Education
Born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Behrens was trained at the Juilliard School where he earned a Bachelor of Music in 1958 and a Master of Music in 1959.
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Jack Behrens
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In the summer of 1962 he studied at the Aspen Music Festival and School with Darius Milhaud and in the summers of 1964–1965 he studied with Stefan Wolpe and John Cage at the Emma Lake Composers-Artists Workshop in Saskatchewan. He later entered the graduate composition program at Harvard University where he earned a Doctor of Philosophy in music composition in 1973. In 1962 Behrens joined the music faculty at the University of Saskatchewan where he was head of the theory department through 1966.
He worked on the music faculty at Simon Fraser University from 1966–1970 and then taught at California State University from 1970–1976.
From 1976–1980 he was chairman of the music theory and composition department at the University of Western Ontario (UWO), and then served as the dean of UWO"s music faculty from 1980–1986. Behrens has received commissions from Adele Marcus, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the Ontario Arts Council, and Orchestra London among others
In 1965 the Canada Council commissioned his chamber opera The Lay of Thrym (libretto by CK Cockburn) as part of their research program on Viking literature, art, and music in Scandinavian countries. The four-scene opera is based on an Icelandic legend and employs atonality and aleatoric and improvisational techniques.
The world premiere of the opera was given at Darke Hall on 13 April 1968 under the baton of the composer.
Achievements
Membership
A member of the Canadian League of Composers and an associate of the Canadian Music Centre, his music has been performed throughout North America and on Canadian Broadcasting Company Radio and radio stations in the United States.
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Nationality
Canada