STEVEN L. ROSENHAUS

* Composer * Lyricist * Arranger * Conductor * Educator * Author * Show Doctor *
* Songwriter * Guitarist * Mandolinist * Singer *

COMPOSER/CONDUCTOR BIO

Steven Conducts USNA Band


















 Yamaha Piano Artist Dr. Steven L. Rosenhaus is Adjunct Assistant Professor at New York University's Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions and serves on the faculty of Nassau Community College. He is a composer, conductor, arranger, educator, and author, and he performs as a singer/songwriter. His concert music has been heard across the United States, Canada, Europe, and in Israel and Japan. Performers have included the United States Navy Band, the United States Naval Academy Band, the Carson City Symphony, the Meridian String Quaret, pianist Laura Leon, cellist Andre Emilianoff, NY Philharmonic oboist Joseph Robinson, violinist Florian Mayer, the Dresden (Germany) Sinfonietta with Milko Kersten conducting, and the Ploiesti (Romania) Symphony.

Dr. Rosenhaus has written for a variety of genres, including two musicals, incidental music for several plays, two film scores, and concert music for everything from solo instrument works to music for symphony orchestra and symphonic concert band. At this writing he is completing Birkat haChamah ("Blessing on the Sun") for the Carson City Symphony; he will conduct the premiere in April 2009 (see calendar for more information).

Recent works include:Fair Winds and Following Seas, Fanfare, The Brave and the Bold, and Bang!, all for concert band; For the Gipsy in My Soul for four harps; Undercurrents for saxophone quartet; In the Cave of Aeolus for flute quartet; and Waltz Rhapsody for piano. He has also written film scores (the science-fiction film Ashes by David Mack, which was shown at the 2002 Angelika New FilmMakers series in NYC, and The Fall by Tory Estern); music, in collaboration with Bo Ayars (music) and William Strauss (book/lyrics) for the musical Free-the-Music.Com; and incidental music for the docudrama Secrets of Columbine. His music is featured in the documentary The Hidden Life, which was nominated for an Emmy in 2006.

Recent commissions:
The Etude Project (series, in progress) consists of graded performance etudes for chamber ensembles (wind quintet, brass quintet, percussion ensemble, etc.). It is written for and in consultation with the United States Navy School of Music. Volume 1 will be published in 2009 by Music-Print Productions and distributed by LudwigMasters Publications.

Steven Rosenhaus has conducted a wide range of both instrumental and vocal military and other professional, as well as educational and community ensembles, including the United States Naval Academy Band, the United Choral Society (as its 2001-2001 Musical Director), and the combined St. Bede's Orchestra (Sussex, England) and Sussex County Youth Orchestra (NJ) on the mainstage of Carnegie Hall. Dr. Rosenhaus is a frequent guest conductor for All-State and All-County orchestras, and has conducted in six European countries and much of the United States.

Dr. Rosenhaus is the recipient of numerous awards from ASCAP, Meet The Composer, Inc., the American Music Center, and the American Composers Forum. His original music and arrangements are published by Music-Print Productions, Skyline Publications, E.F. Kalmus & Masters Music, Bourne Company, Warner Bros. Publications, and Hal Leonard Publishing. Music-Print Productions can be contacted at: P.O. Box 750458; Forest Hills, NY 11375-0458, or via e-mail at: Music-Print Productions. His works have been recorded on the Richardson, Capstone, Music for a G'Day, and MPP labels.

In 2005 Dr. Rosenhaus became a consultant for E.F. Kalmus & Co., Inc., serving as Promotional Director for orchestra, string orchestra, and band publications. This is in addition to his arranging work for the company, and his teaching, composing, and conducting, and performing work.

Steven Rosenhaus' love of music has always included popular genres, dating back to his beginnings as a singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. From 1998 through 2000, Steven Rosenhaus was a member of The Don't Quit Your Day Job Players, in which he sang and played guitar and mandolin. DQYDJP second CD (Steven's first with the group) in 1999, Blues Spoken Here, is available at CDBaby. In 2002, Steven released his first solo CD as singer/songwriter, A Man Like Me, which is available through CDBaby, and as downloads from ITunes, Napster, Rhapsody, et al. For more information on Steven's singing/songwriting activities, as well as upcoming performances of his concert music, please join the RosenhausGroup.

Steven lives in Queens, New York City, with his wife Ruth.

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SINGER/SONGWRITER BIO

Steven Performs
Photo by Jean Krevor









 Steven L. Rosenhaus is, to put things lightly, a man of many interests. Besides writing songs, singing them, and playing a variety of instruments (guitar, mandolin, electric bass, keyboards, pennywhistle, harmonica), Steven composes concert works, musical theater, and film scores; he conducts (most recently the U.S. Naval Academy Band), teaches at NYU and Nassau Community College, and is the co-author, with Allen Cohen, of Writing Musical Theater (Palgrave Macmillan).

New York City born and bred, Steven has been singing since before he could talk, and playing guitar since just after his bar mitzvah. His early experiences were in folk and the folk-rock groups Triangle-ASR, Friends of the Miller, China Clipper (the latter two groups focusing on traditional folk music), and a short stint with the X-Seaman's Institute (substituting for John Townley in that sea shanty/folk music group). Along the way he successfully auditioned for a spot in then-unknown Harry Chapin's backup band, but decided against taking it in order to go to college for a degree in classical music. Steven mostly turned away from performing, save for the occasional coffeehouse gig with his girlfriend, then fiance, now wife, Ruth.

Steven developed his craft (and reputation) as a composer of concert works until 1986, when Steven metaphorically dipped his toe into the waters of musical theater, contributing songs to Jay Michaels' Shakespeare "compendium play" The Bard...Off-Broadway. Two years later he and Michaels wrote the musical Critic, with Steven's music and lyrics to Jay's book (and direction). The show ran 41 performances at the Judith Anderson Theater in NYC to good reviews and even a spot on Joe Franklin's television show.

In 1997 Steven met violist Alexandra Honigsberg, who lead the string quartet premiering his Strange Loops quartet. She introduced him to her husband David and mentioned that the two of them were in a band called the Don't Quit Your Day Job Players. One thing led to another, and Steven wound up in the band. Over the next two years, DQYDJP performed from New Hampshire to Texas, from Virginia Beach to Chicago. In other words, all over the place. The band also recorded its second (Steven's first) CD, Blues Spoken Here, which includes six of Steven's songs.

With the dissolve of DQYDJP at the end of 2000, Steven took time off to assess things; in June he began doing solo gigs, first at the Back Fence and later at the Baggot Inn in NYC. He released a CD of 11 songs, A Man Like Me, in 2002, which he coproduced with James T. Oakar. The CD is available through CDBaby, iTunes and other online music vendors, as well as at Steven's performances. Between writing his music for the concert hall, the stage, and film, as well as teaching, Steven performs at clubs, coffeehouses, and fundraising events.


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