Bresnick’s work has received many prizes, among them: Fulbright Fellowship (1969–70),[4] three NEA Composer Grants (1974,[5] 1979,[6] 1990),[7]Rome Prize Fellowship (1975–76),[8]MacDowell Fellowship (1977),[9] First Prize, Premio Ancona (1980), First Prize, International Sinfonia Musicale Competition (1982),[10] Connecticut Commission on the Arts Grant, with Chamber Music America (1983),[11] The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Elise L. Stoeger Prize for Chamber Music (1996),[12] "Charles Ives Living" award, American Academy of Arts & Letters (1998),[13][14] Composer-in Residence, American Academy In Rome (1999),[15]Berlin Prize Fellow, American Academy in Berlin (2001)[16] a Guggenheim Fellowship (2003),[17] and was elected to membership, American Academy of Arts and Letters (2006).[18]
Bresnick is currently a professor at the Yale School of Music, where he has been a widely influential teacher of contemporary composition.[19][20] His teaching has been recognized by a Walter J. Gores Award for Excellence in Teaching at Stanford University,[21] a Morse Fellowship from Yale University (1980–81), the ASCAP Foundation's Aaron Copland Prize for teaching,[22] and the Yale School of Music’s highest honor, the Sanford Medal for Service to Music.[23] See: List of music students by teacher: A to B#Martin Bresnick.
Bresnick has been recognized as having composed a large catalog of respected works while teaching and as an influential voice at the Yale School of Music.[24] Notable recent performances including a 60th birthday retrospective at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall, the premiere of his oratorio “Passions of Bloom” on the International Festival of Arts and Ideas,[25] the premiere of his fourth string quartet “The Planet on the Table” by the Brentano String Quartet,[26] and a performance of his piano concerto “Caprichos Enfaticos” at the Nasher Sculpture Center.[27]
Bresnick's compositions tend to be concise and direct in expression,[14] and span a wide spectrum of genres. Some of his works were composed as a cycle called Opere della Musica Povera, or Works of a Poor Music.
Opera
"My Friend's Story" An Opera in a Prolog, 3 Scenes and an Epilog based on a story by Anton Chekhov[30]
Oratorio
"Passions of Bloom" for solo voices, chorus (SATB) and orchestra
"Tent of Miracles" for solo baritone sax, tape; or solo bass clarinet, tape; or solo bassoon, tape; or solo baritone sax and three baritone saxes; or solo bass clarinet and three bass clarinets; or solo bassoon and three bassoons[77]
