J. Mark Stambaugh
J. Mark Stambaugh’s accomplishment as a composer reflects his activity in a wide variety of musical genres. His work for orchestra Il Campanile (1997) was a finalist in the Masterprize competition in London, where it was recorded by Andrea Quinn with the BBC Concert Orchestra and heard on radio broadcasts in countries throughout the world; the New York premiere was performed by the Manhattan School Symphony conducted by George Manahan. Il Campanile was written during a stay as composer in residence at the Camargo Foundation in Cassis, France. Cain (1995), a chamber opera in two acts, is the most recent of four operas composed by Dr. Stambaugh. Other awards in opera include prizes from the New York City Opera and Brooklyn College Conservatory for The Death of Anton Webern (1980) and The Phoenix (1987), respectively. Dr. Stambaugh’s work for violin and marimba, Incongruous Dances (1993), was the winner of the 6th Annual Marimolin Competition and was featured in performances at the Ravinia Festival. He has received commissions and awards for a number of chamber works for solo piano, voice, vocal ensemble, chorus, and instrumental ensemble.
Dr. Stambaugh holds a doctorate in composition from the Peabody Conservatory. He formerly served on the faculties of the Peabody Institute and Dickinson College. He has been on the composition faculty at Manhattan School of Music since 1992, where he presently serves as director of core studies.
Manhattan School of Music faculty since 1992.
David Adamcyk
David Adamcyk is a Canadian composer living in New York. He creates musical works for the concert hall and theatrical stage, often incorporating technology. He was the assistant to Martin Matalon and Philippe Leroux, has collaborated with artist Julia Randall, and has worked with Quasar, Cairn, the MSO, Talea, ECM+, IRCAM, Esprit Orchestra, and SMCQ. David has taken part in the Nouvelles Rencontres composition program at Domaine Forget, in Saint-Iréné, and was selected for the National Arts Center’s Young Composers program in Ottawa. He has won four prizes at the SOCAN Foundation composer’s competition and was one of five finalists in the CBC/SRC Evolution composition competition. David Adamcyk holds a doctorate in composition from McGill University. He joined the composition faculty of Manhattan School of Music in 2015 and also currently teaches at Columbia’s Computer Music Center.
Susan Botti
As both a composer and a singer, Susan Botti’s eclectic background and experiences are reflected in her music, in which theatrical influences play a vital part. Awarded both a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Frederic A. Juilliard/Walter Damrosch Rome Prize in Music Composition, Botti was in residence at the American Academy in Rome from 2005 to 2006 and was the 3rd Daniel R. Lewis Young Composer Fellow with the Cleveland Orchestra from 2003 to 2005. The orchestra premiered her work Impetuosity (conducted by Roberto Abbado); and a new work, Translucence, was commissioned and premiered (conducted by Music Director Franz Welser-Möst).
Botti’s EchoTempo (for Soprano, Percussion & Orchestra) was commissioned and premiered by Maestro Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic (with Botti and Christopher Lamb as soloists). Her chamber music project Gates of Silence was a commission from the Blakemore Trio. Inspired by Virgil’s Aeneid, it incorporates poetry by National Book Award finalist Linda Gregerson, whose Dido Refuses to Speak was awarded a 2011 Pushcart Prize.
A commission from the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Within Darkness was premiered at Carnegie Hall and The Kennedy Center, with Martha Caplin as violin soloist. Botti’s Cosmosis was commissioned by a consortium of universities and premiered at Carnegie Hall, with conductor Michael Haithcock leading the University of Michigan wind ensemble and chorus, and the composer as soloist.
A CD of Botti’s vocal chamber music, listen, it’s snowing, features her operatic soliloquy, Telaio: Desdemona. Botti specializes in the performance of work by contemporary composers, including Gubaidulina, Crumb, Kurtág, Cage, Chihara, Pintscher, Matheson, and Partch. Tan Dun created several major works highlighting her vocal and theatrical talents, including his Red Forecast for soprano and orchestra, and the role of “Water” in his opera Marco Polo.
Botti received her Bachelor of Music from the Berklee School of Music and her Master’s degree in composition from Manhattan School of Music. Her vocal teachers included Hilda Harris, Drew Minter, Myron McPherson, and Nancy Armstrong. She is the recipient of the Goddard Lieberson Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and grants from, among others, Meet The Composer, the National Endowment for the Arts, and The Aaron Copland Fund. Ms. Botti was an Associate Professor of Composition at the University of Michigan before joining Manhattan School of Music’s composition faculty in 2006.
