Louis Rosen is a composer, lyricist, performer, author, guitarist, educator and Guggenheim Foundation Fellow in Music Composition, whose musical style fuses and juxtaposes classical, folk, jazz and popular styles. 

Albums include six solo albums: 

  • AMERICAN SUNSET (2025) — 10 songs and 2 songs without words, music, lyrics and arrangements by Louis. (Cadence Jazz Magazine Top-Ten Album for 2025) 
  • LOVE AND ASHES (2023) — 11 songs, music, lyrics and arrangements
  • MUSIC FOR GUITAR (2022) — 12 songs without words for solo guitar 
  • I DON’T KNOW ANYTHING (2020) —14 songs and 2 songs without words, music, lyrics and arrangements
  • DUST TO DUST BLUES (2017) — 14 songs, music, lyrics and arrangements
  • TIME WAS (2013) — 13 songs, music, lyric adaptations and arrangements 

Three albums mainly feature Louis' instrumental music played by various performers: 

  • THE PEARL OCTET · RIVERSONGS NONET (2024) — including “The Pearl Octet: 12 Instrumental Scenes for an Imagined Theater” and “Riversongs Nonet”
  • IT IS STILL DARK: THREE SUITES (2022) — including “Winter Carols” for piano, four-hands, “Suite for Clarinet and Piano,” and the song cycle, “It Is Still Dark – Songs for Sondra, Songs of Exile” 
  • ACT ONE: PIANO MUSIC FROM THE THEATER (2017) — featuring three suites: “Act One Suite for Solo Piano,” “Into Night and On the Verge” and “Orchards” for piano, four-hands; Waltz for Steve, Waltz in 5/4 and Pageant for solo piano; and “Cardinal's Waltz” from Music for Galileo for piano, four-hands 

And five albums in collaboration with vocalist Capathia Jenkins, including the complete BLACK LOOM TRILOGY – three albums/song cycles based on the poetry of three major African-American poets: 

As well as:

  • THE ACHE OF POSSIBILITY (2009) — 12 songs, music, lyrics, arrangements and additional vocals by Louis, except 4 songs with Poetry by Nikki Giovanni; arrangements for the Jenkins/Rosen Band, and additional Vocals by Louis. 
  • SOUTH SIDE STORIES (2006) — a 12-song cycle, music, lyrics, arrangements, vocals 

 

Books: 

The book's theatrical adaptation, THE SOUTH SIDE: A Spoken Cantata (Theater J, Washington D.C., 1998 & 2006; George Street Theater, New Brunswick, NJ, 1999). 

 

Theater Compositions, Part 1 – Musical Theater:

  • BOOK OF THE NIGHT (1991) — Music by Louis Rosen, Lyrics by Thom Bishop and Louis Rosen - collaboratively and individually - with Additional Music by Thom Bishop; Premiere: Goodman Theater, Chicago, directed by Robert Falls. (Private Archive Recording)
  • A CHILD'S GARDEN (2000) — Music & Lyric Adaptations by Louis Rosen, Book by Arthur Perlman, Louis Rosen & Charlotte Maier, Off-Broadway, Directed by Lori Steinberg, Choreographed by Robert La Fosse. (Private Archive Recording)
  • THE UGLY DUCKLING (1984) — Music and Lyrics, with a book by Alan Rosen, based on the one-act play by A. A. Milne; Steppenwolf Theater Company Staged Reading (1984) and Ann Arbor Festival of the Arts (1989). (Private Archive Recording)
  • BAGTIME (1979) — Music by Louis Rosen, Lyrics by Thom Bishop, Book by Alan Rosen, directed by Robert Falls; Wisdom Bridge Theater and Drury Lane Water Tower Theater, Chicago

 

Awards and Honors: 

