Music Composition

Russell Brown (MM '04, PhD)

Russell Brown is currently pursuing a PhD in Music Composition at the University of Florida. As a member of the Society of Composers, Inc., Mr. Brown's works have been performed on local concerts, the Region IV conference and the National Student Conference. Mr. Brown also holds an M.M. in Music Composition from the University of Florida, an M.M. in Music Performance from The Ohio State University and a B.M. in Music Performance from Valdosta State University. He regularly performs contemporary music in various chamber groups and is currently a member of the Gainesville (FL) Chamber Orchestra, the Albany (GA) Symphony Orchestra, the Central Florida Symphony Orchestra, and has performed with The Florida Orchestra (Tampa) and the Valdosta (GA) Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Brown's composition teachers include: Dr. Paul Koonce, Dr. James Paul Sain, Dr. Paul Richards, and Dr. Thomas Wells.

Michael Deall (PhD:ABD)

is currently a PhD doctoral candidate. He completed his BM at Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY with a double major in Piano Performance and Music Composition, and his MA at New York University in Composition. Michael's works have been performed overseas in Italy in such cities as Bari, Trani, Rome, Florence & Assisi, many New York venues, The University of Florida, Society of Composers, American Composer's Alliance, The University of Indiana @ Bloomington, the Mahidol College of Music in Salaya, Thailand, Bucharest, Romania, Berlin, Germany and Wroclaw, Poland. Michael will be the Composer-In-Residence at the Constanta International Music Days in Romania where his String Quartet will receive its premiere.

Seung Hye Kim (PhD)

a native of Korea, received her BM in piano performance from Seoul National University and MA in electro-acoustic music compositionfrom Korean National University of Arts. Her music and collaborative pieces have been performed in many international festivals such as FEMF, LITSK, SICMF, DINMAF, MODAFE, ICMC, SEAMUS, and SIGGRAPH. Recently, she has completed a collaboratice site-specific performance, "Accented Body", held at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia with over 30 artists from Australia, UK, Japan, and Korea.

Suk-Jun Kim (PhD)

studied theology at Yonsei university, South Korea, Recording Engineering at OIART (Ontario Institute of Audio and Recording Technology), and earned a master's degree in Music Technology in Northwestern University. Having finished a yearlong course in CCMIX in 2004, he is now a doctoral fellow at the University of Florida studying with Paul Koonce and James Paul Sain. His recent commissions include two Bourges commissions, a SpACE-Net Spatial Audio Commission, and a 2006 Germany Worldcup Commission. His music has been recognized in various competitions and available in ICMC, SEAMUS, Metamorphesis among others. 

Matthew McCabe (PhD)

Matthew McCabe completed his undergraduate work at the University of Richmond in 2001, and served on the music department staff there until 2003. In 2005 he completed his Master's degree at Bowling Green State University, and is now a Ph.D. student at UF. Matt teaches Music 1360 and works as a technical manager for the Florida Electroacoustic Music Festival. He is also the technical director for Third Practice at the University of Richmond and serves as the Web Content Manager for the Society of Composers, Inc. Matt is also an active songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, playing guitar, bouzouki, bass and banjo in many venues around Gainesville. His music is available on the Centaur and Everglade labels.

Joo Won Park (MM '04, PhD)

(b. 1980) graduated from the Berklee College of Music majoring in Music Synthesis and Contemporary Writing/Production, under the direction of Richard Boulanger. His music and audio applications have been featured in several conferences such as the SEAMUS Conference, Seoul International Computer Music Festival, SCI National Conference, and International Computer Music Conference, as well as in print in Electronic Musician and The Csound Book. He is also working as an associate director of the Florida Electroacoustic Music Festival, and teaches undergraduate and graduate music courses as a teaching assistant. His music is available at ICMC2004 DVD and spectrumpress.com

Tim Reed (PhD)

graduated with a B.A. in Creative Music Technologies from LaGrange College in 1999 and subsequently attended the Dallas Sound Lab School for the Recording Arts in the Fall of 2000. Tim completed his M.M. in composition/theory at Illinois State University in 2004. Tim has received awards in the Goliard Ensemble Composition Competition, the LaGrange Symphony Young Artist Composition Competition, and the 2004 Pedrick-Hutson Guitar Duo Commission Contest. Tim's compositions have recently been performed at Music '04, the 2005 Nong Project, SEAMUS 2006 and by the string orchestra, R20 in Wroclaw, Poland.

Chris Sharp (PhD)

studied composing and arranging as an undergraduate at UF with Richard W. Bowles and Edward Troupin. He studied jazz and commercial writing while at the University of Miami under Gary Lindsay, Ron Miller and Whit Sidener. He is in constant demand as a clinician, having taught brass technique and composing/arranging in many different settings including the Berklee School of Music in Boston. He has had compositions and arrangements performed at the prestigious Midwest Clinic in each of the last four years. In 2005, he received an ASCAPlus award for sales of his published works.

Michael Solomon (PhD)

a composer of occasionally compromising, sometimes marketable, and not-too-abstruse modern classical music. A graduate of Stanford University (BA Music Composition) and Queen?s University Belfast (MA Composition), he currently studies at the University of Florida with Paul Koonce, James Paul Sain, and Paul Richard?s. Believing with every fiber of his being in the exploration and development of new ideas, he composes without regard for consistency in medium, duration, form, harmony, rhythm, volume, timbre, expression, or any particular technical/stylistic milieu. He is currently working on a series of tone paeans to his adopted home of Ireland, hovering in the ideological middleground between Ma Vlast and An American in Paris.

