PHILIP LASSER, Composer,
Director of the EAMA Summer Programs
Teaches: Analysis, Keyboard Harmony, Counterpoint, Composition Techniques Seminar (Piano Chamber Music)
Composer of poetic and lyrical music, Philip Lasser has crafted a unique soundworld blending the subtle colors of French Impressionist sonorities with the crisp, direct sounds and rhythms of America’s jaunty musical palette. “I seek content over form, expression over style.”
Standing apart from the modernist trends and experiments, Philip Lasser has devoted himself to the refinement of personal expression through an economy of gesture and a blossoming of color. In recognition of his distinct musical voice, Philip Lasser recently received the Walter Hinrichsen Award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. This prize is awarded in collaboration with the C.F. Peters Corporation to publish and promote the work of an American composer.
Philip Lasser was born in New York City, August 4, 1963. At the age of five, Philip Lasser began piano lessons and composing songs for his mother’s voice. At sixteen he entered Nadia Boulanger’s famed Ecole d’Arts Americaines in Fontainebleau, France and his musical ear was forever changed. There he also met the legendary pianist Gaby Casadesus with whom he formed a long musical relationship, first as her student and then as co-author of Ma Technique Quotidienne, published by Editions Max Eschig. Following studies at Harvard College where he graduated summa cum laude, Lasser lived in Paris from 1985 – 1988, a pivotal period for his musical development, working with Boulanger’s closest colleague and disciple, Narcis Bonet. In 1988 Lasser entered Columbia University’s masters program in Composition, and undertook intensive studies in counterpoint with René Leibowitz’s disciple, Jacques-Louis Monod, thus forging a seamless link between the French world of musical color and the great German tradition of linear contrapuntal development. Two years later Lasser entered the DMA program at The Juilliard School where he studied with David Diamond.
Philip Lasser’s music has been performed by the Seattle Symphony, Gerard Schwarz and The New York Chamber Symphony and by such artists as Elizabeth Futral, Simone Dinnerstein, Margo Garrett, Lucy Shelton, Cho-Liang Lin, Zuill Bailey, Brian Zeger, Jean-Frédéric Neuburger and Sasha Cooke.
Philip Lasser’ s works have been broadcast on network television as well as featured on the classical radio station of the New York Times, WQXR Reflections From the Keyboard with host David Dubal and Robert Sherman’s The Listening Room. Dr. Lasser’ s works have also been broadcast on NPR, and XFM Hong Kong radio RTHK. Philip Lasser’s works are published in New York by Rassel Editions and by C.F. Peters Corp as well as in Paris by Editions Max Eschig (BMG International). Lasser’s works can be heard on the New World Records, Crystal Records and BMG RCA/Red Seal labels and on coming soon on the Telarc label with performer Simone Dinnerstein.
Lasser’s recent book, The Spiraling Tapestry: An Inquiry into the Contrapuntal Fabric of Music offers a pioneering view on Bach’s compositional world. Philip Lasser directs the European American Musical Alliance Summer Music Programs. A school dedicated to training young composers, chamber musicians and conductors in the tradition of legendary teacher Nadia Boulanger. The programs are held annually at the historic Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris, France. Philip Lasser is a distinguished member of the faculty of The Juilliard School since 1994.
KYLE BLAHA, Composer
Teaches: Counterpoint, Musicianship
(b. 1981) Belleville, IL. Studies: BM with High Distinction, Eastman School of Music, MM, DMA (in progress), The Juilliard School. Multiple ASCAP Awards, Premieres with The Juilliard Orchestra, Eastman Wind Ensemble, New York City Ballet Choreographic Institute. Performances throughout North America, China, Taiwan, Japan, and Venezuela with the Eastman Wind Ensemble. Recorded Danzante (2006, Summit Records) with the Eastman Wind Ensemble. Scholastic awards include a Deutscher Akademischer Austuasch Dienst (DAAD) award for studies at the Freie Universitaet in Berlin and a Fulbright Grant for studies dealing with the German reunification.
Composition studies with Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, Samuel Adler, Philip Lasser, and Robert Beaser. Counterpoint and Harmony studies with Philip Lasser. Ear Training and Sight-singing with Mary Anthony Cox. Juilliard Teaching Fellow in Ear Traing since 2005. Juilliard Pre-College Ear Training Faculty since 2006, EAMA faculty since 2008.
