Benjamin C. S. Boyle


Benjamin C. S. Boyle is an American composer, pianist, and music theorist.

Career

His compositional output includes opera, orchestral music, chamber music, choral music, art songs, and works for piano. Notable performances include the premiere of Dr. Boyle's Hudson Sinfonia for brass ensemble premiered by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra at Riverside Church in New York City in April 2009. His Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra was premiered with marimbist Makoto Nakura and Montreal Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Wanda Kalusny in June 2015. Chicago Lyric Opera premiered Dr. Boyle's choral work The Holly and the Ivy in December 2008. His Concerto for Organ and Orchestra was commissioned by Hope College Orchestra and premiered with organist Huw Lewis, conducted by Richard Piippo in November 2007. In May 2005, Bachanalia Orchestra, conducted by Vladimir Lande, premiered the Cantata To One in Paradise for string orchestra and four vocal soloists at Merkin Hall in New York. That same year he won the Young Concert Artists composition competition. He has been commissioned by many major performing groups including The Crossing Choir, conducted by Donald Nally. He has written for many talented soloists including cellists Scott Kluksdahl and Efe Baltacigil, harpist Emmanuel Ceysson, pianists Chu-Fang Huang, Magdalena Baczewska and Charles Abramovic, flutist Mimi Stillman, soprano Véronique Chevallier, baritones Randall Scarlata and James Rogers, violinist Emil Chudnovsky and many others. He has worked with conductors Mark Shapiro, Lance Friedel, Sarah Hicks, and Richard Piippo. Dr. Boyle is represented by Young Concert Artists, Inc. His music is published by Rassel Editions.
His formative studies in composition, harmony, counterpoint, and analysis were under the guidance of Dr. Philip Lasser of the Juilliard School. He was trained in the method of Nadia Boulanger and continues to build on her pedagogic foundation through both his compositional and theoretical activities. He is the Associate Director of the European American Musical Alliance and Faculty at the Nadia Boulanger Institute.
At the age of 25, Dr. Boyle was the youngest person ever to receive a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in Composition, after completing a M.M. from The Peabody Conservatory and a B.M. from the University of South Florida where he studied piano with Robert Helps. Past composition teachers of his include Narcis Bonet, David del Tredici, Christopher Theofanidis, Samuel Adler, Lukas Foss, Jay Reise and Nicholas Maw.
Reviews of Dr. Boyle's music have been published in The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Washington Times, The New York Concert Review, and many other publications.

List of works

Opera