  • Cadence Jazz Magazine TOP TEN ALBUM OF 2025 Award (for “AMERICAN SUNSET”)
  • Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship in Music Composition — 2005
  • NEA New American Works Grant — 1995 (for the book “THE SOUTH SIDE: THE RACIAL TRANSFORMATION OF AN AMERICAN NEIGHBORHOOD”)
  • “LOVE OF SONG – THE MUSIC OF LOUIS ROSEN, a RETROSPECTIVE, (Buttenwieser Hall, 92NY, New York City, June 15, 2015)
  • New York’s 2nd Gilman & Gonzalez-Falla Musical Theater Award — 1992 (for Best Emerging Composer for the Theater)
  • ASCAP Awards — 1993-2026
  • NYC Contemporary Music Symposium Semifinalist Prize — 2021 ("ACT ONE SUITE for Solo Piano")
  • WFMT RADIO's “Midnight Special” Album of the Week — Dec. 2017 ("DUST TO DUST BLUES") - Chicago and National Syndication
  • São Paulo Contemporary Composers Festival Selection — 2020/2022 ("ACT ONE SUITE for Solo Piano")
  • New York Post TOP TEN OFF-BROADWAY for 2000 (for the musical, “A CHILD’S GARDEN”) 
  • Puffin Foundation Grant — 2006 (for the album, “ONE OUNCE OF TRUTH: THE NIKKI GIOVANNI SONGS”)
  • Anna Sosenko Trust Award — 2006 (for the album “SOUTH SIDE STORIES”)
  • Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Galileo Prize & Commission — 2005
  • Chicago's John W. Schmid Award for Best New Musical Theater Work — 1991 ("BOOK OF THE NIGHT")
  • Gilman and Gonzalez-Falla Recording Grants — 1998 & 2002 ("A CHILD'S GARDEN" demo and "DREAM SUITE" album recording) 
  • Gilman and Gonzalez-Falla Major Production Grant — 2000 ("A CHILD'S GARDEN", Off-Broadway)
  • Five Fellowship Residencies at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts — 1988-1994 
  • Meet the Composer Grant via 92nd Street Y — 1984 (for “FOUR SONGS”)

 

Theater Compositions, Part II – Music for Plays:

Theater compositions also include 30 scores for plays produced on Broadway, off-Broadway and at major regional theaters around the country, as well as fifteen concert suites, instrumental and vocal, drawn from these theater scores. (Listed in reverse chronological order.) 

