JOHN LIBERATORE, composer

A native of Auburn, NY, John Liberatore (b. 1984) now lives with his wife in Rochester where he is pursuing a doctoral degree at the Eastman School of Music. At Eastman, he serves as president of the new music ensemble Ossia, and teaches in the computer music center under Allan Schindler. He also teaches private composition through Eastman, and part time through the Eastman Community Music School. He holds degrees from Syracuse University (BM) and Eastman (MM).

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. His composition teachers have included David Liptak, Yehudi Wyner, Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, Robert Morris, Samuel Adler (Bowdoin 2006), Daniel S. Godfrey, Nicolas Scherzinger, and Andrew Waggoner.

His music has been performed around the United States, as well as in Canada, Europe, and South America. In the summer of 2009, he participated in the Music09 Festival at the Hindemith Music Centre in Blonay, Switzerland where he worked with musicians from the ensemble eighth blackbird. Other recent venues have included the Chosen Vale International Trumpet Seminar, the American Cultural Institute of Peru, the Stone (NYC), the Buffalo Philharmonic Young Composers' Forum, the Cleveland Composers' Recording Institute, the Charles E. Gamper Festival, and the Bowdoin Music Festival. Current projects include works for violist John Graham, and for the ensemble Dal Niente with soprano Amanda DeBoer.