Music Theory and Composition Alumni

Through more than 200 works for a wide range of performance genres, including works with and without electronics for orchestra, choir, soloists, and chamber ensembles, Orlando Jacinto Garcia has established himself as an important figure in the contemporary classical/new music world. The distinctive character of his music has often been described as "time suspended sonic explorations," qualities he developed from his studies with Morton Feldman, among others.

Born in Havana, Cuba and residing in the US, he is the recipient of numerous honors and awards including Rockefeller, Fulbright, Knight, Dutka, Civitella Ranieri, Bogliasco, and Cintas Foundations, State of Florida, MacDowell and Millay Colony, and Ariel, Noise International, Matiz Rangel, Nuevas Resonancias, Salvatore Martirano, American Academy of Arts and Letters, and Bloch International Competitions. Garcia is the recipient of 5 Latin Grammy nominations in the Best Contemporary Classical Composition Category with recordings on New Albion, O.O. Discs, CRI /New World, Albany, North/South, CRS, Rugginenti, VDM, Capstone, Innova, CNMAS, Opus One, Telos, Toccata Classics, Metier/Divine Art, and New Focus.

He is the founder and director of the NODUS Ensemble, the Miami Chapter of the ISCM, and the New Music Miami Festival. A dedicated educator, Garcia is Composer in Residence and Distinguished University Professor at Florida International University.

Philip Schuessler is a composer of solo, chamber, and large ensemble works as well as of electro-acoustic, folk, and experimental popular music. Recently awarded the Music Teachers National Association Distinguished Composer of the Year for his saxophone quartet Sunburst Carousel, Schuessler writes music that explores the intricacies of subtle, delicate timbres and dynamics through extended acoustic resources. Many world-renowned artists and ensembles have championed his music, including Yarn/Wire, Hypercube, Mantra Percussion Ensemble, Loadbang, Dither Guitar Quartet, Unheard-of//Ensemble, Duo Per Se, and Hub New Music. His works have been performed at numerous international festivals, conferences, residencies and workshops. Notable awards for his music come from Duo Fujin’s Composition Competition; Random Access Music’s Call for Scores; the International Cello Loft Competition; New Music USA; and the Bourges International Competition of Electroacoustic Music. His music is published by Pendula Music, Potenza Music, Murphy Music Press, Alia Music, TUX People’s Music, and SCI Journal of Scores. Recordings of his compositions may be found on the Centaur, Curvepoint Media, Innova, Janus, and Capstone labels. He currently teaches music theory and composition at Southeastern Louisiana University and is Assistant Director and co-founder of the New Orleans-based contemporary arts organization Versipel New Music.

Gabe Wallerstein is a South Korean-American composer and violinist who writes for a variety of instruments. His music spans across many genres that range from classical to contemporary. He also has extensive experience working in orchestras (violinist in the Frost Symphony Orchestra), pit bands, jazz bands, chamber groups, and more. His works have premiered in multiple locations across the United States and Europe, and won second place in the Luna Nova 2024 Composition Competition. Wallerstein earned his undergraduate degree in Music Theory and Composition with a performance certificate in violin performance at the Frost School of Music, and he is currently attending New York University’s Concert Composition program for his master’s degree. In addition to music, Wallerstein has a strong passion for aerial circus arts, theater, and nature.

Ben Morris is a composer and jazz pianist whose work tells unconventional stories and crosses genre boundaries. His projects include music for chamber groups and large ensembles, operas, theater and film scores, and multimedia works. He recently lived in Oslo on a Fulbright Grant and received an American-Scandinavian Foundation Grant to study the influence of folk music on Norwegian jazz. Ben’s 2022 debut album, Pocket Guides, takes elements from Norwegian folk music, jazz, and chamber music. The music on Pocket Guides garnered Ben two Downbeat Awards, two ASCAP Herb Alpert Awards and a Morton Gould Award, a commission from New York Youth Symphony’s First Music, and an invitation to perform at the Newport Jazz Festival.