  • ACT ONE (2014) – Lincoln Center Vivian Beaumont Theater. Instrumental Music for the play written and directed by James Lapine. Instrumentation: Two Pianos. 
  • SCHOOL FOR HUSBANDS (2004) – Westport Country Playhouse, Westport, CT. Instrumental Score for the play by Moliere, translated by Richard Wilbur, directed by Doug Hughes. 
  • THE LITTLE FOXES (2003) – The Shakespeare Theater, Washington, DC. Instrumental Score for the play by Lillian Hellman, directed by Doug Hughes.  
  • THE BUNGLER (2000) – Long Wharf Theater, New Haven, CT. Instrumental Score for the play by Moliere, translated by Richard Wilbur, directed by Doug Hughes. (Private Archive Recording). 
  • CORIOLANUS (2000) – The Shakespeare Theater, Washington, D.C. Instrumental Score for the play by William Shakespeare, directed by Michael Kahn.  (Private Archive Recording). 
  • THE RAINMAKER (1998 & 2000) – Williamstown Theater (1998) and Roundabout Theater, Broadway (2000). Instrumental Score for the play by William Inge, directed by Scott Ellis. (Private Archive Recording).   
  • PEER GYNT (1998) – The Shakespeare Theater, Washington, DC. Vocal/Instrumental Score for the play by Henrik Ibsen, directed by Michael Kahn.  (Private Archive Recording). 
  • AS YOU LIKE IT (1997) – The Shakespeare Theater, Washington, DC. Vocal/Instrumental Score for the play by William Shakespeare, directed by Lawrence Boswell.  (Private Archive Recording). 
  • NORTHEAST LOCAL (1995) – Lincoln Center Mitzi Newhouse Theater. Instrumental Score for the play by Tom Doneghy, directed by Gerald Gutierrez. (Private Archive Recording).
  • PICNIC (1994) – Roundabout Theater, Broadway. Instrumental Score for the play by William Inge, directed by Scott Ellis, Choreographed by Susan Stroman. (Private Archive Recording). 
  • THE WINTER’S TALE (1992) – Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis. Vocal/Instrumental Score for the play by William Shakespeare, directed by Doug Hughes. 
  • A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1991-1999) – McCarter Theater, Princeton. Vocal/Instrumental Score for the play adapted by David Thompson after the story by Charles Dickens, directed by Scott Ellis, Choreographed by Rob Marshall,  NJ. (Private Archive Recording). 
  • TITUS ANDRONICUS (1989) – New York Shakespeare Festival’s Delacorte Theater, Central Park. Instrumental Score for the play by William Shakespeare, directed by Michael Maggio. (Private Archive Recording). 
  • LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT (1987) – Portland Stage Company, Maine. Instrumental Score for the play by Eugene O’Neill, directed by Barbara Rosoff.  
  • THE TEMPEST (1987) – Goodman Theater, Chicago. Vocal/Instrumental Score for the play by William Shakespeare, directed by Robert Falls. (Private Archive Recording) 
  • GALILEO (1986) – Goodman Theater, Chicago. Vocal and Instrumental Score for the play by Bertolt Brecht, directed by Robert Falls. (Private Archive Recording). 
  • ON THE VERGE (1986) – Huntington Theater, Boston. Instrumental Score for the play by Eric Overmyer, directed by Pamela Berlin.
  • ORCHARDS (1985-1986) – The Acting Company at the Lucille Lortel Theater in NYC, National Tour & Goodman Theater, Chicago. Instrumental Scores for an evening of new one-act plays based on Chekhov short stories, directed by Robert Falls. Scores included music for plays by John Guare, Michael Weller, Spalding Gray and Maria Irene Fornes. 
  • ARMS AND THE MAN (1985) – Circle in the Square Theater, Broadway. Instrumental Score for the play by George Bernard Shaw, directed by John Malkovich. 
  • THE ART OF SELF-DEFENSE (1985) – Manhattan Class Company. Instrumental Score for the play by Trish Johnson, directed by Steve Albrezi.  Instrumentation: Flute, Vibraphone and Piano. 
  • FIRST YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL (1982) – Produced by Stephen Sondheim for the Dramatists Guild at Circle Repertory Theater. Instrumental Score for a one-act play titled “It's Time for a Change,” directed by Elinor Renfield. 
  • NASTY RUMORS AND FINAL REMARKS (1981) – St. Nicholas Theater, Chicago. Instrumental Score for the play by Susan Miller, directed by Elinor Renfield.  
  • DOCTOR FAUSTUS (1981) – Oak Park Festival Theater, Chicago. Instrumental Score for the play by Christopher Marlowe, directed by Patrick O’Gara. (Private Archive Recording). 
  • THE WINTER’S TALE (1978) – Court Theater, Chicago. Vocal/Instrumental Score for the play by William Shakespeare, directed by Michael Maggio. (Private Archive Recording).
  • MACBETH (1978) – Court Theater, Chicago. Instrumental Score for the play by William Shakespeare, directed by Patrick O’Gara. 
  • THESMOPHORIASOUZAE (Ladies’ Day) (1977) – Court Theater, Chicago. Prologue and Four Choral Odes for the play by Aristophanes, Translated and directed by Nicholas Rudall; Prologue lyric by Jonathan Abarbanel. (Private Archive Recording). For women's chorus, piano and percussion.
  • ROMEO AND JULIET (1977) – Oak Park Festival Theater, Chicago. Instrumental score for the play by William Shakespeare, directed by Dennis Zacek, Oak Park Festival Theater, Chicago. 

