Schiff grew up in the Bronx and New Rochelle, New York, started playing piano when he was four and composing when he was nine. He received a B.A in English literature from Columbia University in 1967 and an M.A. from Cambridge University, where he was a Kellett Fellow at Clare College, in 1970.[2] After pursuing graduate study in English at Columbia Schiff received an MM from the Manhattan School of Music in 1974 and a DMA From the Juilliard School in 1979.[2] Among his teachers were James Wimer, Irwin Stahl, Roger Smalley, Ludmilla Ulehla, John Corigliano, Ursula Mamlok and Elliott Carter. While studying with Carter at Juilliard, Schiff was awarded the League-ISCM National Composers Competition for his Elegy for String Quartet[3] and also oversaw the world premiere of his opera Gimpel the Fool (libretto by I. B. Singer).[2] Since 1980 Schiff has taught at Reed College Portland, Oregon.[4] He is married to Cantor Judith Blanc Schiff and they have two children.
Schiff has composed works for musical theater, worship, orchestra and various chamber ensembles including large and small jazz orchestras.[5] Principal works are:
Schiff has written frequently on music for the New York Times,[6][7][8] the Atlantic Monthly,[9]Tempo, the Times Literary Supplement (London)[10] and the Nation.[11] His books include
The Music of Elliott Carter (first edition, Eulenberg Books,1983; second edition, Faber and Cornell University Press, 1998)[12]
George Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue (1997) Cambridge Music Handbook.[13]
The Ellington Century (2012) University of California Press.[14][15]
He also has written entries on Leonard Bernstein and Elliott Carter for the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.