Composers

Anthony Iannaccone (b. New York City, 1943) studied at the Manhattan School of Music and the Eastman School of Music. His principal teachers were Vittorio Giannini, Aaron Copland, and David Diamond. During the 1960's, he supported himself as a part-time teacher (Manhattan School of Music) and orchestral violinist. His catalog of approximately 50 published works includes four symphonies, smaller works for orchestra, several large works for chorus and orchestra, numerous chamber pieces, large works for wind ensemble, and several extended a cappella choral compositions.

Judith Lang Zaimont's music is often cited for its immediacy, emotion and drama. Her distinctive style-strongly expressive, sensitive to musical color and rhythmically vital-is evident in even her early music. The New York Times described it as "exquisitely crafted, vividly characterized and wholly appealing," and perhaps for these reasons her music has consistently drawn performers from around the globe and several of her works have achieved repertoire status.

Jacob E. Goodman (November 15, 1933 – October 10, 2021), founder of the New York Composers Circle in 2002, was Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at the City College of New York. He studied musical composition with, among others, Ezra Laderman and David Del Tredici. His works have been performed in Delaware, Nebraska, Toronto, Buenos Aires, and Tokyo, and various venues in both New York City and the Bay Area of California. Recent compositions include a set of variations for piano trio; three song cycles; a set of variations for orchestra on a Beethoven theme; a quintet for flute, piano, and strings; a set of intermezzi for piano; a prelude for saxophone and piano; two sets of variations for piano; a duo for cello and piano; a string quartet; and three bagatelles for piano; as well as the score for the documentary film Meet Me at the Canoe, produced for the American Museum of Natural History by his daughter Naomi Goodman-Broom.

Sami Seif is a Lebanese composer and music theorist. His music is inspired by the aesthetics, philosophies, paradigms, and poetry of his Middle-Eastern heritage. His work has been described as “very tasteful and flavorful” with “beautiful, sensitive writing!” (Webster University Young Composers Competition).

Daniel Gil is a composer, ethnomusicologist, producer, orchestrator, and performer. He is a graduate of Berklee College of Music and holds an MFA in composition from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Gil’s music has been described as “poignant and majestic” (Boston Globe), “beautiful and original” (Jerusalem Post), and that he “sounds like Greg Lake and Pete Townshend combined” (The Big Takeover) when singing and playing guitar with his electro-progressive band Raibard.

Deems Taylor One of the best-known musical figures of the first half of the twentieth century, Deems Taylor was a composer, radio commentator, music critic, and author. He was the composer of The King’s Henchman, the first American opera ever commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera, with libretto by Edna St. Vincent Millay. His second opera, Peter Ibbetson, was performed 22 times at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, landing Taylor on the cover of Time magazine, and was in the repertoire for several years. Both operas actually made money for the Met. He wrote two other operas, a number of orchestral pieces, including the often played Through the Looking Glass Suite, and hundreds of chorale pieces.

Oboist and composer Patricia Morehead earned her B.M in Oboe from New England Conservatory and her Ph.D in Composition from the University of Chicago. Additionally, she holds diplomas from the Royal Toronto Conservatory of Music, Paris Conservatoire National de Music (France), and Accademia Chigiana di Siena (Italy). Her principal teachers in oboe include Myrtil Morel, Etienne Baudo, Ralph Gomberg, John Mack, and Lothar Faber, and John Eaton, Ralph Shapey, Shulamit Ran, and Samuel Dolin in composition.

Jay Anthony Gach's original concert music has been critically acclaimed as: “music [that] dances with charisma,” (Parterre Box), "a natural crowd pleaser," (NY Newsday), "vibrant textural transformations," (NY Times), "multi-layered, whirling and propulsive," (Minneapolis Star), "witty, virtuosic and accessible," (Clarinet & Saxophone Magazine, UK), "so exuberant [and] so full of character," (SPNM New Notes, UK). Summarized by the composer Lukas Foss during his tenureship as conductor of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, "[Gach’s] writing for orchestra is brilliant beyond words." The composer Hugo Weisgall wrote of him, "a composer...of extraordinary technical command and intellectual grasp of what music is all about."

Richard Vella's diverse output includes compositions for orchestra, large ensemble, choir, film, chamber music, burlesque cabaret, music theatre, contemporary opera, site-specific performances, and popular music genres. Much of his music has been performed and recorded nationally and internationally. His film credits include Light Years, Parklands, and Renzo Piano: piece by piece for which he won the 1999 Australian Screen Composer's Award for best music for a documentary. His feature film music score Travelling Light (2003) received the nomination for “Best Music for a Feature Film” by the Australian Film Institute.

John Biggs was born in Los Angeles in 1932. His father was organist/composer Richard Keys Biggs, and his mother was singer Lucienne Gourdon. During his youth he received training in acting, singing, piano, bassoon, and violin, and was a member of his father’s church choir.

