William Kraft Avalanche

Released towards the end of a successful cycle of disaster films that included THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE and THE TOWERING INFERNO, producer Roger Corman was looking for a composer who could provide a large scale orchestral score for his film and he turned to composer William Kraft who, at the time, was building a successful reputation for himself as a composer and conductor, as well as a master percussionist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. Performed by the National Philharmonic Orchestra of London, the composer deftly uses all the colors of the orchestra to highlight the dramatic elements of the story. William Kraft (b. 1923, Chicago) has had a long and active career as composer, conductor, and teacher. He is Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he served for 11 years (1991 - 2002) as Chairman of the Composition Department and Corwin Professor of Music Composition. From 1981 -85, Mr. Kraft was the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Composer-in-Residence. Mr. Kraft has received numerous awards and commissions, including two Kennedy Center Friedheim Awards (first prize in 1990 for Veils and Variations for Horn and Orchestra; the Club 100 Distinguished Artist of Los Angeles Award, the ASCAP Award; first place in the Contemporary Record Society competition; commissions from the Library of Congress, U.S. Air Force Band, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Kronos Quartet, Voices of Change, the Schoenberg Institute, consortium of Speculum Mucicae/San Francisco Contemporary Music Players' Contemporary Music Forum, The Boston Pops Orchestra, consortium of Pacific Symphony/Spokane Symphony/Tucson Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, among others. His works have been performed by the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Chicago and Philadelphia Orchestras, the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Recently completed recording projects are with the Czech Philharmonic, New England Conservatory and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic.