Composers

Described by American Record Guide as “...a composer whose heart and care are palpable... who has a voice that deserves to be heard often” and by the Baltimore Sun as having “a refined sense of melodic arcs and harmonic motion,” Peter Dayton’s compositions have been performed across North America and in Europe.

An American whose music has been characterized by "propulsive, syncopated rhythms, colorful orchestration, and instrumental virtuosity," (Robert Kirzinger, Boston Symphony) composer Kevin Day has quickly emerged as one of the leading young voices in the world of music composition today, whose music ranges from powerful introspection to joyous exuberance. Kevin Day is an internationally acclaimed composer, conductor, and pianist, whose music often intersects between the worlds of jazz, minimalism, Latin music, fusion, and contemporary classical idioms.

Composer Sparky Davis' music is featured on THE MUSIC OF SPARKY DAVIS, an album highlighting his "modern, not modernistic" approach to composition.

Greg D'Alessio is a professor of composition at Cleveland State University, where he is also the coordinator of the electronic and computer music program. Among his honors and awards as a composer are a commission from the Koussevitsky Foundation in the Library of Congress, The Aaron Copland Prize, a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship, The Cleveland Arts Prize, 2 Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist Awards, the Board of Director’s Prize from the Society for electro-acoustic music (SEAMUS), The Commuinity Partnership for Arts and Culture fellowship, and the Otto Ettinger fellowship to the Tanglewood Music Festival.

A great artist can manifest answers to otherwise perplexing aspects of our world through their craft and help us find understanding. Composer, author, and long-time PARMA artist Michael G. Cunningham (1937-2022) was the embodiment of this truth, a prolific artist whose timeless body of work will resonate for years to come. From symphonies and other orchestral works to piano pieces, art songs, opera, choral compositions, and works for jazz ensembles spanning 11 Navona Records releases, Cunningham showed an unwavering dedication to sharing his music with the world. Upon receiving his doctorate from Indiana University, Cunningham embarked on an artistic journey that would lead him to write over 250 musical compositions spanning multiple genres, pedagogical music books, and more.

Described as “harmonically lush and lyrically soaring” by the New York Times, and as having “abstract elegance, structural coherence, and tender feeling” by the Wall Street Journal, music by Daniel Crozier has been performed or recorded by the Fort Worth Opera, the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, the New York City Opera, the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park, Songfest 2004, Winsor Music, saxophonist Branford Marsalis, oboist Peggy Pearson, and pianists Heidi Louise Williams and Vivian Choi.

Gramophone Magazine calls Shawn Crouch a "gifted young composer" and Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times describes Shawn Crouch's work as music of "gnarling atonal energy". Lawrence Johnson of the Miami Herald called his Road From Hiroshima; A Requiem a "staggering achievement, an imaginative, powerful and deeply moving work" making the Miami Herald and Sun Sentinel's 2005 Classical Music Standouts.

Bruce Crossman’s sound world embraces Asian traditional musics, free form improvisation and European influenced interval-colour sonority towards a personal Pacific identity. He has been mentored by Chinary Ung and studied composition with Ross Edwards, David Blake and Jack Speirs.

Allan Crossman has had the great pleasure to write for soloists and ensembles worldwide, including many commissions and awards. Millennium Overture appeared on the eponymous GRAMMY-nominated album from North/South Consonance; Music for Human Choir shared Top Honors at the Waging Peace Through Singing Festival in Oregon; Flyer, for cello solo and string orchestra, was written in 2003 for the centenary of the first Wright Brothers flight and premiered/recorded by the North/South Chamber Orchestra (NYC) under Max Lifchitz, with cellist Nina Flyer.

Richard Crosby was born in Ashland OH and raised in Largo FL. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education (1979), a Master of Music degree in Piano and Wind Conducting (1981), and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano (1990) from the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. His principal piano teachers at CCM were John Meretta and Richard Morris.

