An American composer and pianist. He has received the Pulitzer Prize, the National Medal of Arts, a Grammy Award, the Detroit Music Award and was named 2007 Composer of the Year by Musical America. He taught composition at the University of Michigan from 1973 until 2008. He is classicaly trained with George Frederick McKay and John Verrall at the University of Washington, with Darius Milhaud at Mills College, and with Olivier Messiaen at the Paris Conservatoire. At the same time he was involved with the revival of ragtime music and he is a champion of American popular song.
