Composer Chats

Join Jason this week as he welcomes composer Dara Taylor to the show!

Dara Taylor is an American composer for film and television scores. An HMMA-nominated composer, she has composed music for a number of Independent films including thrillers, dramas, and comedies. She has contributed additional music to ABC's Agent Carter, Galavant and Lifetime’s Child Genius as well as arrangements and score production for studio productions like Bad Moms, Baywatch, Smurfs The Lost Village, Sausage Party, and more. In 2015, she was nominated for a Hollywood Music in Media Award for her score for the Together Magic film Undetectable. In 2016, she was one of the composers asked to take part in Women in Film’s Women Composers in Media concert.

Taylor was born in Poughkeepsie, New York but spent most of her childhood in Lockport, New York. She studied as a mezzo-soprano under Judith Kellock at Cornell University and sang in the Cornell University Chorus. Also at Cornell, she studied composition independently with Zachary Wadsworth and Steven Stucky. In 2009, she graduated cum laude with a Bachelor's in Music and Psychology. Taylor then received a Masters of Music from New York University in 2011 where she studied Film Music Composition with Mark Suozzo.

Taylor is currently based in Los Angeles, CA.

Join Jason as he welcomes composer David Biedenbender to the podcast!

David Biedenbender (b. 1984, Waukesha, Wisconsin) is a composer, conductor, performer, educator, and interdisciplinary collaborator. David’s music has been described as “simply beautiful” (twincities.com), “striking” and “brilliantly crafted” (Times Argus) and is noted for its “rhythmic intensity” (NewMusicBox) and “stirring harmonies.” (Boston Classical Review) “Modern, venturesome, and inexorable…The excitement, intensity, and freshness that characterizes Biedenbender’s music hung in the [air] long after the last note was played.” (Examiner.com) “Clearly, this is a composer to watch out for.” (Fanfare Magazine) He has written music for the concert stage as well as for dance and multimedia collaborations, and his work is often influenced by his diverse musical experiences in rock and jazz bands as an electric bassist, in wind, jazz, and New Orleans-style brass bands as a euphonium, bass trombone, and tuba player, and by his study of Indian Carnatic music. His creative interests include working with everyone from classically trained musicians to improvisers, acoustic chamber music to large ensembles, and interactive electronic interfaces to live brain data.

David has had the privilege of collaborating with many renowned performers and ensembles, including Alarm Will Sound, the Albany (NY) Symphony Orchestra, the PRISM Saxophone Quartet, the Stenhammar String Quartet (Sweden), the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, the United States Navy Band, the Philharmonie Baden-Baden(Germany), VocalEssence, the Eastman Wind Ensemble, the Music from Copland House Ensemble, Detroit Symphony Orchestra bass trombonist Randall Hawes and pianist Kathryn Goodson, the Juventas New Music Ensemble, the Washington Kantorei, the Atlantic Chamber Ensemble, the Boston New Music Initiative, Ann Arbor Dance Works, Composer’s Inc. (San Francisco), and the Grand Valley State New Music Ensemble.

Recent recognition for David’s work includes the 2018 Rudolf Nissim Prize for Cyclotron, the 2019 Sousa/Ostwald Award, two ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards (2011, 2012) and the 2012 Suzanne and Lee Ettelson Composers Award. His music has been heard in many diverse venues, including Carnegie Hall, Gaudeamus Muziekweek/TivoliVredenberg (Netherlands), Symphony Space (New YorkCity), the Smithsonian Museum, the German Embassy (Washington, DC), the Antonín Dvořák Museum (Prague), the Old First Church (San Francisco), Harris Hall (Aspen Music Festival), the Interlochen Center for the Arts, Hill Auditorium (Ann Arbor, MI), as well as at numerous universities and conservatories, and it has been broadcast on NPR stations around the country, including on WNYC’s Soundcheck with John Schaefer and on Center Stage from Wolf Trap. David’s music can also be heard on many commercially available recordings, including on Naxos, XAS, Summit, Cobra, GIA, Centaur, Bright Shiny Things, and Innova record labels, among others. Recent and upcoming commissions and projects include works for yMusic, the New York Virtuoso Singers, the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, San Francisco Symphony principal trombonist Tim Higgins, the Albany (NY) Symphony Orchestra, the Edge Ensemble, the Sinta Saxophone Quartet, the Akropolis Reed Quintet, Kevin Sedatole and the Michigan State University Wind Symphony, and the Garth Newel Piano Quartet.

