Lawrence K. Moss

Lawrence Kenneth “Larry” Moss was born November 18, 1927 in Los Angeles CA, and died June 24, 2022 at his home in Silver Spring MD.

Even as a small child, Moss was a gifted musician and eager student who loved listening and learning. He was torn between chemistry and music, but eventually chose music, studying first at Pomona College, receiving a B.A. from UCLA, an M.A. at Eastman School of Music, and a Ph.D. from University of Southern California. He taught Music at Yale University and University of Maryland and received two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Fulbright Scholarship, and four grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. 

He taught music composition at Mills College in California and as Associate Professor at Yale from 1960–1967. In 1969 he moved his family to Maryland where he taught at the University of Maryland at College Park as a full-time professor. He retired as professor emeritus and a Distinguished Scholar Teacher, and had numerous commissions, among them from the Fromm Commission, the Chamber Music Society of Baltimore, where he also was active in managing the programs, the National Foundation of the Arts (several awards) and Warsaw Autumn, among others.

He composed a wide range of music, including operas and instrumental and electronic music. His music has been published by Theodore Presser, Association for the Promotion of New Music (A.P.N.M.), McGinnis & Marx, Alfred Publishing Co., Roncorp Inc., Northeastern Music Programs, and Seesaw Music Corp.

He is recorded on CRI, Desto, Opus One, Albany, Capstone, Orion, EMF, Spectrum, Advance, AmCam, and Navona Records labels.

Along with his American students, several foreign students from both Europe and China came to study with him. He was invited to teach Master classes at several conservatories in Taiwan as well as several provinces in China. On his last trip he was surprised at being made an honorary professor at the Tianjin Conservatory in China. 

Moss was fluent in Mandarin, both spoken and written, as well as German, French, and Italian, and could get by in Spanish and Latin.

He was an active composer up until the week before he died, when he told his eldest daughter, “I’ve written my last piece.” His latest recordings had just been finished to his satisfaction and he knew they were being prepared for release by PARMA Recordings, his publisher. He felt his body of work was complete.

A true intellectual, he was deeply versed in literature and history and loved talking about them.

He was a tai chi artist; to his astonishment winning a Bronze Medal in a New York City competition in his 70s. He loved body surfing and swimming, as well as cross country skiing and back-packing with his wife. He was very proud of his four children who are also musical. He was a longtime member of the Rockville Chorus (Montgomery County MD) and a proud lifetime member of The Sierra Club.