Composition

The Department of Music has for decades enjoyed a reputation as one of a handful of departments in North America dedicated to contemporary musical creation at the highest level. Composition at the University at Buffalo flourishes today by providing a wide range of stimulating musical and intellectual experiences within a program that allows students the space to develop and mature. In an atmosphere that encourages musical and technological experiment, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and the development of authentic creative character, graduate composers at UB take advantage of a number of resources and opportunities:

• A lively faculty of internationally-recognized composers, including David Felder, Jonathan Golove, Cort Lippe, and Jeffrey Stadelman, offering distinct and complementary approaches to composition study;
• The June in Buffalo festival and conference, a leading international forum for the presentation and exchange of contemporary music and musical ideas;
• The Hiller Computer Music Studios, a cutting edge facility which focuses on the research of techniques and composition of pieces for musicians using interactive real-time digital signal processing systems;
• The performance of student compositions, made possible through the Birge-Cary Chair in Music:
  • A regular series of student-run Graduate Composers Forum concerts;
  • The June in Buffalo festival, which each year features many of the finest individual and ensemble performers from the U.S. and abroad;
  • The Hiller Studios' regular concerts of interactive computer and multimedia works by students and established composers, presented in the state-of-the-art Center for the Arts;
  • A special series of recitals and concerts spotlighting a range of visiting contemporary music soloists and ensembles, often featuring works by UB graduate students;
  • The Music Department's wide gamut of in-house performance resources, including student and faculty performers, student ensembles, and faculty ensembles-in-residence;
• Diverse course offerings in music theory, musicology and twentieth-century music, as well as study in select areas of music performance;
• A series of guest lectures and seminars by visiting composers and scholars;
• A music library possessing an exceptionally fine collection of contemporary scores and recordings, including the Archive of the Center of the Creative and Performing Arts;
• A diverse, dynamic graduate student body, with composers, theorists, musicologists and performers from six continents boasting an extensive list of awards and accomplishments.  The students and recent alumni of the composition department have had works performed by some of the most well-known contemporary music specialists in the USA and abroad, including Ensemble InterContemporain, the Ictus Ensemble, Ensemble Court-Circuit, ensemble recherche, Ensemble Thürmchen, Champs d'Action, Ensemble SurPlus, the Nieuw Ensemble, the New York New Music Ensemble, the Meridian Arts Ensemble, Nouvelle Ensemble Moderne, and soloists such as Corrado Canonici, Ian Pace, Garth Knox, Harry Sparnaay, Robert Black, and numerous others.  Our department has been represented at such prestigious courses, residencies, and festivals as the International Gaudeamus Music Week, Darmstadt Internationale Ferienkurse für neue Musik, Nouvelle Ensemble Moderne FORUM, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Wittener Tage für Neue Kammermusik, Fondation Royaumont Voix Nouvelles, ISCM, SCI, and SEAMUS national conventions, and the International Biennial for Electroacoustic Music.

Degree Programs

The Department offers two graduate degrees in composition: the Ph.D., and a Master of Arts. There are several options for fellowships, teaching assistantships and graduate awards available to the prospective graduate student.

All application materials, including forms, scores, recordings and test results should arrive before January 1 to ensure full consideration for fellowship and/or assistantship awards.

Information regarding Undergraduate Study in Composition may be found here.

To request further information about our graduate program, click here.

Faculty

David Felder, Coordinator of Composition
Ph.D. University of California at San Diego
SUNY Distinguished Professor & Birge-Cary Chair in Composition
Director, Center for 21st-Century Music
Artistic Director, June in Buffalo Festival
felder@buffalo.edu

Cort Lippe
B.A. Univ. of Southern Florida
Associate Professor
Director, Lejaren Hiller Computer Music Studios
lippe@buffalo.edu

Jeffrey Stadelman
Ph.D. Harvard University
Associate Professor
stadelm@buffalo.edu

Jonathan Golove
Ph.D. University at Buffalo
Associate Professor of Performance [‘Cello]
golove@buffalo.edu

Department News

Click here for current activities involving Graduate Student Composers.

Click here for the activities of recent alumni of the Graduate program.

Open Music Ensemble, an ensemble founded by graduate composition students is dedicated to the promotion of artistic expression based on unconventional, experimental, open-form, and — especially — graphical, forms of communicating musical ideas. Also see its forerunner, the Augenmusik.

UB Contemporary Ensemble is devoted to the preparation and performance of the music of our time and comprised of graduate and undergraduate students is directed by Christian Baldini.

All visiting composers, performers, ensembles, and lecturers are sponsored by the Birge-Cary Chair in Music, the Dean's Office, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Music Department General Fund and Music Lecture Series.