Rosśa Crean (they/them) jokingly says they “create music that they like to listen to when they are by themself, eating raw cookie dough in a dark closet,” but in truth, their music has been referred to as being “funny...and virtuosic” (Classic Concert Nova Scotia), having “exceptionally different, outstanding quality” (Download), and music that “stirs you deep, undertones of humanity” (Access Contemporary Music).

John J. Craven (b.1971) was enthusiastically drawn to listening to classical music, music theater, and popular music as a child. He studied piano and flute and began to compose at age 11. He was a winner in the Fourth International Aaron Copland Competition for Young Composers at age 12. He studied piano at the Peabody Conservatory of Music from 1989 to 1991. From 1992 to 1994 he received a B.A. in Communication Studies at the University of Iowa; in 1997 he completed a B.F.A. in music composition at SUNY Purchase. He returned to Peabody in 2009 to receive a M.M. in composition.

I'lana Cotton is a composer, improviser, and pianist who has created works for a broad range of genres, from solo piano and small chamber groups to large choral and instrumental ensembles. Her concert music has been performed in the United States, the UK, Europe, and China.

Charles Corey is an American composer holding a Ph.D. in Music Composition and Theory from the University of Pittsburgh. His approach to composition exploits and subverts the relationships that exist between different tuning systems. Corey's compositions, known for their unexpected, evocative harmonies and their strong dramatic arcs, have been played across Europe and the Americas by performers including Cikada Ensemble, Iktus Percussion, Kjell Tore Innervik, Ere Lievonen, Inverted Space, and Entelechron, and recognized by the Young Virtuosos Foundation, the Foundation for Modern Music, and the Sociedade Pró-Sinfônica de Limeira.

William Copper is an American composer of contemporary classical music, a theorist, and the authority on Intonalism, the science of structuring music according to intonation. His music is praised for its beauty, structural integrity, and innovative originality. He has been a life-long supporter and volunteer as Board Member and officer for music and cultural organizations.

David Colson (b. 1957) is an American educator, administrator, percussionist, conductor, and composer of classical music. He is Professor of Music at the Western Michigan University (WMU) Irving S. Gilmore School of Music, where he has taught composition, music theory, and leads the new music ensemble Birds on a Wire. He served as Director of the School of Music from 2007 to 2014 and Director of the Gwen Frostic School of Art at WMU from 2017 to 2021. He came to WMU from California State University–Chico, where he taught composition and music theory, chaired the Department of Music, and was the David W. and Helen E.F. Lantis University Professor, the University's first endowed professorship.

New York City native Michael Cohen has a diverse and expansive career as a composer. His many compositions include works for chamber ensemble, musical theater, opera, and television. He attended the High School of Music and Art and the Dalcroze School of Music, graduated cum laude from Brandeis University, and studied composition with Harold Shapero and Irving Fine.

Composer Gerald Cohen has been praised for his "linguistic fluidity and melodic gift," creating compositions with "a strong sense of tradition- one that embraces Brahms, Bartok, and Britten on one hand and his own Jewish heritage on the other" (Gramophone Magazine). His deeply affecting compositions have been recognized with numerous awards and critical accolades.

Alla Elana Cohen is a distinguished composer, pianist, music theorist, and teacher who came to the United States in 1989 from Russia. Graduating from the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory with the highest honors of distinction, Cohen lives in Boston and is a professor at Berklee College of Music.

William Coble’s premieres include the Richmond Symphony, Hudson Valley Philharmonic, Syracuse Symphony, Moravian Philharmonic, Concerto Soloists Chamber Orchestra, Composers Conference Chamber Orchestra, Contempo Chamber Orchestra, eighth blackbird, New York New Music Ensemble, Alea III, and the Pacifica String Quartet. He has been performed by Matt Albert, David Tanenbaum, Scott St. John, Steve Harlos, Charles Mokotoff, Daphne Gerling, Susan Synnestvedt, William Hite, Jay Morrissey, Walter Huff, Elizabeth McNutt, Sharon Garvey-Cohen, Chuong Vu, Janelle Ott, Lisa Kaplan, Judy Pannill, and Heran Yang.