Composers

Harlem NY-born Reynard Burns' (b. 1946) prolific career includes work as a composer, arranger, and educator, as well as a bassist and guest conductor for several orchestra festivals. His compositions for full and string orchestra, wind ensemble, concert band, jazz ensemble, improvising strings, and other combinations have been performed throughout the United States and abroad, with his orchestral works receiving national recognition, most notably Flying, which was performed by the Long Island Philharmonic in a program honoring American composers.

Playful! If you had to pick a single word to describe Louis Babin's approach to composing music, 'playful' would be the one. Because for this composer creation is a form of play. Indeed, Babin's early works are associated with the world of story and theatre: Les filles de l'amour divin, as performed at Montréal's Salle Fred-Barry, the intimate character of L'amiral blanc at Les fleurs du mal cafe theatre, and in larger productions, such as his contributions to Le bossu de Notre-Dame, presented at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, and La légende du roi Arthus at Usine C in Montréal.

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

Missouri native Emma Lou Diemer (b. 1927) was born into a musical family and had begun her early compositions at the age of 5. Throughout her elementary and high school years her performance studies continued and her interest in composition intensified, and she attended the Eastman School of Music and the Yale School of Music, receiving her bachelorís and masterís degrees in composition from the latter and her Ph.D. from the former.

Andrew March was born in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, United Kingdom in 1973. In 1992, he was accepted at the Royal College of Music to study composition with Jeremy Dale Roberts. He graduated in 1996, gaining a Bachelor of Music degree with honors.

The music of award-winning composer Greg Bartholomew is frequently performed across the United States and in Canada, Australia and Europe by such highly regarded instrumental ensembles as Third Angle New Music Ensemble, the Electrum Brass Trio, and the Spring Wind Quintet, as well as such acclaimed choral ensembles as Seattle Pro Musica, Austin Vocal Arts Ensemble, and Connecticut Choral Artists (CONCORA). NPR classical music reviewer Tom Manoff called Bartholomew "a fine composer not afraid of accessibility."

Composer by character and performer by temperament, James Scott Balentine is as complex as his music; that is, moderately enigmatic yet engaging. His compositions are fun and interesting to play, intriguing to the listener, and crafted in a personal language influenced by ethnic dance, jazz and folk idioms, tonal as well as atonal and serial techniques.

Anthony Piccolo earned bachelor's and master's degrees from the Peabody Conservatory, where he studied piano, orchestral conducting, and composition. He studied further at the Britten-Pears School and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where he was a repetiteur in the opera studio. Returning to the states he joined the staff of the New York City Opera and in 2009 took up his current position as Children's Chorus Director at the Metropolitan Opera.

Jenny Kallick has created two original music dramas prior to ARCHITECT: WinterReise (based on Schubert's song cycle) in 2001 for soprano, baritone, string trio, and piano with director Jeffrey Lentz; and The Death of Victor Hartmann (Incorporating songs and piano music of Musorgsky) in 2003 for bass, violin, clarinet, and cello with director and designer John Conklin.

John Downey studied musical composition with Lewis Spratlan and electroacoustics with Eric Sawyer at Amherst College. During medical school at Stanford, John continued his involvement in music as a collaborator with Jenny Kallick and Lewis Spratlan on ARCHITECT. John's most recent work for orchestra, The Tides at Golden Gate, had its world premiere at Stanford University and its east coast premiere in 2010 at Amherst College. Dr. Downey is currently a resident radiologist at Stanford University hospital.

Atlanta-born Margaret Fairlie-Kennedy (b. 1925) has been commissioned by many contemporary dance companies and chamber groups, and worked with noted choreographers Takehiro Ueyama in New York, Bill Bayles at Bennington College, and Peggy Lawler at Cornell University. Her has a strong rhythmic drive at its core.

