John G. Bilotta

John G. Bilotta was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, but has spent most his life in the San Francisco Bay Area having attended the University of California at Berkeley and, later, the San Francisco Music and Arts Institute where he studied composition with Frederick Saunders. His works have been performed by soloists and ensembles around the world including Rarescale, Earplay, the Talea Ensemble, the Washington Square Contemporary Music Society, Chamber Mix, North/South Consonance, Musica Nova, the Avenue Winds, the Presidio Ensemble, the Boston String Quartet, the Left Coast Ensemble, the 42nd Parallel Orchestra, the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra, the Kiev Philharmonic, the Oakland Civic Orchestra, and the Phinney Ridge Youth Orchestra.

He is the composer of four frequently performed operas. Aria da Capo, based on the play by Edna St. Vincent Millay, was a finalist in a competition sponsored by the New York City Opera. Quantum Mechanic won the 2007 Opera-in-a-Month competition and the 2010 AmericanaFestival Award and is frequently performed by small opera companies and universities. Trifles, based on the play by Susan Glaspell, was a semi-finalist for the 2015 American Prize in Opera. His neuroscience opera, Rosetta’s Stone, a joint US-Norwegian project, focused on the personal impact of Alzheimer’s disease and was a semi-finalist for the 2018 American Prize in Opera. His operas have been performed by the San Francisco Cabaret Opera, Bluegrass Opera, Boston Metro Opera, Thompson Street Opera, New Fangled Opera, Floating Opera, Opera Espresso and VocalWorks as well as by university music schools including Oklahoma State University, the University of Texas, the University of California, and the University of Florida.

His music is available on Capstone Records, New Music North, Beauport Classical Recordings, ERMMedia, Bouddi Music/Australia and Navona Records, and are distributed by Naxos. He serves on the Board of Directors of Goat Hall Productions; on the Executive Committee of the Society of Composers, Inc.; and is currently president of the San Francisco chapter of the National Association of Composers USA (NACUSA).