Kenneth LaFave’s music has been performed by the Phoenix Symphony, the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago String Quartet, the Kansas City Chorale, Close Encounters with Music and many other artists and organizations. With librettist Robert Kastenbaum, LaFave has composed the 30-minute cabaret opera
Closing Time, the full-length musical Outlaw Heart, and American
Gothic, a full-length opera in one act. (See news column at right for notice of
American Gothic's upcoming world premiere.)
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LaFave's most recent
commissions include the one-act opera American Gothic; "Gateways," a
concerto for electric guitar, choir and winds; and The Medicine Gift, for
two horns, piano and narrator.
“Melodic…gracefully harmonized” was how The New York Times described
a 1989 concert of LaFave's solo vocal works at Weill Recital Hall. Download
some samples from the audio files page of this website and discover for
yourself the variety, richness and expressive depth of LaFave's
music.
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 Composer
Kenneth
LaFave |
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Legendary TV and film composer Mark Snow ("The X Files") and Kenneth LaFave take a break during the ASCAP-sponsored film scoring workshop at New York University in lower Manhattan (May, 2005). LaFave added film and TV skills to his quiver, studying at the workshop with Snow and many other experienced screen composers, arrangers and
orchestrators. |
Check out Ken's newest endeavor -
music-portraits.com, where your essence translates into sound.
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Review of the
premiere performance of Fly!
by the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, George Hanson, cond.
"LaFave's work was the
buzz at intermission, with patrons thrilled by its beauty and sense of
wonder. LaFave is a composer with a direct "old school" approach to
composition. Read full review here... |
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Close
Encounters concert pays tribute to some legendary American music By
Richard Houdek; Special to The Eagle.
... In the evening's
other premiere, Kenneth LaFave's piano trio, "American Avenues" -- also
commissioned by Close Encounters -- Hanani and Tocco were joined by
Yehonatan Berick, an exceptionally fine violinist.
Read the full story here... |
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LaFave Quartet
Premiered,
By Richard Nilsen; for Musical America
Kenneth LaFave's first
string quartet was premiered Monday at the Sun Cities Chamber Music
Society concert by the Chicago String Quartet.
Read the full story here... |
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Tucson native's
'Closing Time' offers quirky opera fix at PCC,
By Daniel
Buckley; Citizen Music Critic
The curtain rises to
reveal a dingy bar with a clearly troubled customer hovering silently over
a glass of beer. Behind him, a couple in the corner dances to a pop song
called ''A Chance For Love,'' while the bartender can't wait to holler
''closing time!'' Read the
full story here... |
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It's first call for
'Closing Time' opera,
By Daniel
Buckley; Citizen Music Critic
Brevity and clarity in
opera? Who'd a thunk it? Welcome to ''Closing Time'' - a roughly
35-minute, one-act opera by Scottsdale composer Kenneth LaFave.
Read the full story here... |
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