Janice Macaulay

Composer, educator, and conductor Janice Macaulay received her D.M.A. in composition from Cornell University, where she studied with Karel Husa and Steven Stucky. Reviewers have said her music “creates an arresting playground of sounds and effects” (Gramophone) and features “dynamic, lyrical and playful interactions among the players” (Classical Music Review). She won the Alex Shapiro Prize from the International Alliance of Women in Music for Kaleidoscope for Wind Symphony, commissioned by the Cornell University Wind Symphony in memory of Karel Husa and recorded by the University of Maryland, Baltimore County Wind Ensemble on the Albany Records label. She also won Best of Category Prizes for both Vocal Music and Chamber Music (Three Pieces for String Quartet, recorded by the Altius Quartet on Navona Records) in Jacksonville University’s International Delius Composition Competition, as well as several Honorable Mentions from the IAWM, and grants from Meet The Composer, the Cornell Council on the Creative Arts, and the National Women’s Music Resource Center. Her music has been performed at the Charles Ives Center for American Music, conferences of the Society of Composers, Inc. and IAWM, the Baltimore Composers Forum, and at new music festivals across the country. 

Along with her undergraduate degree in English, she also received master’s degrees in both English and music from Brown University, where she studied composition with Paul Nelson and organ and harpsichord with William Dinneen. Formerly Associate Professor and Music Department Coordinator at Anne Arundel Community College (MD), she also taught at Wells College, Brown University, Cornell University, and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. From a long-time interest in promoting music appreciation, she lectured for over 20 years on a wide variety of musical topics for the Road Scholar program at the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University. She also taught across the curriculum in the Graduate Institute in Liberal Arts at St. John’s College (MD), leading seminars in philosophy, literature, political science, and the history of science. 

Her music, including Tuba Contra Mundum, published by Tuba Euphonium Press and performed by Jobey Wilson on Navona Records, is available on Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube, and Deezer.