bio:

Music of composer John Liberatore (b. 1984) has been heard around the world at venues such as the Tanglewood's Seiji Ozawa Hall, the Hindemith Centre, the Chosen Vale International Trumpet Seminar, the Stone, the American Cultural Institute of Peru, and the Charles Gamper Festival. Over the past several years, he has collaborated with musicians of all stripes including the New Fromm Players, cellist Nick Photinos (eighth blackbird), violist John Graham, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra (composer readings), the Cleveland Contemporary Players, and the Cuoung Vu Jazz Trio.

In the summer of 2011, he enjoyed a fellowship at the Tanglewood Music Center, where he worked with John Harbison and a host of visiting faculty and guest composers. Previous summers have included residencies at the Clevland Composers' Recording Institute, the MusicX Festival, and the Bowdoin Music Festival.

In May of 2007, he graduated summa cum laude from Syracuse University where he was recognized as a VPA scholar - the highest honor awarded by the School of Visual and Performing Arts for scholastic and creative achievement. While at Syracuse, he received numerous distinctions including the Irene Crooker Award, and the Brian Israel Award. After, graduation, he began his studies at the Eastman School of Music, earning a Master of Music in Composition in the spring of 2009. During these two years, he was recognized with the Wayne Brewster Barlow Prize and the Bernard Rogers Memorial Prize, and his works were performed by the Eastman Philharmonic Orchestra, the Ossia Ensemble, and the Composers Sinfonietta.

A native of Auburn, NY, he now lives with his wife in Rochester where he is pursuing a doctoral degree at the Eastman School of Music. At Eastman, he has been actively engaged in the promotion of new music, serving as president of the Ossia New Music Ensemble during the 2010-11 concert season. He also teaches private composition and has worked at the Eastman Computer Music Center under Allan Schindler since 2008. His mentors in composition have included David Liptak, Yehudi Wyner, Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, Robert Morris, Samuel Adler, Daniel S. Godfrey, Nicolas Scherzinger, and Andrew Waggoner.

Current projects include a collaboration with the percussion group Amphion and a song cycle for tenor Zachary Finklestein and the Eastman Sinfonietta. In his spare time, he secretly enjoys playing jazz piano.