John Hilliard

John Hilliard’s recent commissions include a woodwind quintet for Montpelier Winds, a piano concerto commissioned by the Staunton Music Festival, and the completion of a Mozart fragment, commissioned by the Augsburg, Germany Mozartfest. The assigned commission was to finish a fragment left by Mozart at his death, in Mozart’s mature style, for cello and piano. Additionally, Hilliard was to compose a work in his own style based upon the fragment themes (Mozart Mosaics). In July, he was a guest on the National Public Radio program “With Good Reason,” speaking about the completion of these Mozartian works. Hilliard has been commissioned by the James Madison University (JMU) Wind Symphony to write a work in celebration of the 2008 JMU Centennial in Harrisonburg, VA. Other plans include a concert of works at The Kennedy Center Terrace Theatre, Washington DC, which will include the premieres of his newly completed Piano Concerto No. 2 and a Cello Sonata commissioned by James Wilson. Currently, he is scoring a new work for winds titled Variations on a Theme from L’oiseaux de feu which is a personal tribute to the JMU Wind Symphony and director Dr. John Patrick Rooney. His works are published by Gitchi-Mukwa Music.

Premieres

Two works commissioned by the Augsburg, Germany, Mozartfest, Mozart Rounded-Off for cello and piano, and Mozart Mosaics for cello and piano, were premiered in May by cellist James Wilson and pianist Carsten Schmidt, Augsburg, Germany. Pianist Schmidt also presented the premiere of Piano Concerto No. 2 for solo piano and chamber orchestra on August 29, 2005, with John Hilliard conducting the Montpelier Winds and Chester Quartet, Staunton (VA) Music Festival. Mezzo-soprano Suzetta Glenn is scheduled to introduce Eveningwalk, an extended lied for mezzo-soprano and piano, during the 26th Annual Contemporary Music Festival of James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA.

Publications

Concerto No. 2, piano and chamber orchestra; Eveningwalk, mezzo-soprano and piano; both by Gitchi-Mukwa Music.

Recordings

Staunton (VA) Music Festival CD Sampler: Piano Concerto No. 2, first movement, Mozart Rounded-Off, and Mozart Mosaics.

Further Information

• 2001-2002 American Composers Update
• 2000-2001 American Composers Update
• 1996-1997 American Composers Update
• SAI's Composers Bureau Online