A versatile film, theatre, and opera composer, Ben scored the documentary films American River, which premiered at Montclair Film, and Saving the Great Swamp. Ben is a frequent collaborator of librettist Laura Fuentes; his operas with Laura have been commissioned by the Washington National Opera American Opera Initiative, Boulder Opera, and Glimmerglass Festival. Ben is an Assistant Professor of Composition at Stephen F. Austin State University and studied composition at University of Colorado Boulder, Rice University, and University of Miami.

Gramophone Magazine calls Shawn Crouch a "gifted composer" and the New York Times describes Shawn Crouch's work as music of "gnarling atonal energy". The Miami Herald called his Road from Hiroshima; A Requiem a "staggering achievement, an imaginative, powerful and deeply moving work." Recently Crouch’s Visions and Ecstasies, A Mass was named “Best New Work” by the South Florida Classical Review. Shawn has received grants and awards from such institutions as the American Academy of Arts and Letters, The American Prize, ASCAP, BMI, Yale University, Society of Composers Inc., Meet the Composer, NewMusicUSA, and the Percussive Arts Society. He is the inaugural recipient of the Dale Warland Singers Commissioning Award given by Chorus America and the American Composers Forum. Shawn has had his works performed and commissioned by ensembles in the United States, Canada and Europe including the Cleveland Orchestra, American Modern Ensemble, The American Guild of Organists, Blow, Cantori New York, California E.A.R. Unit, Chanticleer, Del Sol String Quartet, Eighth Blackbird the Esoterics, Essential Voices USA, the Lunar Ensemble, Lost Dog New Music Ensemble, Non Sequitur, newEar Contemporary Ensemble, Plexure Trio, Phoenix Chorale, Prism Quartet, Quince Ensemble, San Francisco Choral Artists, Santa Fe Chorale, Seraphic Fire, Splinter Reeds, [Switch~ Ensemble],the Yesaroun' Duo, Variant 6, and Volti. Shawn received his B.Mus. in composition from the New England Conservatory with honors and distinction in performance, his M.Mus. in composition from the Yale School of Music, and his D.M.A. in composition from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. Shawn Crouch is a BMI composer. Crouch is currently Associate Professor of Professional Practice in Composition and Theory at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music where he is artistic director of the Ensemble Ibis.

Jayce (Jason) Mulligan is a composer and music director who is focused on building community through the shared experience of music.  He is particularly interested in helping to break down stigma that has developed around mental health, anxiety, and sexuality.  His music has been performed at various institutions including Southern Methodist University, Idyllwild Arts Academy, Source Song Festival, Sam Houston State University, Florida International University, Emporia State University, and the International Clarinet Association Clarinetfest.  In 2018 Jayce was the first composer to be featured on a Rising Star Recital as part of the Basically Beethoven Festival in Dallas, TX. In 2020 he received a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.  After a three year hiatus from music Jayce served as the music director for Rent with the Duke University Department of Theatre Studies. He is currently writing a song cycle on the poetry of Thom Gunn that deals with the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Jayce is currently based out of Saint Paul, MN where he is the director of music at Saint Mary’s Episcopal Church and an accompanist for Lundstrum Performing Arts.

Steve Danyew, B.M. ‘06 was named the winner in the Brighton, MI Bands 75th Anniversary Wind Ensemble Fanfare Composition Competition for a fanfare based on his extended work Flash Back. The full version of Flash Black earned 3rd prize in the international wind ensemble composition contest held by Wegmans/Penfield Wind Ensemble in spring 2010. Danyew is currently busy composing new choral and wind ensemble music. He received his Master’s degree at the Eastman School of Music in May 2010 where he served as editor for the website, Polyphonic On Campus. He majored in music composition at the Frost School of Music.

Sylvia Constantinidis, M.M.  ‘93 and ‘08, was the artistic director at Omorfia Contemporary Music Ensemble and Secco Southeast Contemporary Chamber Orchestra. She is a pianist, conductor, writer, music educator and composer.