In addition to composing, David is a dedicated teacher. He is Associate Professor of Composition in the College of Music at Michigan State University, and he previously taught composition and theory at Boise State University, Eastern Michigan University, Oakland University, Madonna University, the Music in the Mountains Conservatory, and the Interlochen Arts Camp. He has also taught an interdisciplinary course in creativity and collaboration in the Living Arts program at the University of Michigan. His composition students have achieved regional and national recognition for their creative work, including numerous awards and acceptance into renowned summer music festivals and undergraduate and graduate composition programs.

He received the Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees in composition from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and the Bachelor of Music degree in composition and theory from Central Michigan University. His primary musical mentors include Evan Chambers, Kristin Kuster, Stephen Rush,Michael Daugherty, Bright Sheng, Christopher Lees, David R. Gillingham, José Luis-Maurtúa, and John Williamson. He has also studied at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in Uppsala, Sweden with Anders Hillborg and Steven Stucky, the Aspen Music Festival and School with Syd Hodkinson, and in Mysore, India where he studied South Indian Carnatic music, focusing on the mridangam with Vidwan G.S. Ramanujan.

Join Jason as he welcomes THE Gordon Goodwin to the podcast!

Even for a successful composer and arranger in Hollywood, Gordon Goodwin’s numbers are impressive: A 2006 GRAMMY Award for his Instrumental Arrangement of “Incredits” from the Pixar film The Incredibles, three Emmy Awards, and thirteen GRAMMY nominations.

Here’s another impressive number to add to the list: eighteen. As in the number of musicians in Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band, one of the most exciting large jazz ensembles on the planet. Populated by L.A.’s finest players, the Big Phat Band takes the big band tradition into the new millennium with a contemporary, highly original sound featuring Goodwin’s witty, intricate, and hard-swinging compositions in a veritable grab bag of styles: swing, Latin, blues, classical, rock and more.

A steady, persistent audio diet of the giants of jazz, pop, rock and funk has nourished Goodwin’s being since childhood. Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Buddy Rich, Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, Earth, Wind and Fire, and Tower of Power, among many others, filled the well for the music his band makes today. And like those other bands, Goodwin’s music is nothing less than astonishing when experienced live.

Goodwin’s ability to combine jazz excellence with any musical style makes his writing appealing to fans across the spectrum. That’s why both beboppers and headbangers dig Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band.

Established in 2000, the Big Phat Band’s debut recording, Swingin’ For The Fences (Silverline Records), featured guest artists Arturo Sandoval and Eddie Daniels. It made history as the first commercially available DVD-Audio title ever released and the first DVD-Audio title to receive two GRAMMY nominations.

The band’s second album, XXL (Silverline Records), was released on DVD-Audio and compact disc in 2003. Charting its first week, XXL garnered three GRAMMY nominations for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album, Best Instrumental Composition (“Hunting Wabbits”) and Best Instrumental Arrangement with Vocals (“Comes Love” with Brian McKnight and Take 6), while winning the Surround Sound Award for “Best Made for Surround Sound Title.” The list of guest artists matched the high quality of the first release and featured, among others, Johnny Mathis and the incomparable Michael Brecker.

The Big Phat Band’s third album, The Phat Pack (immergent Records), with guest stars Dianne Reeves, David Sanborn, Eddie Daniels and Take 6, received a GRAMMY nomination and spent 31 weeks on the Billboard jazz charts.

Released in September 2008, the Big Phat Band’s fourth recording, Act Your Age, far outsold every other big band record in its path. Produced by acclaimed guitarist Lee Ritenour, it featured a host of terrific guests including Patti Austin, Chick Corea, Dave Grusin and even Ritenour himself, plus a special appearance by the late pianist Art Tatum on a stunning performance that had jaws dropping right and left. The critically acclaimed Act Your Age garnered three GRAMMY nominations.

A keyboardist and woodwind player, Goodwin has built a larger-than-life reputation throughout the music industry for his composing, arranging and playing skills. Ray Charles, Christina Aguilera, Johnny Mathis, Toni Braxton, John Williams, Natalie Cole, David Foster, Sarah Vaughan, Mel Torme, Brian McKnight and Quincy Jones are just a few of the artists with whom he has worked. Goodwin has also conducted world-renowned symphony orchestras in Atlanta, Dallas, Utah, Seattle, Toronto and London.

