Composition

Chair of Music Studies: Dr. Michael Klein

Composition Faculty

Current Doctoral Students

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The Music Composition Program encourages in its students the development of creative musical thought and expression in all media, including electroacoustic music and visual music, through studies of innovation and craft, research and expressive effect. Students become knowledgeable about contemporary practices, theories, and techniques through the study of post-romantic music literature. Creativity, the development of personal expression through music, and assessment of music’s viability in twentieth century societal context are focal points for composition majors.

At the completion of the program, both undergraduate and Masters' students are expected to present a portfolio of compositions demonstrating notational fluency and the ability to compose convincing and intelligible music. Regular concerts of new student compositions provide the essential experience of hearing their works performed, and allows them to gauge their own progress in relation to that of their peers. Works of established twentieth-century composers are performed by the Contemporary Music Ensemble.

The graduate program stresses advanced work in computer synthesis of music, collaborative work with film makers and dancers, varied degrees of exploratory work, and compositional efforts in larger forms.

Current Doctoral Students - Winter/Spring 2013

Julia Alford-Fowler is a Philadelphia composer who specializes in serialist techniques as well as klezmer music.  She has studied with several renowned composers, including James Mobberley, Zhou Long, Maurice Wright, and Matthew Greenbaum.  She has collaborated with many fine musicians, including Pascal Gallois, Lidia Kaminska, Jason Calloway, Bill Kalinkos, and the Momenta Quartet.  During her study at Temple University, she spent time as a composition fellow at Brevard Music Center, where she studied with Bob Aldridge, and Kevin Puts and traveled to Krakow, Poland to attend the 2011 Jewish Culture Festival.  In 2009, together with her colleagues at Temple University, she co-founded both the Temple Composers Orchestra and conTemplum.  In 2010, she turned her affinity for polystylism and gender issues in music at the turn of the twentieth century into research on gender and meter in Richard Strauss’s Elektra, which she presented at the Confounding Expectations-Inspiring Minds conference at the University of Calgary.  Since 2011, she has been teaching as a member of the Adjunct Faculty at Delaware County Community College, where she has been developing a course pack that can be simply understood by non-musicians learning to read music.  Currently, she is researching the history, performance practice and current expression of klezmer music in preparation for her doctoral monograph, “A Klezmer Concerto: Music for Accordion, Klezmer Concertino, Strings and Percussion.” http://juliaalfordfowler.com

Sabrina Clarke's main compositional interests are choral and chamber music.  Recent works include: Serenade for String Orchestra and Harp; Chipped Wings (SATB choir and piano); Sonata for English Horn and Piano; Dance No. 2 for String Trio; A Regret (SATB choir and violin); Dialogue for Clarinet and Cello; Elegie (chamber orchestra); Preposition (flute and percussion).   Her works have premiered at venues throughout the United States and have featured various ensembles such as the Temple University Concert Choir, the Temple Composers Orchestra, the Azimuth Quartet, the Westminster Symphony Orchestra (MD), and McDaniel College Concert Choir.  She is currently Vice President of conTemplum, the society for new music and student chapter of SCI at Temple University.  She holds a Master of Music degree in composition from the Boyer College of Music, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in theory and composition with concentrations in creative writing and piano from McDaniel College (formerly Western Maryland) where she graduated Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, and as a College Scholar.  She is also an alumna of the Hood College Music Preparatory, and the European American Musical Alliance summer composition program held at the Schola Cantorum in Paris, France. Sabrina is a member of several professional organizations and societies, including ACDA, ACF, SCI, ASCAP, Pi Kappa Lambda, and Alpha Lambda Delta.  She is currently a graduate teaching assistant in music theory at Boyer. www.sabrinaclarkemusic.com

H.E. Cicada Brokaw Dennis is a doctoral candidate in Music Composition at Temple University in Philadelphia. Works being presented in October 2012 are his electro-acoustic work Surrounded at “SoundCrawl Nashville 2012,” a set of modular compositions created for choreographer Beau Hancock’s Poor Lost Sometime Boys, multiple hour long sonic environment compositions created for choreographer Merian Soto’s work SoMoS, and an excerpt of his electro-acoustic composition Meadoweave, within Philadelphia’s “Point of Departure” event, Mixed Drinks. The complete Meadoweave composition is currently published by Ear to the Earth as a part of their project “100x John,” in celebration of John Cage’s 100th birthday http://www.eartotheearth.org/johnx100.html In addition to electro-acoustic works, Cicada Dennis writes for acoustic instruments and voice, and creates visual music and animation. Recently, flautist Nina Assimakopoulos chose to include his work Wings by Morning in her project “The Flutist’s Field Guide to Birds, Insects and Flowers of the World.” He also is interested in creating interactive and participatory audio-visual works.