NARCIS BONET, Composer
Teaches: Keyboard Harmony, Composition Group Lessons
Composer and former Adjunct Director of the École Normale de Musique de Paris. Recipient of the First Prize in Composition of the American Conservatory; the Copley Foundation Prize, with support of Darius Milhaud; disciple of Nadia Boulanger whom he succeeded as Director of the American Conservatory of Fontainebleau. Narcis Bonet studied with the legendary Igor Markevitch, with whom he subsequently collaborated on Markevitch’s Edition Encyclopédique of the Beethoven Symphonies. His works have been performed by the Barcelona State Orchestra, Monte-Carlo Symphony and by soloists throughout Europe.
BENJAMIN C.S. BOYLE, Composer,
Associate Director of the EAMA Summer Programs
Teaches: Analysis, Keyboard Harmony, Counterpoint, Composition Techniques Seminar (Vocal Music)
Benjamin C.S. Boyle’s compositional output includes opera, orchestral music, chamber music, choral music, art songs, and works for piano. Notable performances include the premiere of Hudson Sinfonia by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra at Riverside Church in New York City in April 2009. Chicago Lyric Opera, led by conductor Donald Nally, premiered his choral work The Holly and the Ivy in the same season. In 2008, at the piano, he gave the US premiere of his Sonata-Fantasy with violinist Tim Fain at the Kennedy Center in Washington and Merkin Hall in New York. He is a First Prize winner of the Young Concert Artists international composition competition. His music is published by Rassel Editions. It has been broadcast nationally on NPR and featured on Performance Today, and locally in New York on WQXR.
His formative studies in composition, harmony, counterpoint, and analysis were under the guidance of Dr. Philip Lasser of the Juilliard School. He was trained in the method of Nadia Boulanger and continues to build on her pedagogic foundation through both his compositional and theoretical activities. At the age of 25, Dr. Boyle was the youngest person ever to receive a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in Composition, after completing a M.M. from The Peabody Conservatory and a B.M. from the University of South Florida where he studied piano with Robert Helps. Past composition teachers of his include Narcis Bonet, David del Tredici, Christopher Theofanidis, Samuel Adler,Lukas Foss, Jay Reise, Hilton Jones and Nicholas Maw. Reviews of Dr. Boyle’s music have been published in The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Washington Times, The New York Concert Review, and many other publications. Dr. Boyle is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Composition and Music Theory at Westminster Choir College in Princeton and Temple University in Philadelphia. For more information, please visit: www.benjamincsboyle.com
DAVID CONTE, Composer
Teaches: Composition Group Lessons, Composition Techniques Seminar (Choral Writing)
David Conte is Professor of Composition and Conductor of the Conservatory Chorus at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and Composer-in-Residence for the San Francisco theater company Thick Description. His close relationship with his teacher Nadia Boulanger and with her first American student of renown, Aaron Copland, informed and inform his striving as a creative artist committed to works that reflect the qualities of craftsmanship and harmonic sensibility which Boulanger taught and which Copland embodied. He is the composer of over seventy published works, including five operas, a musical, works for chorus, solo voice, orchestra, chamber music, organ, piano, guitar, and harp. Conte co-wrote the film score for the documentary Ballets Russes, shown at the Sundance and Toronto Film Festivals in 2005, (now available on DVD) and composed the music for the PBS documentary, Orozco: Man of Fire in 2006, shown on the American Masters Series in the fall of 2007. His work is represented on numerous commercial CD recordings.
Conte received his Bachelor of Music from Bowling Green State University, and his Master’s and Doctorate from Cornell University, where he studied with Karel Husa and Steven Stucky. He has served on the faculties of Cornell, Colgate Unviersity, the American Conservatory at Fontainebleau, and Interlochen. An active lecturer on Music Theory and Musicianship Pedagogy, Conte has presented workshops at national conventions of the ACDA, AGO, MENC, and GALA Choruses. At the San Francisco Conservatory, he supervises annual student competitions for choral music and art song which have resulted in several publications of student works. He has entries on his music in the Oxford University Press book “Choral Repertory” and the forthcoming New American Groves Dictionary. His choral music has been the subject of four doctoral dissertations.
Recent performances include productions of his opera “The Gift of the Magi” in San Francisco, Boston, and Berlin, and his opera “America Tropical” at USC. Current commissions include a new work for the C Street Brass Quintet and organist Donald Sutherland, a new Piano Trio for the Shanghai Conservatory, and a new anthem for the national convention of the American Guild of Organists.
APRIL CLAYTON, Flutist,
Director of the Chamber Music Program
Teaches: Chamber Music Coachings
Hailed as one of the leading flutists of her generation, April Clayton maintains an active career as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral player and pedagogue. Recent highlights include touring as a guest with the New York Woodwind Quintet and being featured in a cover story by Flute Talk magazine. She performs and teaches in festivals around the world, including recent residencies at the XIX Seminários Internacionais de Musica at the Federal University of Bahia in Brazil, at the Holder’s Season Festival in Barbados, on the Wells Cathedral Concert Series, and at the Aberystwyth Music Festival. She has additionally performed as soloist and chamber artist in London, Zurich, Paris, Riva del Garda, Leipzig, Moscow, Vancouver, Mexico, throughout South Korea, New York City, and across the United States.