Throughout her career, she has performed and conducted in Ukraine, England, Norway, Canada, Venezuela, Germany, and Spain.

She was elected as a member of the Officers Council for the National Advisory Board of the National Association of Composers of the USA in December 2011. She has received numerous awards, including the American Society of Composers award for concert music in 2010 and 2009.

Constantinidis majored in piano performance and music theory and composition at the Frost School of Music.

Jim Papoulis, M.M. ’82, was named Frost School of Music 2004 Distinguished Alumnus. He composes, orchestrates, and conducts music for dance, film, symphonies, quartets, pop bands, gospel, and choirs. Paploulis’ distinctive style combines contemporary sounds with musical traditions from around the globe. His award-winning compositions are known for exploring new modes of musical communication by connecting classical and traditional forms with non-Western sounds and computer technology.

Papoulis explores and creates sound for a global community. He has worked with such diverse international artists and ensembles as Tokyo String Quartet, Moscow Philharmonic, and London Philharmonic to Aretha Franklin, Faith Hill, Shania Twain, and Maroon 5. He has created original music for UNICEF, Dance Theater of Harlem, and Alvin Ailey Dance Company. His works have been performed by San Diego Pops Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Blue Man Group, and at Carnegie Hall and Epcot.

As an orchestrator, Papoulis’ works have been performed by The Paris Opera, Celine Deon, Christina Aguilera, Patti Labelle, Tony Bennett, and Natalie Cole, among others. His work with Martha Wash earned him two top spots on the Billboard Dance charts, with Listen to the People, and Feel the World Dancing.

Papoulis is founder of Amphion Music in Manhattan, a full-service music production company specializing in composing and recording original music and orchestrations for several major corporations in retail, food, auto manufacturing, television, and business. As co-founder of The Foundation for Small Voices music project, Papoulis conducts songwriting workshops with children’s music programs in China, South America, Africa, Russia, Europe, and throughout the U.S.

Bruce Zimmerman, B.M. ‘81, film and video composer, won his fourth regional Emmy for scoring Season 3 of Jonathan Bird’s Blue World, an underwater nature program airing across the United States on Public Television. He has won three Emmy Awards for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Original Music Composition for his work in Public Television.

Zimmerman’s music can consistently be heard on networks such as MTV, History, Discovery, Lifetime, and PBS.

He is the owner of Sound Productions, a film scoring studio located in Hartford, CT. The music library branch of his company, ZimMusic, places music cues around the globe. Zimmerman majored in composition at the Frost School of Music.

Frost School of Music’s 2005 Distinguished Alumnus Joel McNeely, B.M. ’82, is an Emmy Award-winning composer, producer, and conductor who works with many of Hollywood’s most influential producers and directors including James Cameron, John Lasseter, Seth MacFarlane, and George Lucas. McNeely received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition, an ASCAP Film and Television Award, and a Gramophone Magazine Award. He was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction, a Grammy for Outstanding Classical Crossover Album, and an Annie Award for Outstanding Music in an Animated Feature.

McNeely’s repertoire of major motion picture and television scores include Disney's Tinkerbell films, A Million Ways To Die in the West, The Last Of The Mohicans, Holes, Mulan 2, Return to Neverland, Wild America, The Avengers, Air Force One, and Terminal Velocity. Some of his television credits include American Dad, James Cameron’s Dark Angel, Sally Hemmings: An American Scandal, and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. A frequent guest lecturer on the subject of film music studies, McNeely has presented at USC’s Thornton School of Music; the American Film Market; the Frost School of Music; James Madison University, and the Interlochen Center for the Arts.

