponent of contemporary music. A prolific composer, his music encompassed many genres, including symphonies, chamber music, opera. Leading orchestras and soloists often commissioned his work.
Sessions taught for over 50 years at Princeton University, University of California at Berkeley and Juilliard School. A two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, Sessions is the author of four books on music.
Sessions was a brilliant young man and entered Harvard University at age 14, graduating at age 18. During his Harvard years, he wrote numerous articles for the Harvard Musical Review and became its editor. At age 20, he began teaching at Smith College. In 1925, he began an eight-year visit to Europe, receiving two Guggenheim fellowships, a Prix de Rome, and in 1931 a Carnegie Corporation grant. He left Europe in 1933 and a year later, took up teaching at Princeton. In 1946, he moved to Berkeley but returned to Princeton in 1954 where he stayed until his “retirement.” However in 1965 he took up a part-time position at the Juilliard School which he maintained until he was 80 years old, ultimately giving it up in 1983.
His last completed work, commissioned by the Boston Symphony, premiered in 1981. This piece, “Concerto for Orchestra,” won the Pulitzer.
Sessions died on March 16, 1985 in Princeton, NJ. He was 88.
Link to Wikipedia biography