Goodwin’s cinematic scoring and orchestration craft can be heard on such films as The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Escape to Witch Mountain, Get Smart, Glory Road, National Treasure, The Incredibles, Remember The Titans, Armageddon, The Majestic, Con Air, Gone In 60 Seconds, Enemy of the State, Star Trek Nemesis and even the classic cult film Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes. Goodwin’s soundtrack to Looney Tunes’ Bah HumDuck! – a wacky Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck riff on the classic A Christmas Carol – also features the Big Phat Band’s patented sound.

Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band joins Telarc International, a division of Concord Music Group, with the April 12, 2011 release of That’s How We Roll. The band’s first CD in over two and a half years features 10 new Goodwin originals and the Gershwin classic “Rhapsody in Blue.” Special guests include Gerald Albright, Dave Koz, Marcus Miller and Take 6.

Join Jason as he welcomes composer Daniel Montoya Jr. to the podcast!

Daniel Montoya Jr. is a proud and rare native of Austin, an ’80s, ’90s, & ’00s music aficionado, and fully embraces his unstoppable rise to “zaddy” status. He also, occasionally, writes music (since being musically moved by his first viewing of the James Cameron film Titanic and wanting to write the music to the sequel, Titanic 2: Jack of Spades: Jack Dawson’s Revenge: This Time It’s Personal). His oeuvre spans several genres, including original pieces and arrangements for wind band, percussion ensemble, and the marching arts. His works, which resound with bristling energy and color, have won numerous awards from national organizations. His education includes a master’s degree in wind conducting from Texas State University where he studied with Dr. Caroline Beatty, a master’s degree in music composition from Central Michigan University where he studied with David R. Gillingham, and a baccalaureate degree in music composition from Texas State University (he fully expects to be called Grand Master Montoya, or “Montstro“). He has also studied and participated in masterclasses with such composers as Kevin Beavers, William Bolcom, Michael Ippolito, Cindy McTee, Kevin Puts, Russell Riepe, and Roberto Sierra.

While not tending to Mont Shoemore, his outlandish and somewhat offensive collection of sneakers, Montoya travels around the country as an adjudicator, keynote speaker, clinician, and guest conductor. His music has been performed by ensembles and institutions across the United States, including Baylor University, Brigham Young University, Central Michigan University, Indiana University, Michigan State University, Purdue University, Temple University, Texas State University, Texas Tech University, University of Alabama, University of Central Florida, University of Houston, University of Illinois, University of Maryland, University of Michigan, University of North Texas, the University of Texas at Austin, University of Texas at El Paso, and The United States Army Field Band. Performances of his music have included concerts at Avery Fisher Hall, the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic, the Percussive Arts Society International Conference, the Texas Music Educators Association Conference, the North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Conference, and the Texas Bandmasters Association Conference, among others. When in attendance at these events, he can usually be identified by his sneakers and/or his man purse (or “murse”).

Although the closest he’s been to being a man in uniform was as a member of “The Pride of the Hill Country” and possibly some ill-advised Halloween costumes, he served as the arranger for the U.S. Army All-American Marching Band in 2012 & 2013. His involvement with marching bands engages him throughout the nation. Among the organizations that have used his compositions and arrangements on the field are champions and finalists at various state- and national-level competitions, and major Division I intercollegiate bands. Montoya has written and designed for the Madison Scouts Drum & Bugle Corps (Madison, WI), Colts Drum & Bugle Corps (Dubuque, IA), Spirit of Atlanta (Atlanta, GA), Guardians Drum & Bugle Corps (Dallas/Fort Worth, TX), and Revolution Drum & Bugle Corps (San Antonio, TX). His innovative approach to field arrangement involves imbuing new vitality and dramatic elements into his charts creating a new and vibrant musical object rather than a mere transcription of the original.

When not reviewing sneakers on his YouTube channel, The Shoemmelier, Montoya enjoys engaging in the indigenous Austinite culture where till his dying day he will constantly correct and promote the difference between Austin and Austin-area. He is constantly mistaken for Lin-Manuel Miranda, Tony Stark, and Jeff Goldblum. His sidekicks in life are his better half, known to the Twittersphere simply as “The Girl,” their daughter, known to the world as “The Heir,” and a slightly overweight puggle named Mahler. He has coined the term “portmonto” as a portmanteau of his name with the word “portmanteau” to refer to his love of making up senselessly long words (partially inspired by his love of mash-ups) and he was a fan of using hashtags on the Facebook way before it was cool.