Richard Danielpour is one of the most gifted and sought-after composers of his generation. He has been commissioned by an impressive array of international music institutions, festivals, and artists, and his music has been championed by such soloists as Yo-Yo Ma (whose recording containing Danielpour’s Cello Concerto won a Grammy), Jessye Norman, Dawn Upshaw, and Emanuel Ax; chamber ensembles including the Guarneri, Emerson, and American String Quartets; and conductors such as Leonard Bernstein, Kurt Masur, Charles Dutoit, David Zinman, Zdenek Macal, and Philippe Entremont. Among Danielpour’s recent successes was A Woman’s Life, a song cycle based on poetry of Maya Angelou, premiered in June 2009 by Angela Brown and the Pittsburgh Symphony conducted by Leonard Slatkin. Danielpour’s critically acclaimed first opera, Margaret Garner, written in collaboration with Nobel Laureate librettist Toni Morrison, premiered in May 2005 at the Michigan Opera Theatre and received its New York premiere in 2007 at New York City Opera, conducted by George Manahan. Danielpour has received a Lifetime Achievement Award, the prestigious Charles Ives Fellowship, a Guggenheim Award, and grants and residencies from the Barlow Foundation, MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, Copland House, and the American Academy in Rome. He was one of the first composers invited for a coveted residency at the American Academy in Berlin, and he was only the third composer, after Stravinsky and Copland, to be signed to an exclusive recording contract by Sony Classical. He later diversified, and his music can also be heard extensively on Delos, Koch, harmonia mundi, New World, and Reference recordings.
Having studied at Oberlin College and the New England Conservatory of Music, Danielpour earned his doctorate at the Juilliard School, where he studied with Vincent Persichetti and Peter Mennin.
A member of the Manhattan School of Music composition faculty since 1993, he is an active educator who believes deeply in mentoring young musicians. He also serves on the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music and gives master classes throughout the country.
Reiko Fueting
Reiko Fueting was born in Königs Wusterhausen of the German Democratic Republic. He attended the State High School of Music in Wernigerode and studied composition and piano at the Conservatory in Dresden, Germany; at Rice University in Houston, Texas; at Manhattan School of Music; and at Seoul National University in South Korea. Some of his most influential teachers have been the composers Jörg Herchet and Nils Vigeland, and the pianist Winfried Apel.
Reiko Fueting has received numerous prizes, awards, scholarships, and grants in both Europe and the United States. His publications include compositions, arrangements, and analytical articles; his music has been broadcast on the radio and television and released on CDs. In addition to being a composer, Mr. Füting is an avid performer. He has appeared at venues and festivals in Belgium, Croatia, Germany, France, Greece, Italy, Luxemburg, Austria, Latvia, Russia, Czech Republic, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, China, South Korea, Colombia, and the United States.
Reiko Füting joined the Manhattan School of Music theory faculty in 2000; five years later, he became a member of the composition faculty and was appointed department chair of theory. He has also taught vocal accompanying at the Conservatory of Music and Theater in Rostock, Germany, and appeared as guest faculty and lecturer at universities and conservatories in China (Chungchun, Beijing, Shenyang), Colombia (Bogotá, Medellîn), Germany (Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig, Magdeburg, Rostock), Russia (Moscow), and the United States (Baltimore, Hempstead, New York, Princeton).
Marjorie Merryman
Composer Marjorie Merryman has been commissioned and performed throughout the United States and in many countries in Europe and Asia. Her catalogue includes orchestral, choral, vocal and chamber music, as well as an opera and two oratorios. She has been the recipient of numerous awards, including prizes from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Walter Hinrichsen Award, the League of Composers/International Society for Contemporary Music, the WBZ Fund for the Arts, and ComposersInc (Lee Ettelson Award). Among her other awards are fellowships or grants from Tanglewood, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, and the National Endowment for the Arts - Meet the Composer program. She has been Composer-in- Residence of the New England Philharmonic and the Billings (MT) Symphony Orchestra, and has served on the boards of the New England Composers’ Orchestra, the Lily Boulanger Foundation, Alea III and many others. Her works are published by C.F. Peters, E.C. Schirmer, APNM, and G. Schirmer; and recorded on the Koch and New World labels.
Before coming to MSM, Marjorie Merryman held an endowed chair as Distinguished Professor of Arts and Humanities at Macalester College in St. Paul Minnesota. Previously she has taught at Harvard, MIT, and the New England Conservatory, and for many years chaired the theory and composition department at Boston University School of Music.
Marjorie Merryman is Provost and Dean of the College at Manhattan School of Music.
Manhattan School of Music composition faculty member since 2007.
