Harris earned a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in Music from the
University of Michigan. He completed further studies at the
Tanglewood Music Center and the Centre Français d'Humanisme Musical in
Aix-en-Provence. He studied with
Ross Lee Finney,
Max Deutsch,
Nadia Boulanger,
Boris Blacher,
Lukas Foss, and
André Jolivet. He founded the Contemporary Music Festival at Ohio State in 2000.[3] Prior to joining the faculty at Ohio State, he served on the faculties and as an administrator of the
New England Conservatory of Music[4] and the
Hartt School of Music.[5] From 1954 to 1968, Harris lived in Paris, where he served as music consultant to the
United States Information Agency and produced the city's first postwar Festival of Contemporary American Music.[6] A documentary about Harris entitled Sonata 1957 was produced by Daniel Beliavsky through opus1films in 2011.[7] It explores Harris's development in mid-20th-century Paris, when pre-war musical thought bridged with post-war experimentation.
Works
Stage works
The Legend Of John Henry (1954) ballet for orchestra
Of Hartford In A Purple Light (1979) for soprano with piano accompaniment; after the
Wallace Stevens poem [17]
Prelude To A Concert In Connecticut (1981) for orchestra
Les Mains (1983) for mezzo-soprano with piano accompaniment; after the
Marguerite Yourcenar poem [18]
Meditations (1984) for solo organ, commissioned by the South Congregational-First Baptist Church, New Britain, Connecticut, and its organist and music director, Richard Coffey, to honor the 10th annviersary of the Cooper Memorial Organ. Includes memorials to Thomas Putsche (
Ralph Vaughan Williams'
Sine Nomine) and
Norman Dinerstein (Kol Nidre). [19]
^publication: Société des Editions Jobert, Paris, 1965; recordings: Geneviève Joy, piano, Recording for the French Radio, 1961; Veronica Jochum von Moltke, piano, New England Conservatory Recording Series, Vol. 7: Schumann, Harris, and Porter Golden Crest NEC-107, 1971; Daniel Beliavsky, piano, recorded at the City College of New York, 2010
^publication: Jobert, Paris, 1965; recordings: Paul Zukovsky, violinist, Gilbert Kalish, pianist, CRI¬ S-307, 1973; reissued as CRI CD-666, 1994; Hasse Borup, violinist, Mary Kathleen Ernst, pianist, Centaur 2918, 2008