Born in Los Angeles in 1927, he received a PhD in Composition at the University of Southern California in 1957 (where he studied with Leon Kirchner and Ingolf Dahl). He then went on to teach at Mills College, Yale University (1960–68), and the University of Maryland, where he has been Professor of Composition since 1969. In 1982 he received the University’s Distinguished Scholar/Teacher Award.
He has received commissions from such institutions as the Fromm Foundation, the New Haven Symphony, the University of Chicago Symphony, the Kindler Foundation, the Chamber Music Society of Baltimore and the National Endowment for the Arts. He has been the recipient of numerous fellowships, including two Guggenheim awards, a Fulbright Scholarship and four grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.
His works have been performed by such prominent musicians as Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Harry Sparnaay and Esther Lamneck, and ensembles including the Baltimore Symphony, Theater Chamber Players of Kennedy Center, Continuum, Speculum Musicae, The New Juilliard Ensemble from New York, Monday Evening Concerts from Los Angeles and the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players.
Lawrence Moss was a guest of the Festival of Electroacoustic Music in Bourges (1989) and the Festival of American Music organized by the British Royal Academy (1990). His opera The Brute was the U.S. entry to the 20th International Youth Festival in Bayreuth (1971).

Selected works: >From Dawn to Dawn for baritone, oboe and orchestra to five poems from the period of the Chinese Tang dynasty in a composer’s translation (1996), Rivermusic for saxophone quartet (1996), Racconto for solo piano (1996), Into the Woods for flute and tape (1996), Conversations for oboe and string trio (1997), Lifelines for clarinet and tape (1998), Dao Ditties for clarinet, violin, percussion and piano (1998), A Bird..., A Sleep..., A Thought... for choir and piano (1998), Harried for bass clarinet and tape (1999), Three Chinese Poems for cello and soprano (1999), Korea for tape (1999), The Swan for violin and cello (2000), Chiaroscuro for clarinet and piano (2001), Nature Studies for piano, violin and cello (2001), New Dawn, symphonic poem for orches-tra (2001), Another Dawn for soprano and large chamber ensemble (2002), Suite for Flute, Clarinet and Piano (2002), Flutepaths for flute and tape (2003), East/West for zhong hu, clarinet, cello and piano (2004), Ancient Voices of China for clarinet, violin, viola, cello, piano and percussion (2005), Korea for Kwartludium for clarinet, violin, percussion and piano (2005).

Korea is based on a sampling of various types of Korean ethnic music, digitally altered, and performed on a Kurzweil synthesizer. All the sounds come from acoustic Korean instruments, and these have been arranged to form a composition which might, hopefully, give what one of my students called ‘a Korean feeling’. Since I have never been there, this would be a Korea of the heart or the mind, something like America was for Kafka’s wonderful novel, Amerika.

Korea for Kwartludium is a version of Korea, re-scored for clarinet, violin, percussion and piano – the line-up of the Kwartludium Ensemble – hence the title. Although K. for K. began as a strict transcription of the tape piece Korea, it quickly took on a life of its own. This was occasioned most likely by the pronounced Western flavour of the instruments available with Kwartludium.
Whatever the reason, Korea for Kwartludium is basically a Western piece – how could it be otherwise, given my background? – that finds its inspiration in the East, specifically, the age-old sounds of Korean instrumental improvisation. Performed after the taped Korea, I hope it will strike the listener as an exciting contemporary improvisation on the ageless music of what has been described – for political reasons – as the ‘Poland of the Far East’ – Korea.

Lawrence Moss