 

Music for Film & Television: 

  • “ACT ONE” (2014), a new play based on the autobiography of Moss Hart, written and directed by James Lapine for Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater and presented on PBS' Live at Lincoln Center
  • “LONG GONE CHARLIE” (1984), an awarding-winning half-hour film written and directed by David Davidson, shown at various film festivals and on the A & E Network. 

 

Concert Music includes:

  • VARIATIONS SUITE (2026) – 7 Movements for Solo Piano
  • A BONEHEADED OVERTURE: Music for Moliere (2026) – A Comic Overture for Solo Piano (from the scores for Moliere's “The Bungler” and “School for Husbands" at Long Wharf Theater and Westport Country Playhouse, CT)
  • GYNT SUITE (2026) – 7 Movements for Solo Piano (from the score for Ibsen's “Peer Gynt” at The Shakespeare Theater, Washington, DC)
  • COURAGE SUITE (2026) – 7 Songs Without Words for Solo Piano (from the score for Brecht's “Mother Courage and Her Children” at The Shakespeare Theater, Washington, DC)
  • CROSSING LINES (2025) – 6 Movements for String Quartet
  • RIVERSONGS TRIO (2023) – Prologue and 5 movements for flute, clarinet and piano 
  • THE PEARL OCTET: 12 Instrumental Scenes for an Imagined Theater (2022) – for flute/piccolo/alto flute, clarinet/bass clarinet/alto & tenor saxophone,  trumpet, vibraphone & non-pitched percussion, piano, violin, cello, bass 
  • RIVERSONGS NONET (2022) – 4 movements for flute/piccolo, clarinet/bass clarinet,  French horn, trumpet, piano, violin, viola, cello, bass 
  • MUSIC FOR GUITAR (2022) – 12 songs without words
  • SUITE FOR CLARINET AND PIANO (2020) – in 6 movements
  • WINTER CAROLS (2020) – 5 movements for piano, four-hands, from the score for Scott Ellis' production at the McCarter Theater, Princeton, of Dickens' “A Christmas Carol.” 
  • BLACK LOOM EPILOGUE (2019) – 5 Songs Without Words for Jazz Sextet (Private Archive Recording)
  • ACT ONE SUITE for Solo Piano (2015) – 6 movements from the score for the play, “Act One,” written and directed by James Lapine for Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater 
  • IT IS STILL DARK: Songs for Sondra – Songs of Exile (2003) – 5 songs for baritone-tenor, piano, bass and five percussionists (vibes, marimba, congas, bongos, timbales, guiro etc…) 
  • AS YOU LIKE IT SONG SET (1997) – 3 songs for three singers and guitar. (Private Archive Recording)
  • A CHILD’S GARDEN SONG SUITE (1994) – 10 songs for voice and piano on poems by Robert Louis Stevenson. (Private Archive Recording)
  • INTO NIGHT AND ON THE VERGE (1993) – 2 movements for two pianos (or piano, four-hands)
  • TWELFTH NIGHT SONG SUITE (1991) – Overture and 4 songs for baritone and four players. (Private Archive Recording)
  • TEMPEST SONGS (1987) – 5 songs for for four singers and 9 players players. (Private Archive Recording) 
  • ORCHARDS (1986) – 2 movements for two pianos (or piano, four hands)
  • MUSIC FOR GALILEO (1986) – 4 songs and 1 dance for six singers and three players. (Private Archive Recording) 
  • FIVE RIVERSONGS (1985) – for soprano, baritone and piano, four-hands on poems by Edgar Lee Masters. (Private Archive Recording)
  • RIVERSONGS (1980/1984) – 6 movements for mixed chorus and two pianos on poems by Edgar Lee Masters
  • FOUR SONGS (1983) – for voice and piano. (Private Archive Recording)
  • THREE FROM SHAKESPEARE (1982) – for Solo Piano  
  • FIVE INSTRUMENTAL EPISODES FROM SHAKESPEARE (1978) – for French Horn, Trumpet, Trombone, Piano, Percussion, Violin and Cello. (Private Archive Recording) 
  • THREE CHORAL ODES (1977) – for women’s chorus, piano and percussion. (Private Archive Recording)

 

Performance Highlights

“Karen Mason & Louis Rosen: Ages Since the Last Time,” 2 concerts at Chelsea Table and Stage in NYC, and 2 at Davenport's in Chicago, May 2024.