A dedicated performer of new music, April Clayton has participated in numerous premiere performances. She has collaborated with a long list of composers, including Lance Horne, Philip Lasser, Harold Meltzer, Bernard Rands, Peter Schickele, Manuel Sosa, David del Tredici, George Tsontakis, and numerous others in Paris, New York, Ohio, Colorado, and Utah. She presented a concert of premieres written for her in Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall on April 22, 2008.
April Clayton was a National Merit Scholar at Oberlin College and Conservatory, studying flute performance and mathematics. She subsequently graduated with her B.M. (summa cum laude) and M.M. degrees from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. At The Juilliard School, she was a Starr Doctoral Fellow and the youngest student to have been admitted to the D.M.A. program. She is a member of American Mensa. Ms. Clayton was formerly Principal Flute and Concerto Soloist with the New York Lyric Orchestra, and has performed as principal flute with the Jupiter Symphony, the National Repertory Orchestra, and at the Sarasota Music Festival. She has been concerto soloist with orchestras in New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Colorado, and Utah. Carol Wincenc, Dr. Bradley Garner, and Michel Debost are among her former teachers.
LANE HARDER, Composer, Program Coordinator of the EAMA Summer Music Programs
Teaches: Keyboard Harmony, Counterpoint, Score Reading, Composition Techniques Seminar (woodwind & percussion/mixed ensemble chamber music)
(b. 1976) is a composer and percussionist living in Austin, TX. Major studies in counterpoint, harmony, and analysis have been with Dr. Philip Lasser of The Juilliard School. Composition teachers include Donald Grantham and Dan Welcher of the University of Texas, Chris Theofanidis of The Peabody Conservatory, Robert Keeley of King’s College London, and Simon Sargon and Kevin Hanlon of Southern Methodist University. A freelance performer for eleven years, Harder has recently served as Assistant Director of Music at Jesuit College Preparatory School in Dallas and on faculty of the Peabody Institute and Johns Hopkins University.
As a performer, Harder has appeared on numerous commercially-released recordings of contemporary music. His own music appears on Albany Records’ 2009 release “Not Here But There” which features music performed by the University of Houston Percussion Ensemble and Gasparo Records’ 2000 release “Strike – Music of Motion” which features music performed by the Meadows Percussion Ensemble. Recent performances have been by The St. Petersburg State Orchestra, Bachanalia Chamber Orchestra of New York, flutist April Clayton, soprano Carolyn Pelley, Peabody Opera Theatre, and percussion ensembles of Indiana University, University of Kentucky, Arizona State University, University of Georgia, Rutgers University, University of Kansas, University of Houston, Southern Methodist University, Brigham Young University, McGill University, Texas Christian University, and the University of North Texas. His music is published by KPP and Rassel Editions.
Honors and awards have been received from ASCAP, NACUSA, Voices of Change, the Percussive Arts Society, The Florence Gould Foundation, and the Texas Music Teachers Association. Harder is a member of ASCAP, NACUSA, and CMS. He is currently a Kent Kennan Memorial Fellow and a Womack Endowed Presidential Scholar in the doctoral program of the University of Texas at Austin where he teaches undergraduate musicianship courses.
MICHEL MERLET, Composer
Teaches: Composition Group Lessons, Composition Techniques Seminar (Orchestration)
Michel Merlet studied at the Paris Conservatory where he received diplomas in piano, chamber music, counterpoint, fugue, composition, and analysis. He is recipient of the famous Prix de Rome (1966) and the International Discography Award (1965) and numerous other awards and prizes. Mr. Merlet’s works are published by Billaudot, Choudens, EFM, Heugel, Leduc, Transatlantique, and Van de Velde. His works have been conducted by J. Fournet, E. Heidsieck, and M. Tabachnik among many others. In 1985 he traveled to China to teach composition, orchestration, and analysis.
Jury member of the Marguerite Long International Piano Competition, Mr. Merlet has been on the faculty of the Paris Conservatory since 1978 and the École Normale de Musique since 1988.
EDWARD NIEDERMAIER, Composer
Teaches: Keyboard Harmony, Counterpoint, Musicianship
Teddy Niedermaier, educator, composer and pianist, has served as Visiting Assistant Professor of Music Theory at Oberlin Conservatory since fall 2009. He will begin a new post this fall as Assistant Professor of Core Music Studies at Roosevelt University in Chicago. He has taught Counterpoint, Solfège, and Harmony at the European American Musical Alliance summer program since 2006.
