In The Four Seasons in the Basque Country all of the themes are original except for the short excerpt ofAltza Gastiakin the 4th movement. Some themes are composed in the style of Basque folk dances.
Gregory Fritze is a prize-winning composer and Fulbright Scholar, as well as an active performer. He recently retired from Berklee College of Music where he was Professor and Chair of Composition, serving on the faculty from 1979 to 2016. He has written over one hundred compositions for orchestra, band, chamber ensembles and soloists. He has won over sixty composition awards both nationally and internationally. His compositions include works published by several publishers in the United States, South America and Europe that have been performed extensively throughout the world. Many of his compositions are available on ITunes, Youtube and Soundcloud.
He has been a frequent traveler to Spain since 1993 and has promoted compositions by Spanishcomposers around the world. He is the only composer who has been commissioned six times by Spanishbands for Certamen competitions, with each band winning first prize.
His compositions are recorded on Albany Records, MSR Classics, Crystal Records, Mark Recordsand others. He has been a guest lecturer, conductor and performer at many colleges, universities and music festivals in the United States, Canada, Japan, South America and Europe. He was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania in 1954 and has Composition degrees from the Boston Conservatory and Indiana University.He now resides in Daytona Beach Shores, Florida
