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 Interesting:My musical education began at an early age: my parents claim that I could sing along to every Beatles song by the age of three. My formal training (such as it was) in classical music began with piano lessons at age six, because I wanted to be just like my kindergarten teacher. During high school, I played keyboards in a cover band called the Planetary Buzz and the jazz band. During my freshman year at Williams College, when I found out that I wanted to become a composer rather than, for example, a biochemical engineer. I wrote my first relatively
un-bad piece during my junior year, and ended up studying composition
with Lewis Spratlan, Robert Suderburg, David Kechley, and Karl Korte,
receiving my B.A. in Music in 1998. I have since received an M.M. and
G.D. in Music Composition from New England Conservatory,
where I studied with Michael Gandolfi. I have also fought in the
trenches for the cause of new music, having been General Manager of Dinosaur Annex
Music Ensemble for nearly four years. I am currently living in
Boston with my wife and cat. A superb Dance Dance Revolution, Guitar Hero, and Rock Band Drums player, I was named Time's Person of the Year in 2006. I currently work as a Composer / Sound Designer for Harmonix Music Systems. For Grants: Michael has written dozens of works for a wide range of musical forces. He has composed music for Joshua Lawton, David Stansbury, Sharon Hsin-Yi Chen, Fireworks, New Century Voices, and Roseae Feminae, and has received commissions from the NOW Ensemble and the Arlington-Belmont Chamber Chorus. In addition to those performers, his works have been played by Jordan Winds (under the direction of Bill Drury), Peter Sykes, Larry Zimmermann, and Karna Millen, and his music has been presented by New Music North, Composers in Red Sneakers, and the New Gallery Concert Series. His setting of E.E. Cummings's poem "love is the every only god" was recently awarded First Prize in Singing City's annual choral competition. For four years, Michael was General Manager of Dinosaur Annex Music Ensemble, a Boston-based chamber ensemble dedicated to the performance of new music. He also hosted a two-hour show on public radio called "Bouquets of Drone" on which he broadcast electronica and classical music new and old. Michael's volunteer efforts have included accompanying for Allegra Martin's New Century Voices, a chorus focused on performing 20th- and 21st-century music. A full-length CD of chamber music is
due for release in 2008, and the third movement of his piece Honey
Glazed will be included on a compilation CD of saxophone quartet music. |