Award-winning and critically acclaimed British conductor and composer Benjamin Ellin is currently co-founder and Musical Director of the Thirsk Hall Festival and De Mowbray Music; Music Director of the Thursford Christmas Spectacular; co-founder, conductor and composer of the contemporary-fusion ensemble Tafahum; Principal Conductor of the Slaithwaite Philharmonic Orchestra; and President of Pembroke Academy of Music, London. Ellin is also a founding trustee of the Evgeny Svetlanov Charitable Trust.

An Associate Professor of Music at Austin College in Sherman TX, composer/pianist John McGinn received an undergraduate music degree from Harvard University in 1986 and his D.M.A. in Composition from Stanford University in 1999. Among his mentors are such noted composers as Jonathan Harvey, Leon Kirchner, and John Adams. His own works have received several honors and been performed at colleges and festivals worldwide.

Born in New York City to German parents, Carl Vollrath attended Newton High School. He received a B.A. from Stetson University, an M.A. from Columbia University, and an Ed.D. from Florida State University. Vollrath studied composition with Ernst von Dohnanyi Carlisle Floyd, and John Boda. He served with the West Point Military Band at West Point NY from 1953 to 1956 and was a music consultant in Miami FL from 1956 to 1958. He joined the Troy University (AL) faculty in 1965.Major works include six symphonies for band, an opera – The Quest – and a large collection of chamber music, all published by Tap Music (tapmusic.com). MMC Recordings has released three albums of Vollrath’s works, including a two-disc album of clarinet works recorded by Richard Stoltzman entitled Jack’s Fat Cat (2008).

Tonči Huljić is the most awarded and best-selling Croatian musician, composer, and record producer.

The Mediterranean atmosphere and the various cultural and musical influences of the former Yugoslavia have left an indelible mark on the structure of the melody, score-writing, and production solutions. In the 1980s, together with his decade-older colleagues, Huljić founded the pop band Magazin which earned him numerous releases and years-long tours across the former Yugoslav republics. He managed to align his melody with the broad ethnicity of the region and audiences alike. It is this talent for assimilation and openness that would ultimately prove to be vital for his success in the world market, where he would later begin his work as a composer — by affirming his musical style, which often saw the infusion of classical music.

Carol Barnett’s music has been called audacious and engaging. Her varied catalog includes works for solo voice, piano, chorus, diverse chamber ensembles, orchestra, and wind ensemble. She has received grants and fellowships from the Camargo Foundation, Cassis, France (1991), the Inter-University Research Committee on Cyprus (1999), the Jerome Foundation (2002), and the McKnight Foundation (2005).

Composer Gavin Brown’s musical journey began with The Sting. He took up piano so he could play the ragtime music of Scott Joplin which was featured in that movie. He studied music at DePauw University and composition with Panamanian composer Roque Cordero at Illinois State University. His music draws from a number of influences from classical to jazz and rock to pop.

Heather Niemi Savage’s music explores universal questions of essence and finding beauty and joy in the midst of suffering, resulting in evocative pieces that take listeners on a journey which nourishes the soul, stimulates healing, and builds empathy. Savage draws on her own experiences, her love of the natural world, literature, and faith; her compositional style is informed by her training in classical, jazz, musical theater, sacred music, and life-long interest in world music.

The music of Canadian-American composer Karim Al-Zand (b.1970) has been called “strong and startlingly lovely” (Boston Globe). His compositions are wide-ranging in influence and inspiration, encompassing solo, chamber, vocal, and orchestral works. From scores for dance, to compositions for young people, to multidisciplinary and collaborative works, Al-Zand’s music is diverse in both its subject matter and its audience. It explores connections between music and other arts, and draws inspiration from varied sources such as graphic art, myths and fables, folk music of the world, film, spoken word, jazz, and his own Middle Eastern heritage.

GRAMMY-nominated composer Hayg Boyadjian was born in 1938 in Paris, France. At an early age he immigrated with his family to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he started his musical studies at the Liszt Conservatory. In 1958 he immigrated to the United States, and presently lives in Lexington MA. He continued his musical studies as a special student first at the New England Conservatory and later at Brandeis University. Among his teachers were Beatriz Balzi (student of Alberto Ginastera, with whom Boyadjian had several consulting meetings), Seymour Shifrin, Alvin Lucier, and Edward Cohen.

Hailing from the island of Guernsey, Lydia Jane Pugh is an award-winning composer specialising in choral and chamber music, with much of her work being inspired by the islands’ history, culture, and beautiful landscapes. Her music’s universal appeal has led to performances around the world by several professional groups, including the Ebor Singers in the United Kingdom, and the Empire City Men’s Chorus in the United States.