John McGinn

Currently an Associate Professor of Music (Theory/Composition) at Austin College in Sherman, TX, composer/pianist John McGinn received his undergraduate music degree from Harvard University and his doctorate in composition from Stanford University in 1999. Among his teachers are such noted composers as Jonathan Harvey, Leon Kirchner and John Adams. His own works have won several honors and been performed at colleges and festivals nationwide. Recent premieres include a Trio (2013) for clarinet, violin and piano with colleagues at Austin College (a movement of which was performed at the 2015 SCI Region VI Conference); a vocal setting of Yolanda Lockett’s “It’s a Letter” in A River of Words Song Cycle (2011) – a collaborative cycle commissioned by baritone Bruce Cain and guitarist David Asbury and performed at more than a dozen venues in the United States and Europe including the Library of Congress; and Score for Score (2009) for 20 players by the Inscape Chamber Orchestra of Bethesda, MD. As an arranger, McGinn has created piano reductions of several large-scale works including John Adams’ Nixon in China, Gnarly Buttons and Violin Concerto all for publication by Boosey & Hawkes. As a pianist and keyboardist, McGinn has performed throughout the United States and Europe and appeared on more than a dozen commercial recordings, including a critically acclaimed solo album The 20th Century Piano (AmCam) and the recent CDs The Fair Ophelia and Orpheus With His Lute Made Trees (Navona) by The Shakespeare Concerts of MA, for whom he served as music director from 2003-08.