Teddy completed a Doctor of Music degree in Music Composition in 2010 from Indiana University, where he studied with Claude Baker and David Dzubay. He earned two degrees in Music Composition (Master of Music and Bachelor of Music) from The Juilliard School as a student of John Corigliano, Samuel Adler, and Robert Beaser.
Teddy has received commissions from the Indiana University New Music Ensemble, Minnesota Youth Symphonies, Hidden Valley Music Seminars, the New Juilliard Ensemble, the Minnesota Symphonic Winds, and the Philomusica Chamber Orchestra of Minneapolis. His compositions have been performed throughout the United States and in France, Germany, Kosovo, Moldova, South Korea, and Japan. Honors include the 2009 Dean’s Prize in Composition from Indiana University, two national awards from the National Federation of Music Clubs in 2007, the 2005 Henry Mancini Prize and the 2004 Palmer Dixon Prize (both awarded by The Juilliard School), and Honorable Mentions from the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards in 2007 and 2003. In 2011 he was nominated for an annual composition award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
As composer and pianist, Teddy has collaborated with such established artists as Thomas Stacy (New York Philharmonic), Robert Walters (Cleveland Orchestra), Elaine Douvas (Metropolitan Opera Orchestra), Linda Strommen (Indiana University), Roger Roe (Indianapolis Symphony), April Clayton (Brigham Young University), and Daniel Stolper (Interlochen Arts Center). His 2011 concert schedule features performances in Paris, Chicago, Indiana, Ohio, Arizona, California, and Boston. He is currently composing a new work for English horn and string quartet for Robert Walters. Teddy publishes his own compositions as a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). More information and sound samples of original compositions are available at his website, www.teddyniedermaier.com.
MARK SHAPIRO, Conductor, Director of the Conducting Program, EAMA Choir Director
Teaches: Keyboard Harmony, Score Reading, Conducting Seminar, Conducting Lessons, Chorale
Versatile conductor Mark Shapiro is one of a handful of conductors in North America to have won a prestigious ASCAP Programming Award four times, achieving the unique distinction of winning this award with more than one ensemble. Shapiro works with choruses, orchestras, and opera companies. His performances have been praised by the New York Times for their “virtuosity and assurance,” which also remarked on their “uncommon polish”; the New Jersey Star-Ledger characterized his artistic leadership as “erudite and far-reaching.”
In July 2011 Shapiro was appointed Music Director of the St. Cecilia Chorus and Orchestra in New York City, which performs two concerts annually in Carnegie Hall. Shapiro is currently in his twenty-first season as Artistic Director of Cantori New York, which in 2011 won a Special Citation for Programming from the American Prize. In 2011-2012 he concluded his twenty-one year tenure as Artistic Director of the Monmouth Civic Chorus in Red Bank, NJ.
Shapiro’s recent appearances have included Poulenc’s opera Les Mamelles de Tirésias with Juilliard Vocal Arts at the Juilliard School; the new opera Numinous City for American Opera Projects at the Rubin Museum in New York; the staged premiere of the new opera Clarence & Anita, about the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings, for Underworld Opera; Handel’s Saul at the 5000-seat Roman amphitheater in Vaison-la-Romaine, France; and Bizet’s opera Les Pecheurs de Perles in Vermont. He is a principal guest conductor of the chamber orchestra Nova Sinfonia in Halifax, and has been cover conductor for several performances by the Bridgeport Symphony.
Cantori has released four commercial recordings, on the Albany, Arsis, Newport Classics, and PGM labels. The group’s recording of Frank Martin’s oratorio Le vin herbé was an Opera News Editor’s Choice. Cantori has appeared at Zankel Hall, Le Poisson Rouge, and at Avery Fisher Hall and the Rose Theater at Lincoln Center, and has been presented by Gotham Early Music Series, Music at the Anthology, and Great Performers at Lincoln Center.
Shapiro has been heard on PBS, conducting the soundtrack for Ric Burns’ special on New York City, as well as on radio stations WQXR and WNYC, and Sirius Satellite Radio, where he was interviewed by Robert Aubrey Davis. He was a guest conductor for Works&Process at the Guggenheim Museum, and for the New York Art Ensemble at Merkin Hall. His recording of Michael Dellaira’s opera Chéri, featuring Marni Nixon, was released on Albany Records.
Shapiro is Assistant Professor of Music at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, where he teaches music theory and conducting; he has been a long-time member of the faculty of Mannes College the New School for Music.
