Photo by Sharolyn Hagen
Composer Stephen Paulus, born in 1949, and co-founder of the American Composers Forum, died on Monday from complications of a stroke last year. Tributes have been posted on the American Composers Forum website and Facebook page.
Paulus’ voluminous output ranged from the operatic, oratorio, and symphonic, to choral hymns. His opera The Postman Always Rings Twice, written in 1982 for Opera Theatre of St. Louis, was popular with regional companies and universities.
His Holocaust oratorio To Be Certain of the Dawn, was commissioned by the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, and recorded by the Minnesota Orchestra, Minnesota Chorale and Minnesota Boychoir in 2008.
Paulus has served as composer-in-residence at Minnesota Orchestra as well as symphonies in Atlanta, Tucson and Annapolis, Md. He ran a music-publishing business from his home in St. Paul.
Memorial services will be held in Minnesota on Nov. 8.