Arthur Gottschalk attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, receiving a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Composition, a Master of Arts degree in Music Composition and English Literature, and his Doctorate in Music Composition, studying with William Bolcom, Ross Lee Finney, and Leslie Bassett. He is currently a Professor at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where he served as Chair of the Department of Music Theory and Composition until 2009. He founded the university’s electronic and computer music laboratories, and was its Director until 2002.
“Rapturous, argumentative, and prickly” (Gramophone Magazine), and “fascinatingly strange” (BBC Music Magazine), composer Arthur Gottschalk accepted an invitation as Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome in 2016, and The Association of Rice Alumni honored him with its Meritorious Service Award, the highest honor for a non-graduate of Rice University. Among many other awards, his Concerto for Violin and Symphonic Winds won First Prize in the XXV Concorso Internazionale di Composizione Originale (Italy), and in 2011 he was awarded the prestigious Bogliasco Fellowship for further work in Italy. Other awards include the Charles Ives Prize of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the 2014 Gold Medal for his Sonata for Cello: In Memoriam and the 2015 Gold Medal, Best of Show, and Recording of the Year from the Global Music Awards for his Requiem: For The Living. Residencies include the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center, the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, and the Atlantic Center for the Arts.