Montoya’s music is published by C-Alan Publications, Row-Loff Productions, Tapspace Publications, and his publishing company, Underwater Theme Productions/Montoya Music. He is an Artist/Educator for Innovative Percussion, Inc. and is a member of ASCAP and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.

Join Jason as he welcomes composer Alexandra Gardner to the podcast!

Praised as “highly lyrical and provocative of thought” (San Francisco Classical Voice) and “mesmerizing” (The New York Times), the music of composer Alexandra Gardner is thrilling audiences and performers alike with a “particular alchemy of craft, whimsy, and sensual appeal” (The New Yorker). She composes for varied instrumentations and often mixes acoustic instruments with electronic music and field recordings, drawing inspiration from mythology, the natural sciences, and contemporary literature.

Alexandra’s compositions are regularly featured at festivals and venues around the world, including the Aspen Music Festival, Beijing Modern Festival, Centro de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona, Festival Cervantino, Grand Teton Music Festival, The Kennedy Center, The Library of Congress, Merkin Hall, Strathmore Music Center, Symphony Space, and the Warsaw Autumn Festival. Her music has been commissioned and presented by leading organizations and ensembles such as the National Flute Association, the American Harp Society, Astral Artists, Boulanger Initiative, Chicago Composers Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, SOLI Chamber Ensemble, Strathmore Music Center, Tesla Quartet, and the United States Navy Band.

Recent works include the string quartet Watershed, commissioned by Tesla Quartet, ImmerSphere, and The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center; Lantana for Seattle Symphony principal oboist Mary Lynch VanderKolk; and Sanctuary of Joy for organist Joy-Leilani Garbutt and violinist Laura Colgate, co-founders of Boulanger Initiative. Upcoming projects include a concerto for alto saxophone and wind ensemble inspired by the recent discoveries of the James Webb Telescope and a collaboration with New Music Detroit exploring the local history of a major medical invention from the 1950s.

Among Alexandra’s honors and awards are recognitions from American Composers Forum, ASCAP, Maryland State Arts Council, Mid-America Arts Alliance, The National Endowment for the Arts, The Netherland-America Foundation, and the Smithsonian Institution. She is a recipient of the Vassar College W.K. Rose Fellowship in the Creative Arts and a Rubys Artist Project Grant from the Robert W. Deutsch Foundation. She has conducted residencies at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, Harvestworks Digital Media Arts Center, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, MacDowell, and Willapa Bay AiR. She spent two years as a visiting composer at the Institut Universitari de l’Audiovisual in Barcelona, Spain, and served as Composer-In-Residence for the Seattle Symphony during the 2017-2018 concert season. Her music is recorded on the Innova, Ars Harmonica, Naxos, and Neuma labels.

Committed to nurturing the creative advancement of sound-makers of various ages and backgrounds, Alexandra maintains a consulting practice and teaching studio. She helps artists lead creative and fruitful lives through consulting, mentoring, and dialog facilitation related to artistic career development and the nature of creativity. Her teaching and training experience spans instrumental and electronic composition, audio production, and practical business skills for artists. She has worked for organizations such as National Public Radio and New Music USA and has served as Director of the Seattle Symphony Merriman-Ross Family Young Composers Workshop.

Alexandra holds degrees from The Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University and Vassar College. She lives in Baltimore, MD.

Join Jason this week as he welcomes composer Rossano Galante!

Born in Buffalo, New York, Rossano Galante received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Trumpet Performance from SUNY Buffalo in 1992. That same year he was one of nineteen people from around the world to be accepted to the University of Southern California’s Film Scoring Program. He studied with the late Jerry Goldsmith, who won an Academy Award for his film score for The Omen. In 1999, Mr. Galante moved to California to pursue a career in composition and film orchestration. Since then he has worked with two-time Oscar nominated composer Marco Beltrami, Christophe Beck,

Brian Tyler, Christopher Lennertz and Wolfram de Marco.

