“David Stock, a composer and conductor who did more than any other individual to advocate for and perform new classical music in the city of Pittsburgh, died Monday morning,” writes Elizabeth Bloom in Monday’s (11/2) Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “The cause of his death was a brief illness brought on by a rare blood disorder…. Stock, a native Pittsburgher, established the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble in 1976…. The ensemble, now led by Kevin Noe, presents a summer-only season and has premiered nearly 300 pieces of music by such composers as David Lang, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich and Steven Stucky.… When he started PNME, Pittsburgh lacked a new music scene outside of academic settings…. Stock retired from the organization in 1999…. Stock’s oeuvre … included six symphonies, 10 string quartets and 12 concertos…. Most recently, PNME premiered his work ‘To Light the Dark’ this summer, and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra gave the first performance of his Sixth Symphony during its season-opener in 2013. His work has been performed by the major orchestras of New York, Baltimore, Seattle and Cincinnati, among others. He served as composer-in-residence with the PSO and the Seattle Symphony.” Stock is survived by his wife, Celia Stock, a sister, two brothers, a son, and two daughters.
Posted November 3, 2015
