Bernard Rands (2 March 1934 – 4 March 2026) was a British and American contemporary classical composer and professor. He composed orchestral works and chamber music, often with a vocal element, and a series of Memos for solo instruments. His Canti del Sole for tenor and orchestra received the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1984. He taught at Harvard University from 1988 to 2005.
Life and career Rands was born on 2 March 1934. He studied music and English literature at the University of Wales, Bangor, and composition with Pierre Boulez and Bruno Maderna at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse, and with Luigi Dallapiccola and Luciano Berio in Milan.
Rands held residencies at Princeton University, the University of Illinois, and the University of York before emigrating to the United States in 1975; he became a U.S. citizen in 1983. In 1984, Rands's Canti del Sole, premiered by tenor Paul Sperry and the New York Philharmonic conducted by Zubin Mehta, won the Pulitzer Prize for Music. He taught at the University of California, San Diego, the Juilliard School, Yale University, and Boston University. From 1988 to 2005 he taught at Harvard University, where he was Walter Bigelow Rosen Professor of Music.
Rands received many awards for his work, and was elected and inducted into The American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2004. From 1989 to 1995 he was composer-in-residence with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Rands's music is widely recorded. The recording of his Canti D'Amor by the men's vocal ensemble Chanticleer won a Grammy Award in 2000. Rands was married to American composer Augusta Read Thomas.
Rands died in Chicago on 4 March 2026.
Works Rands's music was published by Schott. The publisher maintains works and their performances on its website.
Opera Belladonna (1999) opera in two acts, with a libretto by Leslie Dunton Downer, commissioned by the Aspen Festival. Première: 1999, Aspen Music Festival, Colorado Vincent (c. 1973–2010) opera based on the life of Vincent van Gogh, with libretto by J. D. McClatchy, commissioned by Indiana University. Première performances: 8–9, 15–16 April 2011, Bloomington, Indiana.
Orchestral Per esempio (1968) commissioned by the West Riding Youth Orchestra, Yorkshire Wildtrack 1 (1969) commissioned by the BBC Symphony Orchestra for the 1969 York Festival, premièred under Pierre Boulez (dedicated to Gilbert Amy) Agenda (1970) commissioned by the Department of Education and Science for the London Schools Symphony Orchestra Metalepsis 2 (1971), for mezzo-soprano, small choir & chamber orchestra commissioned by the London Sinfonietta, who gave the première in 1972 with soprano Cathy Berberian, conducted by Luciano Berio at the English Bach Festival Mésalliance (1972), for piano solo & orchestra commissioned by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, premièred by pianist Roger Woodward under Pierre Boulez Wildtrack 2 (1973), for soprano solo & orchestra commissioned by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and premièred at the 1973 Cheltenham Festival under John Pritchard. Aum (1974), for harp solo & chamber orchestra commissioned by the BBC Symphony Orchestra for Pierre Boulez's series of contemporary concerts at Roundhouse, London Madrigali (1977), for chamber orchestra commissioned by the National Symphony Chamber Orchestra, Washington, D.C., and premièred at the Kennedy Center. The work has most recently been performed by the Jungen Philharmonie Zentralschweiz and the University of Nottingham Philharmonia. Canti Lunatici (1981), for soprano solo & orchestra commissioned by the BBC Symphony Orchestra for soprano Dorothy Dorow, premièred under Rands in 1981 Canti del Sole (1983), for tenor solo & orchestra full version commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, and premièred under Zubin Mehta and tenor Paul Sperry in 1983. The work won the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Music. Le Tambourin: Suites 1 & 2 (1984) the two suites were commissioned respectively by the Fromm Foundation for the San Diego Symphony and the Koussevitzky Foundation for the Philadelphia Orchestra, who premièred the complete work under Riccardo Muti in 1984. The work was awarded first place in the 1986 Kennedy Center Friedheim Awards. The work has since been performed widely by many orchestras, including (most recently) the Buffalo Philharmonic. Ceremonial 2 (1986) 15-minute work commissioned by Suntory Hall, Tokyo; premièred there in 1989 Fanfare for a Festival (1986) commissioned by the Colorado Music Festival, Boulder, for the 10th anniversary festival Hiraeth (1987), for cello solo & orchestra commissioned by the Aspen Music Festival, premièred by cellist Yehuda Hanani with the Aspen Festival Orchestra conducted by Rands. Subsequent performances took place with Hanani the BBC National Orchestra of Wales soon after. ...body and shadow... (1988) commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and premièred under Seiji Ozawa at Symphony Hall in 1989. Emily Freeman Brown and the Bowling Green Philharmonia have since taken the work into their repertoire. London Serenade (1988) written as a gift for conductor Edwin London, who premièred the work with the Cleveland Chamber Symphony. Recent performances have been given by the Verge Ensemble and the Buffalo Philharmonic. Bells (1989), for S.A.T.B. choir & orchestra commissioned by the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic Ceremonial 3 (1991) commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra, premièred under Riccardo Muti. Subsequent performances have taken place by the Bristol University Symphony Orchestra Canti dell'Eclisse (1992), for bass solo & orchestra commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra, premièred under Gerard Schwarz with bass Thomas Paul. The work has since been championed by Gil Rose and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. Ceremonial (1992–93), for wind band commissioned by the University of Michigan Symphony Band, Ann Arbor. A widely performed work, Ceremonial has most recently been performed by the Eastman Wind Ensemble and the concert bands