As a conductor, McNeely has led the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and London Philharmonic, among others. He has produced and arranged songs for such artists as Carly Simon; Crosby, Stills, and Nash; Linda Rondstadt; and Rosemary Clooney. At age 14, McNeely was accepted into the Interlochen Arts Academy studying composition and flute performance. While studying jazz composition and performance at the University of Miami Frost School of Music, he toured the world with legendary performers Tony Bennett, Peggy Lee, Al Green, Melissa Manchester, Chuck Mangione, Bobby Caldwell, and Jaco Pastorius.

University of Miami Frost School of Music 2000 Distinguished Alumnus Kenneth Fuchs, B.M. ‘79, is an acclaimed composer of music for orchestra, band, chorus, and various chamber ensembles. He has received numerous commissions, achieving significant recognition through global media exposure. BBC Music Magazine called Fuchs “a master of orchestral writing.” His music has been performed in the United States, Europe, and Asia.

With Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lanford Wilson, Fuchs created three chamber musicals, The Great Nebula in Orion, A Betrothal, and Brontosaurus, which were originally presented by Circle Repertory Company in New York City. His operatic monodrama, Falling Man, (text by Don DeLillo, adapted by J. D. McClatchy) was presented at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in commemoration of the 15th anniversary of 9/11. The London Symphony Orchestra has recorded four discs of Fuchs’s music for Naxos American Classics. The first, released in 2005, was nominated for two Grammy Awards (Best Instrumental Soloist Performance with Orchestra and Producer of the Year, Classical). The third disc, recorded in 2011 at London’s historic Abbey Road Studios, was included in the 2012 GRAMMY Award nominations for the category Producer of the Year, Classical. The fourth disc, recorded at Abbey Road Studios in August 2013, featuring baritone Roderick Williams in a program of vocal music based on texts by Don DeLillo, John Updike, and William Blake, was released in August 2014. Gramophone magazine featured the disc in its Awards Issue (October 2014), stating, “Fuchs claims his own expressive warmth and colour…. The performances are exemplary, from baritone Roderick Williams’s commanding artistry to the bold, fresh playing of the London Symphony Orchestra under JoAnn Falletta’s sensitive direction.”

Fuchs’s 2013 disc of chamber music includes Falling Canons (Christopher O’Riley, piano), Falling Trio (Trio21), and String Quartet No. 5 American (Delray String Quartet). The highly successful disc Kenneth Fuchs: String Quartets 2, 3, 4 was performed by the American String Quartet and released on Albany Records.

Fuchs currently serves as Professor of Composition at the University of Connecticut. His music is published by the Hal Leonard Corporation, Edward B. Marks Music Company, Theodore Presser Company, and Yelton Rhodes Music, and has been recorded by Albany, Cala, and Naxos Records.

Charles Mason, B.M.  ‘77, is the associate professor and chair of the Department of Theory and Composition at the University of Miami Frost School of Music, where he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2009.

He has received many awards for his compositions including the American Composers Orchestra “Playing it Unsafe” prize, the 2005 Rome Prize, the Premi Internacional de Composició Musical Ciutat de Tarragona Orchestra Music prize, and a National Endowment of the Arts Individual Artist Award.

His music has been performed worldwide including the FORO INTERNACIONAL DE MUSICA NUEVA in Mexico City, the Quirinale in Rome, the Aspen Summer Music Festival, and the Nuova Musica Consonante in Romani and broadcasted over RAI radio throughout Italy and on NPR’s “Performance Today.” Dr. Mason has received commissions from many top-ranked ensembles including American Composers Orchestra, DUO 46, Miami String Quartet, Gregg Smith Singers, Dale Warland Singers, Corona Guitar Kvartet, ONIX (Mexico), Luna Nova, bassist Robert Black, violinist Karen Bentley Pollick, New York Golliard Ensemble, and cellists Madeleine Shapiro, Craig Hultgren, and Jeffrey Solow to name a few. He completed his D.M.A. and M.M. in composition at the University of Illinois and B.M. with honors from the University of Miami.

In 2005, he was a composer in residence at the International Centre for Composers in Visby, Sweden, and twice sponsored by the Seaside Institute as an “Escape To Create” composer-in-residence.