Jorge Variego (PhD)

Jorge Elias Variego is a clarinetist and composer. Born in Rosario, Argentina - he received his bachelor Degree from the National University of Rosario and Masters Degree from Carnegie Mellon University - studying composition with Dante Grela and Leonardo Balada, and clarinet with Mariano Frogioni and Michael Rusinek. He was awarded 1st prize in the "Carlos Guastavino" composition contest (Mozarteum Santa Fe, Argentina), 1st prize in the "Jorge Pena Hen" composition contest for youths orchestras sponsored by the Foundation of Youths Orchestras of Chile, Premio Tribunas de Música Argentina 2007 sponsored by Fundacion Encuentros de Música Contemporánea, among other distinctions. He is now is pursuing his PhD in Composition at the University of Florida in Gainesville, where he lives with his wife and son.

Mary Kelsay (MM)

Mary Kelsay is a master's student at the University of Florida studying composition with Dr. Paul Richards. She received her Bachelor of Music degree in composition from Florida State University where she studied with Dr. Mark Wingate, Dr. Clifton Callender, and most recently, Professor Ladislav Kubik. She was also an active member of vthe Society Composers, Inc. serving as treasurer for the 2006-2007 school year.

Juan-Carlos Martinez (MM)

Colombian Composer born in Bogota, he has a degree in Electronics Engineering. His academic music career was undertaken on his own and supported by his master; the Latinoamerican Composer Blas Emilio Atehortua.

Julian Peterson (MM)

is originally from Winslow, Arizona, a small town nestled in the heart of the Painted Deserts of northern Arizona. He attended Arizona State University, where he attained degrees in both saxophone performance and music composition. While there he helped to form the Helios Saxophone Quartet, a nationally recognized chamber ensemble that earned prestige by winning the Gold Medal at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and taking first place at the Coleman Chamber Music Competition. Julian currently lives in Tampa, Florida and teaches courses on electronic music synthesis at New College of Florida while pursuing a Master's degree in music composition at the University of Florida. When not composing, he spends his time raising tortoises and trying to recreate the culinary delights of desert home.

Phil Swasey (MM)

A Masters of Music Composition student at the University of Florida, his undergraduate degree is in Digital Music with a minor in classical guitar performance from the University of Central Florida. He is very interested in many things musical, with the main focus being in contemporary composition. Aside from academic music, he is also very interested in modern and traditional folk music. He is currently a graduate assistant for Theory I, and runs one of the sections of the Aural Skills lab.

Chester Udell (MM)

From the swamps of Wewahitchka, Florida, Chester Udell received his Bachelor of Music/Digital Arts from Stetson University (2005). His work engages issues of interactivity for electro-acoustic performances through the use of alternative controllers, creating electro-acoustic compositions in Csound and supercollider, as well as composing for acoustic instruments. He is currently pursuing a Masters of Music Composition at the University of Florida.

Stefanie Acevedo (BM)

Stefanie was born in Colombia, South America. Still a young composer, she experiments with different styles and is still developing her own. In the June of 2007,  she performed her solo trombone piece, Mélange, at Mirabell Palace in Salzburg, Austria. She is now studying composition with Dr. Paul Koonce and has studied with Frank Liberti, Dr. Paul Basler, and Dr. Paul Richards. She also studies trombone under Dr. Arthur Jennings and carillon under Dr. Laura Ellis. She is a member of the UF Wind Symphony, Orchestra, and Athletic Bands, is current chapter president of SCI at UF, is an active member of Kappa Kappa Psi, and holds multiple officer positions in the Delta Gamma chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota.

Robert Chastain (BM)

(b. 1981) began his formal musical training at the age of 17 in the public school system of Pinellas County .  He currently attends the University of Florida where he is completing the Bachelor of Music degree in Music Composition in the studio of Dr. Paul Richards. Recently married, he currently resides in Gainesville, Florida with his wife, Karissa Chastain. As a teacher, Mr. Chastain works extensively with middle and high school bassoonists around the Alachua County area.  During the summers of 2002 and 2003 he was the bassoon teacher at the University of Florida Summer Music Camp and also taught on the staff of the Seminole High School Marching Band in Pinellas County .  Mr. Chastain serves as music director of the O2B Kids musical theatre troop in Gainesville Florida , where he writes music for the program performed at the Center for the Performing Arts in Gainesville.

Kyle Rowan (BM)

Daniel Coe (MM '04)

Andy Delikat (MM '06)

Dr. Neil Flory (MM '97)

Dr. Sam Hamm (MM '95, PhD '05)

Thomas Judson (MM '01)

Chan Ji Kim (PhD '06)

Chan Ji is now Assistant Professor of Music at the Brevard Community College in Cocoa, FL - Teaching Theory/Comp and Electro Music.

Yoonjee Kim (MM '06)

Sa Woo Lee (MM)

holds a B.M. in Engineering from Yonsei University, Korea, and a M.M. in Music Technology from the Korean National University of Arts. Recently, he has received a M.M. in Music Composition at the University of Florida.

Tom Nelly (BM '99, MM '01, PhD '06)

Dr. Ronald K Parks (MM '92)

Mark Quathamer (MM '04)

Gina Wilson (MM '05)

Dr. Ted Vives (MM '95, PhD [Mus Ed] '98)