Mr. Galante has served as orchestrator for over seventy-five studio films including, Venom: Let There be Carnage, Rambo: Last Blood, Charlie’s Angles, Ready or Not, A Quiet Place, A Quiet Place 2, The Mummy, Logan, Sausage Party, Smurfs: The Lost Village, First They Killed My Father, Ben Hur, The Shallows, Fantastic 4, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Gods of Egypt, Prisoners, The Wolverine, 3:10 to Yuma, A Good Day to Die Hard, Trouble with the Curve, The Thing, Final Destination 5, The Homesman, Don’t be Afraid of the Dark, Knowing, Max Payne, The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Live Free or Die Hard, Red Eye, Die Bluthochzeit, The Tuxedo, Tuesdays with Morrie, among many others.

For his large-scale Wind Ensemble compositions, he has been commissioned by the Federation of Gay Games-Paris 2018, Atlanta Freedom Band, Lake Braddock High School Band, Hofstra University Symphonic Band, Nebraska Wind Symphony, the Amherst Chamber Orchestra, Trenton State College, SUNY Buffalo, Grand Island Middle School, Syracuse Youth Symphony, Point Pleasant Borough High School, North Tonawanda High School, Lockport City School District, Edward Town Middle School, Duxbury High School Wind Ensemble, Allegro: The Chamber Orchestra of Lancaster, Franklin & Marshall College, West Genesee High School Wind Ensemble, East Stroudsburg High School, Grissom High School, Hafabra Publishing, Desert Winds Freedom Band, Starpoint High School Band, Francis T. Maloney High School Band, The Erie County Wind Ensemble, The Solano County Honor Band, The Buffalo Niagara Concert Band and many others in the works.

Join Jason as he welcomes composer Robbie Teehan to the podcast!

www.robbieteehan.com

Robbie (Rob) Teehan is a JUNO-award nominated Canadian composer, known for his nuanced and melodic scores to film, TV, and video games, and broad musical experience. He scored the critically-acclaimed Canadian film SCARBOROUGH, hailed by NOW Magazine as “A New Canadian Cinema”, and winner of 8 Canadian Screen Awards including “Best Motion Picture”; BELOW THE BELT, which recently premiered in New York City with Executive Producer Hillary Rodham Clinton in attendance; and BOTTLE CONDITIONED directed by Academy Award nominee Jerry Franck.

Robbie’s scoring credits include additional music on three seasons of hit TV series ELEMENTARY and two seasons of JESSICA JONES alongside his mentor, 4-time Emmy Award-winning composer Sean Callery (24, HOMELAND, BONES, THE MEDIUM, HALO, etc.), with whom he apprenticed for five years in Los Angeles. Robbie created a heartfelt orchestral score for the animated short LOVE LETTERS FROM EVEREST, which received two Canadian Screen Award nominations, and a Ukrainian-folk inspired score for the feature documentary THE BABUSHKAS OF CHERNOBYL, lauded by the Chicago Tribune as “provocative, powerful, poignant, and frankly, unforgettable” and award-winner at nine film festivals including the Los Angeles Film Festival.

Classically-trained, Robbie has composed and arranged for artists and ensembles across North America including the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Toronto, and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. His orchestral composition, “Dreams of Flying,” was hailed as “fresh and tuneful” by MacLean’s Magazine and nominated for a JUNO award for “Classical Composition of the Year.” Robbie has performed thousands of shows around the world with a diverse array of musical projects, and his work as a composer, arranger, band member, session musician, and record producer has earned him four JUNO and eight Canadian Folk Music Award nominations. He is currently active with his indie folk singer-songwriter project, Gentle Sparrow, releasing two EPs on streaming platforms and performing throughout his home province of Ontario, Canada.

Robbie is also the founder and CEO of The Pro Composer, a boutique career coaching firm and online community serving and supporting thousands of professional media composers around the world.

Join Jason this week as he welcomes composer Erika Svanoe to the podcast!

Dr. Erika Svanoe (b. 1976) is a conductor and composer for wind band, known for her lyrical melodies, nods to classic literature, musical deconstruction, humor, and pastiche. Her works have been performed by "The President's Own" United States Marine Band, the United States Navy Band, the National Concert Band of America, featured at the Midwest Clinic, the American Bandmasters Association National Conference, and the Boston New Music Festival, and on Wisconsin Public Radio, in Bandworld's Top 100, and the Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series. Her first major work, The Haunted Carousel, won the 2014 NBA Young Band Composition Contest. Her first album, "The Music of Erika Svanoe," was recorded by Andrew Boysen, Jr. and the University of New Hampshire Wind Symphony, and released in 2022.