of the Oberlin Conservatory, Boston Conservatory, Columbus State University, Yale University, New England Conservatory, DePaul University, University of Washington and Florida International University, among numerous others. Tre Canzoni senza Parole (1993) commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra, premièred under Rands in 1992. The Oregon Symphony has since championed this work. ...where the murmurs die... (1993) commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, premièred under Leonard Slatkin at Avery Fisher Hall in December 1993 Canzoni (1995) commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra, premièred under Wolfgang Sawallisch in Philadelphia. A further performance was given by the same forces at the 1995 BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall, London Interludium (1995), for S.A.T.B. choir & orchestra commissioned as part of the Requiem of Reconciliation, premièred in 1995 by the Israel Philharmonic under Helmuth Rilling Symphony (1995) commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, premièred under Esa-Pekka Salonen in 1995 Cello Concerto (1996) commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra for Mstislav Rostropovich, premièred under Seiji Ozawa in 1997. Recent performances have taken place at Symphony Center with the Chicago Symphony under Pierre Boulez, with cellist Johannes Moser. Fanfare (1996) commissioned by the Cincinnati Symphony Requiescant (1996), for soprano solo, S.A.T.B. choir & orchestra 30-minute work, originally commissioned by the BBC for the 1985 Proms Season, but wasn't completed in time. It was recommissioned in 1995 for the Philadelphia Choral Society Triple Concerto (1997), for piano, cello & percussion soli & orchestra commissioned by the Core Ensemble and the Cleveland Chamber Symphony with funds provided by the Meet the Composer Consortium Program, premièred by those forces conducted by Edwin London apókryphos (2002), for soprano solo, S.A.T.B. choir & orchestra major 40-minute work setting texts by Paul Celan, Heinrich Heine, Nelly Sachs, Franz Werfel and English translations of extracts from the Apocrypha. Commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, and premièred at Symphony Center in May 2003 with soprano Angela Denoke under Daniel Barenboim (choral director: Duain Wolfe). Further performances have taken place in Germany and Austria in 2010, at the Berlin Philharmonie and the Konzerthaus, Großer Saal by the Staatskapelle Berlin and Staatsopernchor Berlin, again with Daniel Barenboim conducting. Unending Lightning (2002), for wind band commissioned by the Eastman School of Music Chains Like the Sea (2008) commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, premièred under Lorin Maazel at Avery Fisher Hall in October 2008 Danza Petrificada (2009–10) commissioned by the Chicago Symphony and premièred under Riccardo Muti at Symphony Center, 5–7 & 10 May 2011 Adieu (2010), for brass quintet & string orchestra commissioned by the Seattle Symphony, due to première under Gerard Schwarz at Benaroya Hall, Seattle, on 7 December 2010
Chamber Actions for Six (1962), for flute, viola, cello, harp & two percussion written for the 1963 Darmstadt Festival; premièred by the Kranichsteiner Ensemble under Bruno Maderna Espressione IV. (1964), for two pianos premièred at the 1965 Darmstädter Ferienkurse by Aloys and Alfons Kontarsky Ballad 1 (1970), for mezzo-soprano solo, flute, trombone, piano, percussion & contrabass written for SONOR Ensemble, a group formed by Rands. Text by Gilbert Sorrentino. Tableau (1970), for flute, clarinet, piano, percussion, viola & cello as all get out (1972), for miscellaneous instrumental ensemble notated as a graphic score; the duration of the work can be anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes déjà (1972), for flute, clarinet, piano, percussion, viola & cello Response – Memo 1B (1973), for contrabass & tape / two contrabassi Cuaderno (1974), for string quartet étendre (1974), for solo contrabass, flute, clarinet, horn, trumpet, trombone, piano, electric organ, percussion, violin, viola & cello 15-minute work, based on Rands's Memo 1 (for solo double bass, from 1971), and was written for bassist Bertram Turetzky and commissioned by the Claremont Festival, California. Scherzi (1974), for clarinet, piano, violin & cello commissioned by the Capricorn Ensemble with funds provided by the Arts Council of Great Britain Obbligato – Memo 2C (1980), for trombone & string quartet ...in the receding mist... (1988), for flute, harp, violin, viola & cello commissioned by the Arts Council of Great Britain for the ONDINE Ensemble, and is dedicated to Jacob Druckman on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday. Premièred in Washington D.C. in November 1988. Recent performances have been given by the Boston Musica Viva under Richard Pittman, the North/South Consonance Ensemble under Max Lifchitz, the Verge Ensemble (Buffalo, New York), the Dal Niente New Music Group (Chicago), and ensembles at the Indiana University School of Music and the Arizona State University. ...and the rain... (1992), for horn, harp, violin, viola & cello String Quartet No. 2 (1994) commissioned by the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society for the Mendelssohn Quartet (who, in 2003, recorded the work on BIS Records). The work has since been taken up by the Fifth House Ensemble, DePaul University, Chicago. ...sans voix parmi les voix... (1995), for flute, harp & viola commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association in honour of the 70th birthday of Pierre Boulez Concertino (1996), for oboe solo, flute, clarinet, harp, two violins, viola & cello commissioned by Network for New Music with generous support from Anni Baker; premièred in 1998 conducted by Jan Krzywicki. Recent performances have taken place with the Dal Niente New Music Group (Chicago), the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign New Music Ensemble, ensembles from the University of Nevada, the University of Iowa (who recorded the work on Capstone Records in 2006) and Yale University, and at the June in Buffalo Festival (New York). Fanfare (1997), for brass quintet