Biography      Archive       Links      News     Contact me   Home

John Harbison

(b. Orange, NJ, 20 Dec 1938),

American composer. He studied with Piston at Harvard, with Blacher in Berlin (1961) and with Sessions and Kim at Princeton; in 1969 he took a post at MIT. Operas and larger vocal works predominate in his output, including Winter's Tale (1979, San Francisco) and Full Moon In March (1979, New York); in a lucid, lyrical style, they also include concertos for piano and violin (1978, 1980), chamber and vocal pieces. He has appeared as guest conductor of several leading ensembles in the USA, including the San Francisco Symphony and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.