THE LIVING COMPOSERS PROJECT  

Michael F. Hunt

(b. 28 November 1945, New Castle, Indiana).

American composer of mostly orchestral and chamber works that have been performed throughout the world.

Prof. Hunt studied composition with Manus Sasonkin and Graham Hollobon at the St. Louis Institute of Music, where he earned his BMus cum laude in music theory in 1968. He then studied composition with Robert Wykes at Washington University in St. Louis and there earned his PhD in 1974.

Among his honours are fourteen ASCAP Standards Awards (1978–91) and selection as Composer of the Year by the Missouri Music Teachers Association (1990). He has been a member of the National Society of Arts & Letters since 2013. His music has been performed in Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, China, Ireland, Serbia, and the USA.

He is also active in other positions. He served as a trombonist in the 399th US Army Band from 1968–70. He participated in the initiatives Artist-In-The Schools in St. Louis in 1981 and Artist-In-Education in Missouri from 1987–90. He later served in various capacities at the Missouri Arts Council from 1990–99, as executive director of the Fine Arts Society of Indianapolis from 2002–08, as executive director of the St. Louis Artists' Guild in 2010–11, and as executive director of the Innsbrook Institute in Missouri from 2017–19.

He taught composition, orchestration, solfège, and 20th-century analysis as an adjunct instructor at Washington University from 1973–75 and composition at Saint Louis University in St. Louis from 1974–76 and again, as an adjunct professor, from 1988–91. He taught music history as an adjunct professor at Fontbonne University in Clayton, Missouri in 1974–75, where he later taught composition and music theory as an assistant professor and was composer-in-residence from 1977–86 and where he returned as an adjunct professor of jazz history and music appreciation from 1996–2000. Moreover, he was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at Trinity College in Dublin in 1984–85 and taught composition at Principia College in Elsah, Illinois in 1987–88, where he was also director of ensembles.

His publisher is Michael Hunt Music.

CONTACT INFORMATION

E-mail address: mfhunt2019@yahoo.com

COMPLETE LIST OF WORKS

STAGE:

The Mississippi Mud Show (music-theatre work, texts from historical records), voices, trombone, autoharp, guitar, drum kit, wind chimes, 1973

Big Muddy (music-theatre work, texts from historical records), voices, trombone, autoharp, guitar, drum kit, wind chimes, 1976

ORCHESTRAL:

Fanfare and March, symphonic band, 1967

Theme in Two Moods, 1967

West Side Collage, jazz band, 1969

Asymptopia I & II, 1972 (each of its two sections may be performed separately)

Hidden Walls of Time, 3 percussion, string orchestra, 1986

Con cordes, string orchestra, 1987

Windows and Mirrors, symphonic band, 1987

Latin Loops, symphonic band, 1988

Lento for Strings, string orchestra, 1988

Emerald Reflections, 1989

Eleanor's Mini, jazz band, 1993

Increments for Strings, Percussion & Harp, harp, glockenspiel, vibraphone, marimba, string orchestra, 2019

Veni Sancte Spiritus (vocalise), tenor, bass, harp, 4 percussion, string orchestra, 2019

CHAMBER MUSIC:

Music for Brass & Timpani, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, timpani, 1967

Unresolved Dialogue for Unaccompanied Violoncello, cello, 1971

Rotary-Piston, French horn, trumpet, 1975

NAD, flügelhorn, electric piano with echoplex, percussion, 1976

Wood and Metal Ensemble for Solo Percussionist, percussion, 1977

Episodes for Brass Quintet, French horn, 2 trumpets, trombone, tuba, 1977

Metal Ensemble for Two Percussionists, 2 percussion, 1977

Streams, flute, English horn, bass clarinet, electric piano with echoplex, percussion, 1978

Tao Shu, 3 percussion, 1978

Music for Multiple Keyboards, any 5–25 keyboard instruments/pitched percussion, 1980

Music for Brač and Piano, brač (long-necked lute from southeastern Europe), piano, 1981

