(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.
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