"I was only interested in playing ... great sprawling things like the Schumann Fantasy, that the performer had to mold and shape", he reflected.
[3] He debuted with the San Francisco Symphony at age 16 and later performed Liszt and Tchaikovsky concertos under Arthur Fiedler.
[4] He then studied composition with Earl Kim and Roger Sessions for one year at Princeton University on a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship.
[5] Del Tredici taught at Harvard University, where he worked alongside Leon Kirchner and was a part of the modernist movement.
[5] During this period, he found himself moving back towards tonality, which he felt was more appropriate for works such as his Final Alice and Adventures Underground.
[5] His work continued to draw on Lewis Carroll (particularly Alice in Wonderland), but he was also inspired by contemporary American poets.
[5] A reviewer noted that themes in his work examine "tormented relationships, personal transformations, and the joys and sorrows of gay life".
[2] Del Tredici composed work for Michael Tilson Thomas and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.
[5] He wrote music using the work of, or as tribute to, Chana Bloch, Colette Inez, Allen Ginsberg, Thom Gunn, Paul Monette, and Alfred Corn.
His In Memory of a Summer Day (part one of Child Alice) won Del Tredici a Pulitzer Prize.