Roger Huntington Sessions
Roger Huntington Sessions (28 December 1896 - 16 March 1985) was an American composer and musical educator. After studies at Harvard University, Yale University, and privately with Ernest Bloch, he taught for a while, then spent some years in Europe. Between 1928 and 1931, Sessions and Aaron Copland organized a series of concerts in New York City, devoted to contemporary music.
From 1933 on, Sessions taught at a series of schools including Princeton University and Juilliard University (from 1965). His early works were neoclassic and later ones 12-tone, all marked by high craft and seriousness; they include the opera "Montezuma" (1959-63) and the "Concerto for Orchestra".
Sessions was also a good friend of Arnold Schoenberg. In 1974, Sessions received a special Pulitzer Prize for his music and less than a decade later the Pulitzer Prize for Music (1982).
Roger Huntington Sessions and Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa included Roger Huntington Sessions in the list of influences in the sleeve of Freak Out! (1966), under the heading "These People Have Contributed Materially In Many Ways To Make Our Music What It Is. Please Do Not Hold It Against Them".
