Aaron Jay Kernis (born January 15, 1960) is one of the most highly-honored contemporary composers. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and studied at the Manhattan School of Music, the San Francisco Conservatory, and Yale University (under John Adams, Jacob Druckman, Morton Subotnick, and Charles Wuorinen).
Notable works include the New Era Dance, his second string quartet musica instrumentalis (which won the 1998 Pulitzer prize), Colored Field for English horn and orchestra (winner of the 2002 Grawemeyer Award in Music Composition), and Symphony in Waves.

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