Composers

Mark Edwards Wilson, currently a member of the faculty of the University of Maryland, began his productive career in his native California. He studied with Henri Lazarof and Leon Kirchner at the University of California at Los Angeles, where he received a Ph.D. at the age of 25. He has received many prizes, awards, and other honors for his orchestral and vocal works, as well as his chamber music and electro-acoustic compositions, many of which have been commissioned and performed by major institutions and performing organizations.

Simon Andrews is an English composer who is earning a reputation as a creator of eloquent concert music that blends harmonic complexity and lyricism, introversion and broad gestures, delicate timbres and bold statements. His output ranges from large-scale orchestral works and opera to intimate chamber music, with a special delight in chamber music with solo voices. He studied at Oxford University, and the Royal Academy of Music, and gained a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. Winner of the 1985 Benjamin Britten Prize, his music has been commissioned and performed to critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic.

Deborah Kavasch, composer, soprano, specialist in extended vocal techniques, and music educator, has had works commissioned and performed in North America, Europe, the United Kingdom, and China. She has received grants and residencies in composition and performance, was a 1987 Fulbright Senior Scholar to Stockholm, and has appeared in major international music centers and festivals in concerts, solo recitals, workshops, lecture/demonstrations, and television and radio broadcasts since 1981.

John Christopher Wineglass is a multiple ®EMMY Award-Winning Composer who has performed on five continents, before U.S. presidents since Ronald Reagan, and with several ®OSCAR and ®GRAMMY Award-winning artists including Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, and Jamie Foxx to name a few. He has written several scores and incidental music for shows on MSNBC, CNN, NBC, CBS, and ABC as well as documentaries on Headliners & Legends for The Brady Bunch, Kathy Lee Gifford, and Farah Fawcett. Having scored mainly independent films, several of his nationally syndicated commercials include music for the United States Army, American Red Cross, and Texaco as well.

Barbara Jazwinski’s music has been heard throughout North America, Europe, and the Far East. Her portfolio, influenced by her Polish heritage and by the culture of New Orleans, her home for many years, includes over 100 original compositions in various genres and for many different vocal and instrumental ensembles. She has been commissioned by many artists and ensembles around the world and her works have been presented to critical acclaim at well-known concert series and international festivals. Among her numerous awards are the Prince Pierre of Monaco Composition Award and the First Prize in the Nicola De Lorenzo Composition Contest. Barbara Jazwinski’s compositions are available on several recording labels and on websites and radio stations around the world.

Steve Law is a British composer, arranger, and pianist. He studied composition at Bristol University under Raymond Warren and received a masters degree for his jazzy opera Heaven on Earth, which has been described as “a significant contribution to the genre.” Law has a gift for melody that is rare in contemporary music and a popular original style that assimilates jazz and pop influences. He has recorded and performed his music. Musicweb International described Law’s first solo piano album as “kaleidoscopically varied... impressionistic atmosphere... slowly burning passion.” His Violin Concerto was performed in Scotland and 3 Poems by Lorna Law were performed by Ferrier Award-winning baritone Gareth Brynmor John. Law is a published arranger of Dudley Moore’s music with Faber, and is working on a volume for the Gershwin Critical Edition.

“Richard Galliano has changed the course of accordion history. Today we can speak of ‘before’ and ’after’ Galliano.” — Yasuhiro Kobayashi, accordionist and musician accompanist of the singer Björk It was my dearest wish: to give a fair place to this instrument, unjustly qualified as the “poor man’s piano,” whereas my accordion has always been a Steinway with braces. I was determined to restore the image of my instrument, so I left my native village and “went up to Paris” like many others. There I had the chance to meet artists who quickly put their trust in me: accordionists like Jo Basile, singers like Claude Nougaro, Serge Reggiani, Barbara, and jazzmen like Chet Baker, Charlie Haden, Ron Carter and Michel Portal.

Composer Paul Osterfield was born in Nashville TN in 1973. Spending his formative years in Northeast Ohio, he composed and performed as a cellist throughout middle school and high school, in addition to studying violin, piano, and conducting. His early efforts as a composer were recognized in 1990, when the United States Copyright Office and the Library of Congress awarded Osterfield first prize in their Young Creators’ Contest. The following year, that winning work was performed by the Cleveland Orchestra on their Family Key Concert Series.

Heidi Jacob’s music has been described by BBC Magazine as “compositions ...of complex mesmerizing beauty,” by David Patrick Stearns of the Philadelphia Inquirer as “a musical adventurer,” and by Gramophone Magazine as music with “.....forthright expressiveness [that] exposes a multitude of stylistic associations.” A composer, cellist, and conductor, she is a graduate of both the Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School, with a D.M.A. in composition from Temple University. She has performed as a cellist throughout the United States and Europe and has recorded as a cellist and conductor for the Capstone Records, Albany Records, and Navona Records.