Motives: Passage of Time, harp, viola, electric piano, percussion, 1982

Other Realities, alto flute, 2 percussion, 1982

Avatar, flute, harp, viola, piano, percussion, 1983

Fields of Reeds, 4 saxophones, 1983

Orpheus, Studio 49 Orff instruments (6 percussion), 1984

St. Louis: Music for Brass and Percussion, 2 French horns, 3 trumpets, 2 trombones, tuba, 2 percussion, 1985

Butterfly Dreams, viola, piano, 1985

The Madcracker, flute, A-clarinet (+ clarinet, tenor saxophone), cello, piano (+ electric piano), marimba (+ percussion), 1985

Flows, 6 percussion, 1985

Music for Keyboards and Percussion, variable number of keyboard instruments, variable number of percussion, 1986

Vocalise, soprano saxophone, piano, 1986

Music for Winds and Strings, variable number of winds, variable number of strings, 1987

Glass Hannon, piano, 3 percussion, 1988

Junk Garden, 3 percussion, 1988

Lament for Three, violin, cello, piano, 1989

Mini Merica, French horn, 2 trumpets, trombone, tuba, 1990

In Memorial: JJT, violin, cello, piano, percussion, 1999

Music for the Dalai Lama's Birthday, clarinet, double bass, piano, 2001

Trio Without Minuet, violin, cello, piano, 2013

Sleep Waltzing, violin, cello, piano, 2013

Con Alma, violin, cello, piano, 2015

Around C, piano, string quartet, 2016

Charles, piano, string quartet, 2019

Music for Violin and Piano, violin, piano, 2020

Pentagynia, flute, oboe, clarinet, French horn, bassoon, 2021

Gradual, string quartet, 2022

CHORAL:

Mass and Energy (text from the Dona eis pacem), female chorus, mixed chorus, fixed media (2 tracks), 1973

In Remembrance (text from the Agnus Dei), female chorus, 1981

Psalm 100 (text from Psalm 100), mixed chorus, organ, 1982

Moon Shadows (text by Anna Lum), children's chorus, Orff percussion, 1984

Numerology (text by the composer), mixed chorus, 1986

Flowing Water (text by the composer), mixed chorus, piano, 1987

The Tale of Genji II (text by Isako Hirose [translated by Susan Tyler]), male chorus, piano, percussion, 1998

VOCAL:

For You There Is No Song (text by Edna St. Vincent Millay), soprano, piano, 1967

The True Encounter (text by Edna St. Vincent Millay), soprano, piano, 1978

Songs of Tao (texts from Daoist sources [translated by Timothy Leary]), soprano, piano, 1982

Prelude to the 25th (text by Nancy Kranzberg), soprano, piano, 1992

Anniversary Jazz (text by Nancy Kranzberg), soprano, piano, 1992

PIANO:

Suite for Piano, 1965

Lament, 1966

Spelunking, 1967

Three Contemporary Interval Studies, 1968

Mandy's Dance, 1971

Classical Spring, 1971

Sonata in Two Historical Idioms, 1971

The Forgotten Toy Chest, 1974 (its five sections may be performed separately: The One-Eyed Teddy Bear; The Lost Toy Soldier; The Sad Ballerina Doll; The Toy Hobby-Horse; The Wind-Up Toy Train)

The Television Suite, 1975 (its four sections may be performed separately: The Detective Theme; The Soap Opera; The Science Fiction Movie Theme; The Western Theme)

Ursa Major–Minor, 1976

SPACE: INNER/OUTER, piano (2 players), 1981

Waltz Dreams, 1986

Piano Etude #1, 2020

Piano Etude #2, 2020

ORGAN:

Chorale Prelude on 'Deck Thyself, My Soul, With Gladness', 1974

Star Cantus, organ pedals, 1980

ELECTROACOUSTIC:

Tensor, fixed media (2 tracks), 1989

Tolling, fixed media (2 tracks), 1989

Before the Wave, fixed media (2 tracks), 1989

Winds Answer, fixed media (2 tracks), 1989

Breathing Bells, fixed media (2 tracks), 1989

Bell Meditation, fixed media (2 tracks), 1989

MULTIMEDIA:

The Sound of Algae (music for a museum installation), fixed media (1 track), photographs (by the composer), slide projections (by the composer), 1972