Thomas L. Read, composer and violinist, is Professor Emeritus at the University of Vermont. Born in Erie, Pennsylvania in 1938, he studied violin, composition and conducting at the Oberlin, Mozarteum, New England and Peabody Conservatories with such noted musicians as Andor Toth Sr., Richard Burgin, Bernhard Paumgartner, Leon Fleisher, and Benjamin Lees. As violinist he has been a member of the Erie Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony, Boston Festival Arts (under Harold Farberman), Vermont Symphony and the Saratoga Festival of Baroque Music.

Amelia Kaplan (b. 1963) is a composer of concert music that primarily explores gesture, equally drawing upon pitch and timbre. As a reflection of a multifaceted life, most works are based on multiple unrelated musical strands (rather than a single idea) which jump back and forth, find commonality, and occasionally part ways.

Quinn Dizon was born in Santa Rosa CA in August of 1989. When he was nine, Dizon began taking private lessons on the clarinet. Soon, he began playing in his school music program and various youth orchestras in the area. At fifteen, he became interested in composing, and sought out private instruction.

Composer Jason V. Barabba's (b. 1970) work has been called "deeply meditative" by Fanfare magazine, and his music has been performed by such diverse musicians as the Arneis Quartet, Janaki String Trio, clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, the California E.A.R. Unit, and Chicago's Quintet Attacca. Reviews of the 2011 premiere of Barabba's work Diddling: Considered as One of the Exact Sciences said it was "uproariously hilarious, Barabba's "Diddling" was plain evidence of this composer's tremendous talent and ability to evoke laughter from the listener " not an easy task."

Ronald Keith Parks (b. 1960) is an active composer of acoustic and electroacoustic music. His diverse output includes orchestral works, instrumental and vocal chamber music, choral music, electroacoustic music, and interactive computer music. Recent commissions include Elements for the Blue Ridge Chamber Players, Fierce Winds for the Charlotte Symphony Flutes, I thought I'd better let you know for the Charlotte Symphony's Orchestra on Campus Composers Project, Things Get Out of Hand... and Alhambra Tiles for the Out of Bounds Ensemble, A Matter of Perspective for Duo XXI, Off on a Tangent... for the Red Clay Saxophone Quartet, Torque, Wavelength and Afterimage 8 for the Charlotte Civic Orchestra, Afterimage 7 for the NeXT Ens, and ...drift... for the Force of Nature artist exchange program.

European composer Erik Lotichius (1929 – 2015) began his compositional studies and high school, in addition to studying both the piano and violin. Influenced early on by Bach and Bartok, he studied under virtuoso Ernest W. Mulder before launching into a highly active career as a composer, writing symphonies, ballets, and myriad chamber works. Lotichius eventually found himself unhappy with the direction classical music was taking and even less able to appreciate the sounds being made by the avant-garde, so he turned to jazz and popular music, which gave him a new lease on his musical life.

The music of Phillip Schroeder (b. 1956, Rancho Cordova CA) for soloists, chamber ensembles, live electronics, orchestra, band, and choir has been described by critics as "wonderfully evocative," "ethereal," "rich in subtle detail," and "full of elegant nuance." He has appeared as a guest composer, lecturer, and performer at venues throughout the United States and Europe and has been very active and dedicated New Music advocate as performer, producer, and festival/conference host.

Leonard Mark Lewis (b. 1973, Great Yarmouth, England) holds a D.M.A. in Composition from the University of Texas, an M.M. in Composition from the University of Houston. He is also a conductor and pianist specializing in new music. Lewis, a member of BMI, is the recipient of awards from ASCAP (Morton Gould Young Composer Award), BMI, Columbia University (Bearns Prize), Voices of Change (Russell Horn Young Composers Award), and MACRO.

Chan Ji Kim (b. 1974, Dae-gu, South Korea) composes for dance, chamber ensembles, orchestra, multimedia performances and electroacoustic music. Most recently, her music was performed by the internationally known Bartók Trio ensemble in Malaga, Spain.