The music of composer Adam Schoenberg (b. November 15, 1980 Northamtpon, MA) has an ability to create "mystery and sensuality" (New York Times), and has been hailed as "stunning" (Memphis Commercial Appeal), and "open, bold, and optimistic" (Atlanta Journal-Constitution).  Since graduating from The Juilliard School in 2010, Schoenberg received two commissions each from the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (Up! and La Luna Azul) and Kansas City Symphony (American Symphony and Picture Studies).  Recent commissions also include a co-commission from the Aspen Music Festival & School and Los Angeles Philharmonic, Lexington Philharmonic, Atlanta Chamber Players, Quintet of the Americas, The Blakemore Trio, Chamber Music Festival of Lexington, and many more.

Schoenberg is the first Composer-in-Residence for the Kansas City Symphony under Michael Stern’s tenure for the 2012/13 season.  Additional residencies include the Aspen Music Festival and School’s M.O.R.E program, and the 2012 BMI Composer-in-Residence for the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University.  He was a 2009 and 2010 MacDowell Fellow, and was the First Prize winner at the 2008 International Brass Chamber Music Festival for best Brass Quintet.  In 2007, Schoenberg was awarded ASCAP’s Morton Gould Young Composer Award, Juilliard’s Palmer-Dixon Prize for Most Outstanding Composition, and a Meet the Composer Grant.  He received the 2006 Charles Ives Scholarship through the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the 2004 Brian M. Israel Prize from the Society for New Music. ... read full bio

The music of composer Adam Schoenberg (b. November 15, 1980 Northamtpon, MA) has an ability to create "mystery and sensuality" (New York Times), and has been hailed as "stunning" (Memphis Commercial Appeal), and "open, bold, and optimistic" (Atlanta Journal-Constitution).  Since graduating from The Juilliard School in 2010, Schoenberg received two commissions each from the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (Up! and La Luna Azul) and Kansas City Symphony (American Symphony and Picture Studies).  Recent commissions also include a co-commission from the Aspen Music Festival & School and Los Angeles Philharmonic, Lexington Philharmonic, Atlanta Chamber Players, Quintet of the Americas, The Blakemore Trio, Chamber Music Festival of Lexington, and many more.

Schoenberg is the first Composer-in-Residence for the Kansas City Symphony under Michael Stern’s tenure for the 2012/13 season.  Additional residencies include the Aspen Music Festival and School’s M.O.R.E program, and the 2012 BMI Composer-in-Residence for the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University.  He was a 2009 and 2010 MacDowell Fellow, and was the First Prize winner at the 2008 International Brass Chamber Music Festival for best Brass Quintet.  In 2007, Schoenberg was awarded ASCAP’s Morton Gould Young Composer Award, Juilliard’s Palmer-Dixon Prize for Most Outstanding Composition, and a Meet the Composer Grant.  He received the 2006 Charles Ives Scholarship through the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the 2004 Brian M. Israel Prize from the Society for New Music.

In 2011 Jack Sutte (Cleveland Orchestra) released a recording of Schoenberg’s trumpet sonata, Separated by Space.  In 2010 the American Brass Quintet released a recording of Schoenberg’s Reflecting Light as part of their 50th Anniversary CD.

An accomplished Film composer, Schoenberg has scored two feature-length films and several shorts.  His most recent score, Graceland, co-written with his father Steven Schoenberg, premiered at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival, and will receive its nationwide theatrical release in the spring of 2013.

Performance highlights this season include: the European premiere of La Luna Azul (Orchestre symphonique et lyrique de Nancy), five performances of Finding Rothko, three performances of American Symphony, and the inauguration of the Kansas City Symphony’s Composer Institute, which Schoenberg has founded.

Schoenberg earned his Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees at The Juilliard School where he studied with John Corigliano and Robert Beaser.  He received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.  

A committed educator, Schoenberg is on faculty at UCLA where he teaches composition, orchestration, and theory.  He has presented lectures and master classes at the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, The Juilliard School, University of Kansas, University of Missouri Kansas City, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Washington University, Germantown Performing Arts Centre, Blair School of Music, and the Aspen Music Festival & School.  

In 2012 Schoenberg became the first American classical composer to sign with Universal Music Publishing Classical Group and Ricordi London.  He currently resides in Los Angeles with his wife, playwright and screenwriter Janine Salinas.