Paul Paccione

Paul Paccione was born in New York City in 1952. He studied classical guitar and music theory at the Mannes College of Music (B.M. 1974). While at Mannes, he was influenced by composer Eric Richards to begin compositional study. Subsequently, he began private composition studies with composer Harley Gaber. He continued composition studies at the University of California, San Diego, with composer Kenneth Gaburo (M.A., 1977). He later studied composition with composer/conductor William Hibbard, at the University of Iowa (Ph.D., 1984). 

Paccione joined the music faculty at Western Illinois University in 1984. During his teaching career at Western, he received six Faculty Excellence Awards, was named the 1988 Outstanding Teacher in the College of Fine Arts, and received the Outstanding Creativity Award from Western’s College of Fine Arts in 1988 and 2012. He was named Western Illinois University’s Distinguished Faculty Lecturer for 2002 — the first Music faculty member to be so recognized. He was co-founder and co-director of Western’s annual New Music Festival. He retired from W.I.U. in 2018 as Emeritus Professor of Music Theory/Composition.

He is an active composer whose works are widely and frequently performed, both nationally and internationally. He has composed music for acoustic instruments, voices, and electronics and he has written music for both dance and opera. 

He has been described as “a composer who has a personality of his own and the ability to express that personality within more than one musical idiom” (Music Web International, 2010). His music has been described as “consistently compelling, and often extraordinarily moving” (Fanfare, 2010); and as characterized by its “lyricism, clarity and eloquence” (Textura, 2021). 

Paccione’s music is published by Frog Peak Music, Lingua Press, American Composers Edition, and SCI Journal of Music Scores. In 2012, New World Records released a recording (Our Beauties Are Not Ours) devoted entirely to his chamber and vocal music. A recording of his most recent solo piano music was released in October, 2021 (MUSIC FOR PIANO, Navona Records). A composer “portrait” recording of his chamber music composed between 1980–1990 (Distant Music), was recently released (February, 2024) on the Another Timbre label, performed by the London-based contemporary music ensemble, Apartment House. Distant Music was short-listed in the “The Best Contemporary Classical Music on Bandcamp” (March 2024).  Peter Margasak, writing in his review, reflected that “Distant Music has been haunting me for weeks.”  Additional recordings of Paccione’s music are available on the Frog Peak, Navona Records, and Capstone labels. 

He has lectured and written numerous articles on various aspects of modern music. His writings on music have appeared in Perspectives of New Music, ex tempore, College Music Symposium, American Music, the Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy, and as liner notes for New World Records. He has been a frequent pre-concert lecturer for the Chicago Symphony.