As a conductor, Dr. Svanoe has held residencies with the USAF Heritage of America Band, the Atlanta Freedom Bands, and numerous universities. She has held collegiate appointments at Augsburg University, Bemidji State University, and the University of New Hampshire. She remains active as a guest conductor and clinician, appearing with high school, university, and All-State and festival ensembles across the United States.

She earned a Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting from The Ohio State University under Russel C. Mikkelson, where she served as conductor of the OSU Collegiate Winds, assistant conductor of the OSU Wind Symphony, and taught undergraduate conducting classes. Her DMA dissertation included a critical edition of Aaron Copland's El Salón México for wind ensemble. She holds a Master of Music in Wind Conducting from Oklahoma State University and a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire.

Her music is published through Alfred Music, G.Schirmer/AMP, and self-published through Swan Maiden Press. She is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). She is also the creator and publisher of Marrying Mr. Darcy, the Pride & Prejudice card game, ​and occasionally advocates and speaks on the topic of arts entrepreneurship, with appearances at the XOXO Festival and in a variety of gaming-related media. Originally from Whitewater, Wisconsin, she currently lives in Menomonie, WI with her husband, designer and graphic novelist Erik Evensen.

Join Jason as he welcomes composer Adam Gorb to the show!

Adam Gorb was born in 1958 and started composing at the age of ten. At fifteen he wrote a set of piano pieces – A Pianist’s Alphabet – of which a selection was performed by Susan Bradshaw on BBC Radio 3. In 1977 he went to Cambridge University to study music, where his teachers included Hugh Wood and Robin Holloway. After graduating in 1980 he divided his time between composition and working as a musician in the theatre. In 1987 he started studying privately with Paul Patterson, and then, from 1991 at the Royal, Academy of Music where he gained an MMus degree and graduated with the highest honours, including the Principal’s Prize in 1993.

His works have been performed, broadcast and recorded worldwide. Notable pieces include Metropolis for Wind Band (1992), which has won several prizes including the Walter Beeler Memorial Prize in the USA in 1994. Prelude, Interlude and Postlude for piano, won the Purcell Composition Prize in 1995. Kol Simcha, a ballet given over fifty performances by the Rambert Dance Company and Awayday (1996) for Wind Band which, along with Yiddish Dances, (1998) also for Wind Band have had thousands of performances world-wide, and many commercial recordings. Yiddish Dances also exists in arrangements for piano duet and guitar quartet. A Violin Sonata was premiered at the Spitalfields Festival in London in 1996. Reconciliation for Clarinet and Piano was commissioned for the Park Lane Young Artists New Year series in 1998, and Elements, a Percussion Concerto written for Evelyn Glennie and the Royal Northern College of Music Wind Ensemble in 1998 was released on CD in 2001.

In 1999 his Clarinet Concerto for Nicholas Cox was premiered with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and in 2000 A Distant Mirror for Brass Band at the Cheltenham festival, Weimar for chamber ensemble, 2000 and Downtown Diversions, a trombone concerto, in Texas in February 2001. Other works include String quartet no. 1 for the Maggini Quartet, which was premiered at Bromsgrove music club in February 2002, and Towards Nirvana, which received its first performance by the Tokyo Kosei Wind Ensemble in October 2002, winning a British Composer award in the Wind and Brass ensemble category in 2004. Diaspora for eleven strings was given its premiere by the Goldberg Ensemble in February 2003, and November 2003 saw the first performance of Dances From Crete at the Royal College of Music in London.

2004 saw the premieres of French Dances Revisited in Minnesota, USA, and La Cloche Felee for soprano and piano in the Purcell Room. Burlesque for clarinet ensemble, was first played in the USA in 2005. 2006 was notable for the first performance of Awakening for the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and Adrenaline City for the USA Air Force Academy Band. This work went on to win another British Composer Award in 2008. Fasolt’s Revenge for the Tennessee Tech Tuba Ensemble and A Better Place for the Zephyr Ensemble of Great Britain were also premiered in 2006.

