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

His 15 albums include SEVEN SOLO ALBUMS: 

  • “Life After Before" (2026, Music & Lyrics)
  • "American Sunset” (2025 Music and Lyrics – Cadence Magazine Top Ten Album 2025)
  • “Love And Ashes” (2023, Music & Lyrics)
  • “Music For Guitar” (2022)
  • “I Don’t Know Anything: An Album in Three Acts” (2020, Music & Lyrics)
  • “Dust To Dust Blues” (2017, Music & Lyrics – Album of the Week, December 2027, on the Nationally Syndicated Radio program, “The Midnight Special”)
  • “Time Was” (2013, Music & Lyric Adaptations)

FIVE ALBUMS WITH VOCALIST CAPATHIA JENKINS: 

  • “South Side Stories” (2006, Music & Lyrics)
  • “The Ache of Possibility” (2009, Music & Lyrics)

The three-album “Black Loom Trilogy,” which includes:

  • Part One – “Dream Suite: Songs in Jazz and Blues” (2016, on Poems by Langston Hughes)
  • Part Two –“One Ounce Of Truth: The Nikki Giovanni Songs” (2008)
  • Part Three – “Phenomenal Woman: The Maya Angelou Songs and Songs Without Words” (2018)

THREE ALBUMS OF CONCERT MUSIC: 

  • “The Pearl Octet – Riversongs Nonet” (2024)
  • “It Is Still Dark: Three Suites” (2022)
  • “Act One: Piano Music from the Theater” (2017).

Louis’ performing career ranges from numerous appearances at NYC venues such as Birdland, Joe’s Pub, The Iridium and The Great Hall at Cooper Union, to concert halls and nightclubs across the U.S., and as far abroad as Zimbabwe's Harare International Festival of the Arts. His compositions have been recorded and performed by an array of musicians associated with ensembles as varied as Orchestra of St. Lukes, yMusic Ensemble, American Brass Quintet, The Philip Glass Ensemble, NY Pops, Ensemble for These Times, Chicago Chamber Orchestra, Society of Composers, Inc. and many more.

OTHER WORKS include two musicals: “Book of the Night” (1991, Music & Co-Lyrics, Goodman Theater, Chicago; and “A Child’s Garden” (2000, Music, Lyric Adaptations & Co-Libretto, Off-Broadway; 30 scores for plays on Broadway (including Lincoln Center’s 2014 Tony-nominated “Act One,” written and directed by James Lapine), Off-Broadway and at various major U.S. regional theaters; and over 25 compositions for the concert hall. (Theater and Concert Music Details in the “List of Works”). 

Louis is also the author of the much acclaimed book, “The South Side: The Racial Transformation of an American Neighborhood,” a combination of memoir & oral narrative (Hardcover – 1998, paperback – 1999), its theatrical adaptation, “The South Side - A Spoken Cantata” (Theater J, Washington D.C. – 1998 & 2006), and George Street Theater, New Brunswick, NJ – 1999); and “Beyond Category: Music Theory from Bach to The Beatles” (92nd Street — 2014). 

AWARDS & HONORS include: 

  • Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship—Music Composition (2005) 
  • NEA New American Works Grant (1995 — “THE SOUTH SIDE: THE RACIAL TRANSFORMATION OF AN AMERICAN NEIGHBORHOOD")
  • Cadence Magazine 2025 Top-Ten Album (“AMERICAN SUNSET") 
  • 2nd Gilman & Gonzalez Falla Award (1992 — BEST EMERGING THEATER COMPOSER) 
  • 92NY Retrospective, "Love of Song: The Music of Louis Rosen” (2015)
  • Annual ASCAP Awards (1993—2026)
  • New York Post 2000 Top Ten Off-Broadway (“A CHILD’S GARDEN”)
  • WFMT Radio's “Midnight Special” Album of the Week (Chicago and National Syndication, Dec. 2017 — "DUST TO DUST BLUES
  • Chicago's John W. Schmid Award for Best New Musical Theater Work (1991 — "BOOK OF THE NIGHT") 
  • Ensemble For These Times Performance Award Selection (2026 — “ACT ONE SUITE”) 
  • Puffin Foundation Grant (2006 — “SOUTH SIDE STORIES”)
  • Anna Sosenko Trust Award (2007 — “ONE OUNCE OF TRUTH: THE NIKKI GIOVANNI SONGS”)
  • Society of Composers, Inc. Performance Award Selection (2026 — SONGS from “PHENOMENAL WOMAN”)
  • Rocky Mountain Choir 2026 Honoree ("EDITH CONANT" — ONE MOVEMENT FOR A CAPPELLA CHORUS)
  • NYC Contemporary Music Symposium Honoree (2021 — “ACT ONE SUITE”)  
  • Sloan Foundation Galileo Prize & Commission (2002)
  • Gilman and Gonzalez-Falla Recording Grants (1998 & 2002 — "A CHILD'S GARDEN" and "DREAM SUITE" recordings) 
  • Gilman and Gonzalez-Falla Production Grant (2000 — "A CHILD'S GARDEN" Off-Broadway) 
  • Five Fellowship Residencies at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (1988—1994) 

…and more.

Louis was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago. He has a Bachelor's Degree in Music Composition, and an MFA from NYU. He lived in Brooklyn for many years and now lives in the Hudson Valley.

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