Beaser was brought up in a non-musical family. His father was a
physician and mother was a
chemist. He grew up in
Newton,
Massachusetts, where he distinguished himself at a young age as a percussionist, composer and conductor. He made his debut with the Greater Boston Youth Symphony at Jordan Hall when he was 16, conducting the premiere of his orchestral work
Antigone. He went on to study with
Yehudi Wyner and
Jacob Druckman at
Yale College, graduating
summa cum laude,
Phi Beta Kappa in 1976, and later received his Master of Music, M.M.A. and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the
Yale School of Music. He studied conducting with
Otto-Werner Mueller and
William Steinberg. Other teachers included
Toru Takemitsu, Arnold Franchetti,
Goffredo Petrassi and
Earle Brown. He studied with
Betsy Jolas on a fellowship at
Tanglewood. In 1977, Beaser became the youngest composer to win the
Rome Prize from the
American Academy in Rome. Residence in Rome proved a watershed in his development, and he embraced more tonal language, synthesizing a variety of diverse influences from jazz to folk into his work. Beaser has received numerous awards and commissions from orchestras such as the
New York Philharmonic the
Baltimore Symphony and the
Chicago Symphony. He was appointed professor and chairman of the Composition Department at the
Juilliard School in
New York in 1993. In 1999, Beaser was co-commissioned by
Glimmerglass Opera, the
New York City Opera and
WNET-TV to compose
The Food of Love, with
Terrence McNally as librettist, which was performed at both venues, aired on
PBS, and was nominated for an
Emmy Award in 2000. From 1978 to 1990 Beaser served as co-music director and conductor (with
Daniel Asia) of the contemporary chamber ensemble
Musical Elements at the
92nd Street Y, premiering over 200 works. From 1988 to 1993 he was the
Meet the Composer/Composer-in-Residence with the
American Composers Orchestra at
Carnegie Hall, and served as the ACO’s artistic advisor until January 2001, when he assumed the role of artistic director. In 2013 he became the ACO's artistic director laureate. Beaser founded the Whittaker New Music Readings (now the Underwood New Music Readings) with the ACO in the early 1990s, providing an opportunity for young composers to receive hearings of their orchestral works. Along with
Tania Leon, Beaser spearheaded the Sonidos de Los Americas Festival from 1993 to 1999, bringing composers and works from the Americas to
Carnegie Hall. He serves as trustee for the
MacDowell Colony and the
American Composers Orchestra. He was elected to the membership in the
American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2004. His works are published by
Schott Music. == Termination for sexual misconduct ==