In 2007/8 a cantata Thoughts Scribbled on a Blank wall (based on the experiences of the political prisoner John McCarthy who co-wrote the libretto with Ben Kaye) received several performances in prestigious venues including Canterbury Cathedral and Kings College Cambridge. Two more Wind Band works: Midnight in Buenos Aires and Farewell (winner of a third British Composer Award in 2009) have seen the light of day along with Serenade for Spring (2008) for small orchestra which had its premiere at the Hampstead and Highgate Festival. Later that year Into The Light for eight cellos was premiered at the RNCM, and String Quartet no. 2 was played by the Tippett Quartet.

2010 saw the premieres of Absinthe for piano and Eternal Voices; a large-scale choral work with words by Ben Kaye which was premiered at Exeter cathedral in November 2010 with the Exeter Festival Chorus and the Band of the Royal Marines. Another Wind Ensemble work: Repercussions was premiered in Colorado in August 2011. Love Transforming which was written for Timothy Reynish’s 75th birthday in March 2013.

He has collaborated for a third time with Ben Kaye on an opera Anya 17 which was premiered by singers from the RNCM with the RLPO 10/10 ensemble Liverpool and Manchester in March 2012. – there have subsequently been productions in Germany in and the USA.

Works from 2013-15 include a cello concerto, A Celebration for the Northern Chamber Orchestra and Velocity for the pianist Clare Hammond. Recent wind ensemble works, all USA commissions include Spring into Action (2014), Boat Trip (2016) and Pike’s Peak (2017). In 2016 In Solitude, For Company, an extensive revision of Awakening was played by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, and Melange a Trois was premiered by the Pleyel ensemble. Adam Gorb spent much of 2017 writing a second opera The Path to Heaven (libretto by Ben Kaye) which received its premiere in Leeds and Manchester in 2018, with productions in the USA in 2019 and 2020. A Saxophone Quartet Let Them Play was also performed at the World Saxophone Congress in Zagreb in 2018.

A CD of piano music: 24 Preludes (composed 2019 – 20) and Velocity with the pianist Clare Hammond was released on Toccata classics in 2022.

Recent works include a song cycle: Beggars Belief, his fifth collaboration with librettist Ben Kaye, Long Distance Call for the Australian saxophonist Katia Beaugeais and a concerto for violin, viola and Wind Ensemble premiered in the USA in 2022. During the Covid pandemic in 2020-21 he adapted several of his wind band works, including Yiddish Dances and Bohemian Revelry for smaller ensembles.

Professor Adam Gorb is Head of School of Composition at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. He has a PhD in Composition from the University of Birmingham and has taught at universities in the USA, Canada, Japan and many European countries.

Join Jason as he welcomes Dutch composer and conductor Johan de Meij to the podcast!

Dutch composer and conductor Johan de Meij (Voorburg, 1953) received his musical training at the Royal Conservatory of Music in The Hague, where he studied trombone and conducting. His award-winning oeuvre of original compositions, symphonic transcriptions and film score arrangements has garnered him international acclaim and have become permanent fixtures in the repertoire of renowned ensembles throughout the world. His Symphony No. 1 The Lord of the Rings was awarded the prestigious Sudler Composition Prize and has been recorded by myriad ensembles including The London Symphony Orchestra, The North Netherlands Orchestra, The Nagoya Philharmonic and The Amsterdam Wind Orchestra. His Symphony No. 2 The Big Apple, Symphony No. 3 Planet Earth, Symphony No. 4 Sinfonie der Lieder as well as his solo concertos, T-Bone Concerto (trombone), UFO Concerto (euphonium) and Casanova (cello) have been enthusiastically received at many of the world’s finest venues.

Before devoting his time exclusively to composing and conducting, Johan de Meij enjoyed a successful professional career as a trombone and euphonium player, performing with major orchestras and ensembles in The Netherlands. He is in high demand as a guest conductor and lecturer, frequently invited to speak about and perform his own works. In 2010, he was appointed regular guest conductor of the Simón Bolívar Youth Wind Orchestra in Caracas, Venezuela – part of the celebrated Venezuelan educational system El Sistema. He currently maintains posts with both the New York Wind Symphony and the Kyushu Wind Orchestra in Fukuoka, Japan as their principal guest conductor. Johan is founder and CEO of his own publishing company Amstel Music, established in 1989.

When not traveling, Johan divides his time between his Hudson Valley home and Manhattan- and Amsterdam apartments with his wife and muse Dyan, cats Lenny, Gustavo, Tosca & Lulu and doggy Lucy.