The University of Pittsburgh has appointed Eric Moe Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Music, an endowed position held previously by Professor of Music Emeritus Akin Euba. Moe’s appointment to the Mellon Professorship begins the latest chapter in a distinguished career that has been punctuated by critical acclaim and accolades from fellow composers, performers, and audiences alike.
Moe continues to maintain a remarkable pace of creative output with several recent commissions coming to fruition this year. In February, the Brentano String Quartet and soprano Christine Brandes premiered Moe’s settings of poems by May Swensen, a commission from South Mountain Music. April saw two more major premieres: The Salt of Broken Tears, commissioned and premiered by the Manhattan String Quartet, and Obey Your Thirst a work for violin and electroacoustic sound commissioned and premiered by Mari Kimura.
In case it’s not yet clear, the words “resting” and “laurels” will likely never appear together in a sentence describing Moe, and the next season of creative endeavor promises to be as rich and energetic as the last. One of his new projects is a commission from Music from China to compose a work celebrating the ensemble’s 30th anniversary. New Music USA awarded a grant to Music from China to commission Moe for a 15–20 minute work that will represent a “cross-cultural synthesis.” Scored for pipa, erhu, zheng, percussion, and cello, the piece will premiere in 2014 for Music from China’s 30th Anniversary celebration. That program will also include new works by Chen Yi, Huang Ruo, and a previously commissioned work by Zhou Long. Further upcoming commissions and premieres include Electric Earth Concerts for the Horszowski Trio, violist Jessica Meyer (for viola and electroacoustic sound), violist Michael Hall, pianist Solungga Liu, and more.
The Department of Music is pleased to recognize Eric Moe’s substantial and ongoing contributions to contemporary composition by this appointment to the Andrew W. Mellon Professorship. Congratulations, Professor Moe!