"Louis Rosen and Friends" at Birdland Theater, NYC, with David Mansfield, Dick Sarpola, Andrew Sterman and Kimberly Grigsby, and featuring the premiere of “Suite for Clarinet and Piano,” April 2022.

Louis Rosen and the Large Band - “I Don't Know Anything” at Birdland Theater, NYC, premiering the album, “I Don't Know Anything: An Album in Three Acts” with LR's Octet (the “Large Band”), January 2020.

“Phenomenal Woman,” two concerts at The Cabaret in Indianapolis featuring “Phenomenal Woman: Songs of Maya Angelou and Songs Without Words,” with Capathia Jenkins, May 2019. 

“Phenomenal Woman,” three concerts at Birdland Theater, NYC, premiering the album, “Phenomenal Woman: Songs of Maya Angelou and Songs Without Words,” with Capathia Jenkins and the Jenkins-Rosen Sextet, October/November 2018.

“Louis Rosen and Friends” at The Duplex, featuring selections from “Dust to Dust Blues” (with multi-instrumentalist David Mansfield) and “Act One Suite for Solo Piano” (featuring pianist Kim Grigsby).  

"Karen Mason & Louis Rosen: Two Friends" at The Duplex, NYC, 3 concerts, December 2016.

"Dream Suite" at Birdland, with Capathia Jenkins, Alton Fitzgerald White and Kimberly Grigsby, June 27, 2016.

"Karen Mason & Louis Rosen: Two Friends" at Davenport's in Chicago November 2015 - 4 shows, and The Duplex in NYC, December 2016 - 3 shows.

"Love of Song: The Music of Louis Rosen", a Retrospective. 92Y, NYC, June 15, 2015.  Vocalists: Capathia Jenkins, Darius de Haas and Karen Mason. Musicians: Kimberly Grigsby, Dave Phillips, David Mansfield, Charity Wicks. 

"Louis Rosen - Time Was" at Davenport's, Chicago, March 2013

Joe's Pub at The Public Theater, NYC (15 concerts over five multiple show runs between 2003 & 2010)

Birdland Jazz Club, NYC (3 appearances between 2005 & 2009)

The Great Hall at Cooper Union, NYC (2 appearances, 2006 & 2009)

The Iridium Jazz Club, NYC (3 appearances)

WNYC's "Soundcheck," with host John Schaeffer (2 appearances, performance & interview)

The Metropolitan Room, NYC (5 appearances)

Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA), Zimbabwe, Africa (2 concerts)

Northwestern University's Lewis Theater, Evanston, IL (3 concerts)

Freight and Salvage, San Francisco, CA

The Steppenwolf Theater in Concert, Chicago, IL

The Eighth Step Concert Series at the Proctor Theater, Schenectady, NY (2 appearances)

The Gardenia Club, Los Angeles, CA (3 nights)

Washington, D.C.'s 6th Street & I Historic Synagogue with Theater J

Brooklyn Public Library's Dweck Center (2 appearances)

Brooklyn's Old Stone House

Makor at the 92nd Street Y, NYC

 

Teachers included: Composing and Writing for Theater: Stephen Sondheim, Leonard Bernstein, John Weidman, Arthur Laurents, Alfred Uhry and Robert Waldman 

Choral Composition, Orchestration, Counterpoint and Formal Analysis: William Ferris 

Music Theory, Counterpoint and Jazz Orchestration: William Russo 

Composition and Music Theory: Joseph Reiser