Born in Detroit MI in 1970, Sean Hickey’s earliest music education began at age 12 with an electric guitar, a Peavey amp, and a stack of Van Halen records (the early ones of course). He studied jazz guitar at Oakland University, later graduating with a degree in composition and theory from Wayne State University. His primary instructors were James Hartway, James Lentini, and Leslie Bassett. After moving to New York, Hickey pursued further studies with Justin Dello Joio and Gloria Coates. His works include a symphony (Olympus Mons), concertos for clarinet, cello and mandolin, two string trios, a string quartet, a flute sonata, a woodwind quintet and trio, numerous pieces for solo instruments, church, theater and orchestral music.

Composer and conductor Joseph Gregorio has received commissions from ACDA, Cantus, The Esoterics, and Choral Chameleon, and was awarded a 2015 Commissioning Grant from the Ann Stookey Fund for New Music. Gregorio’s music is published by Areté Music Imprints, E.C. Schirmer Music Company, Walton Music, and Imagine Music Publishing. He is the director of choirs at Swarthmore College and was the founding director of Ensemble Companio, which he led from 2011-2016 and which won the 2012 American Prize in choral performance. Gregorio has also served as assistant conductor of the San Francisco Bach Choir and has taught music theory and musicianship at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Temple University.

Ben Marino (b. February 18, 1982) is a composer, producer, and pianist. Born and raised in Valencia CA, his education in music started early at the piano learning the Suzuki method. His private piano studies continued throughout high school where he was influenced by the solo piano compositions of Bela Bartok and Frederic Chopin. After graduating William S. Hart High School in Newhall CA in 2000, he was accepted to study Piano Performance and Music Composition at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA (2001-2002).

Fergus Johnston (b. 1959) is an Irish-born composer. He graduated from Trinity College Dublin with an Honors degree in Music in 1982. In 1999 he completed a Master's degree in Music and Media Technology at TCD (1999), and in 2011 he received a Ph.D. from the National University of Ireland, Maynooth. As a result of his contribution to Irish culture, he was elected to membership of Aosdána, Ireland's state-supported artistic academy, in 1992, and was a board member of the National Concert Hall, Dublin from 1996 until 2001.

Joungmin Lee is a composer, choral conductor, and digital music artist focusing on acoustic and electroacoustic music with interdisciplinary approaches. Lee's music is an experimentalist endeavor in pursuit of innovative sound both in the instrumental and digital worlds. He attempts to make this happen with several means, including spectral techniques, computer music, or any combination of these trends.

Marcellino's sound embraces Western art music tradition with eclectic influences from other musical traditions such as jazz and non-western music and folk traditions. Since graduation, Marcellino has built an international profile as a composer in various genres of chamber music, orchestral music, opera, musical theater, and radio works. He has been awarded various prizes and commissions, including an Australia Council Fellowship and the Lowin Prize for his work Canticle for Brisbane Cathedrals Festival.

(Ernest) John Robertson (b. 1943) was born in New Zealand but is a longtime resident of Canada. His secondary school offered music as a full time subject, allowing Robertson to find his footing. Upon leaving school, he went into the insurance business where he spent his working life. Having emigrated to Canada in 1967, he continued to compose on the side.

Katherine Price (b. 1992, Indiana) is an American composer of choral music, orchestral music, and chamber music native to Indiana. Price began composing as a child, writing down her compositions at age 13. Drawing influences from the Anglican Choral Tradition, European early music, American folk music, Orthodox hymnody, and holy minimalism, her compositions reflect the styles of such composers as Arvo Pärt, John Tavener, and Knut Nystedt.

Marvin Lamb (b. 1946) is Professor of Music & Head of the Music Composition Program at the University of Oklahoma, where he served as Dean of the Weitzenhoffer Family College of Fine Arts from 1998-2005. His music has been performed widely in the United States, Europe, Canada, Mexico, South America & Japan. In addition, his orchestral works have been performed by the symphonies of Atlanta, Dallas, Colorado, Nashville, Syracuse, the Cabrillo Festival, featured on chamber music series sponsored by the St Louis & Honolulu symphonies & recorded by the Czech Philharmonic Symphony.

Diane Jones’ music has been performed by The Relâche Ensemble, The Da Capo Chamber Players, Trio Casals, and Flautet. She has been commissioned by Mélomanie, the Society for New Music, and the Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation, and she recently completed a commission from the Syracuse International Film Festival to score the 1919 silent film, “The Doll,” screened during the 2019 festival with a live ensemble.

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.