One of the dominant compositional voices of his generation, John Harbison’s concert music catalog of almost 300 works is anchored by three operas, six symphonies, twelve concerti, an organ symphony, and a ballet, six string quartets, numerous song cycles and chamber works, and a large body of sacred music that includes cantatas, motets, and the orchestral-choral works Four Psalms, Requiem, and Abraham. He also has a substantial body of jazz compositions and arrangements. Harbison has received commissions from most of America’s premiere musical institutions, including the Metropolitan Opera, Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, New York Philharmonic, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. As one of America’s most distinguished artistic figures, he is recipient of numerous awards and honors, among them Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellowships, a Kennedy Center Friedheim First Prize, the Heinz Award, a Pulitzer Prize, and the Harvard Arts Medal.

Harbison’s music is distinguished by its exceptional resourcefulness and expressive range. He has written for every conceivable type of concert performance, ranging from the grandest to the most intimate, pieces that embrace jazz along with pre-classical forms. He is considered “original, varied, and absorbing—relatively easy for audiences to grasp, and yet formal and complex enough to hold our interests through repeated hearings. His style boast both lucidity and logic.” (Fanfare)

Harbison has been composer-in-residence with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, American Academy in Rome, and numerous festivals. He received degrees from Harvard and Princeton before joining the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where in 1995, after many teaching awards, he was accorded MIT’s highest faculty honor—Institute Professor—and in 2022 achieved Emeritus status. For many summers since 1984 Harbison taught composition at Tanglewood, serving as head of its composition program from 2005 to 2015, often directing its Festival of Contemporary Music. With Rose Mary Harbison, the inspiration for many of his violin works (Violin Concerto, Four Songs of Solitude, Crane Sightings, Violin Sonata No. 2), he has been co-Artistic Director of the annual Token Creek Chamber Music Festival since its founding in 1989. He continues as Principal Guest Conductor at Emmanuel Music (where for three years he served as Acting Artistic Director), and he is a past music director of Cantata Singers. Harbison founded MIT’s Vocal Jazz Ensemble in 2010, serving as coach and arranger, and he is pianist with the faculty jazz group Strength in Numbers (SIN). He continues to add to his jazz catalog.

John Harbison has been President of the Copland Fund, was on the board of the Koussevitzky Foundation, and a trustee of the American Academy in Rome. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and is a Trustee of the Bogliasco Foundation. His music is published by Associated Music Publishers. A complete works list can be found at WiseMusicClassical.com.