Aaron Jay Kernis

Aaron Jay Kernis has been at once one of the most honored American composers and one of the most broadly popular. He has cultivated an essentially neo-Romantic but adventurous style that is eclectic in its influences, which have included early music and popular music. Kernis was born in Philadelphia on January 15, 1960, and grew up in the nearby suburb of Bensalem Township. He started violin lessons as a child and added the piano, largely teaching himself to play. In 1977, Kernis enrolled in the composition program at the San Francisco Conservatory, studying with John Adams, ...