Joseph Gregorio, recipient of a Presidential Fellowship at Temple, has studied composition with Steven Stucky, David Conte, and Richard Brodhead.  Gregorio’s music has been broadcast, recorded, and performed in the United States and abroad by numerous and renowned soloists and ensembles.  His choral music is published by E. C. Schirmer Music Company, the National Collegiate Choral Organization, and Treble Clef Music Press.  Also active as a conductor, Gregorio is the founding director of prize-winning choir, Ensemble Companio, and has served as assistant and guest conductor to several collegiate and community choirs.  He holds a M.M. in composition with departmental honors from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, a M.M. in choral conducting from Yale University, and a B.A. magna cum laude from Cornell University.  Gregorio has taught music theory and musicianship at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Temple University.  For sound clips, news, works list, and other information, visit www.josephgregoriomusic.com

Andy Laster holds a B.A. in composition from SUNY Empire State College and an M.A. from CUNY Queens College. A major concern in Laster's work is the inclusion of moments of functional improvisation within predominately composed chamber music settings. His dissertation, "Multiconcerto," explores the integration of composition and improvisation in concert music and is comprised of two versions of a multi-movement work for two distinct large ensembles. He is also active in New York City as a saxophonist and jazz composer-performer; recent activities include a concert of his chamber music at The Stone and the release of his CD Riptide on the Tzadik label. He has received grants from the American Music Center, the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, and Meet the Composer. www.andylaster.com

Anne Neikirk’s primary compositional interests include vocal, sacred, and folk music and their intersection with the natural world. Her works have been performed throughout the United States and abroad, including the University of Central Missouri New Music Festival and Regional SCI Conference, the North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Conference, and the Licino Refice Conservatorio di Musica in Frosinone, Italy. She has worked with ensembles such as the Momenta String Quartet, the University of Delaware Percussion Ensemble, the Bowling Green State University Collegiate Chorale, and the Hamilton College Hill Singers. She is an alumna of the Brevard Music Center Summer Festival and the European American Musical Alliance Summer Composition Program in Paris, France. She has received commissions from various performers as well as the Women’s Sacred Music Project in Philadelphia. Anne is a recipient of the 2012 Presser Music Award and was a finalist for the 2012 SCI/ASCAP Student Composition Commission. She teaches courses in music theory, music appreciation and orchestration at Temple. She holds a Master of Music degree in composition from Bowling Green State University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in music from Hamilton College. Anne is a co-founder and former president of conTemplum, Temple University’s student chapter of the Society of Composers, Inc.  Her dissertation is a multi-movement work for orchestra and soprano soloist. For more information, visit www.annieneikirk.com

Ryan Olivier's various interests have led him to work with a wide array of media, including concert ensembles, electronics, video, and dance. Last spring Julie Bishop premiered his latest large-scale acoustic work, Magis: Songs on Poems by Gerard Manley Hopkins, on her faculty recital at Temple University. The orchestral arrangement of the cycle will be premiered in the spring by the Temple Composers Orchestra. Recently his visual music work, Colorful Movements, was featured at the Society of Composers, Inc. (SCI) Region III Conference, the SCI Student National Conference, the New York City Electro-acoustic Music Festival (NYCEMF), the Electronic Music Midwest (EMM) Festival, the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS) National Conference, and the International Computer Music Conference (ICMC). While Ryan enjoys composing for both traditional concert ensembles and fixed media, he is currently working to incorporate real time interaction between live performers and visualized electronic music to create interactive multimedia works.  For more information please visit www.ryanolivier.com

Adam Vidiksis is a composer, conductor, and percussionist whose interests span from historically informed performance to the cutting edge of music technology.  Adam’s compositions have been performed throughout North America and Europe.  Commissioned by International Composers and Interactive Artists, he composed and conducted a new work performed by the “Black Sea Symphony,” the orchestra of the Oleg Danovski National Theater of Opera and Ballet in Constanta, Romania.  Exceptional ensembles have performed his work, including the Momenta Quartet, the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival, and the percussion ensembles of New York University and the University of Alabama. His compositions have been heard at festivals and conferences, including the SEAMUS National Conference, the National Student Electronic Music Event at the Peabody Conservatory, the Toronto Electroacoustic Symposium, the Licino Refice Conservatorio di Musica in Frosinone, Italy, and others.  The Omaha Symphony performed his From the Ashes as part of the symphony’s 2012 New Music Symposium. He was a regional winner of the 2012 SCI/ASCAP Student Commission Competition. His works are available through HoneyRock Publishing. A devoted advocate of new music, Adam continues serves as conductor of the Temple Composers Orchestra. For seven years, Adam directed the wind ensemble at Drew University in Madison, NJ, premiering a number of new pieces with that ensemble.  He presently holds the position of assistant conductor of the Delaware County Symphony in Aston, PA. For more information and music, visit www.vidiksis.com.