John Howell Morrison


John Howell Morrison is a contemporary classical composer and educator. His works have been commissioned and performed by the Intergalactic Contemporary Ensemble, Minnesota Contemporary Ensemble, and Galhano/Montgomery Duo, among others. His recording, Hard Weather Makes Good Wood, was released on the Innova Music label in 2003. Morrison held the Chair in Composition and Theory at the Longy School of Music from 2003 to 2010.

Biography

A native of North Carolina, John Morrison began studying piano at age nine. While in high school, as a student at the Governor's School of North Carolina, he performed a repertoire made entirely of 20th-century music. The experience transformed Morrison and set the stage for becoming a composer.
Morrison studied music as an undergraduate at Davidson College. He completed a Master of Music in composition at the University of Tennessee under John Anthony Lennon, Kenneth Jacobs, and Allen Johnson. He later received a Regents Fellowship to study and work as a teaching assistant at the University of Michigan under William Bolcom, William Albright, Nicholas Thorne, George Wilson, and Leslie Bassett where he completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in 1991. His doctoral dissertation was Hear What the Earth Says, a composition for large orchestra in three movements. Morrison has since taught at Tennessee State University, Luther College, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland State University, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and Oberlin College. He has served as a member of the board of directors for the Iowa Composers Former and the president of the Cleveland Composers Guild.
A resident of Medford, Massachusetts, Morrison teaches at the Longy School of Music, where he served as Chair of the Theory and Composition Department from 2003 to 2010. His wife is the keyboardist and conductor Vivian Montgomery.

Commissions and premieres

Morrison has received frequent commissions from many organizations, including the Intergalactic Contemporary Ensemble, the Fromm Foundation, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, the Nashville Chamber Orchestra, the Detroit Chamber Winds, Antiqua Nova, the Galhano/Montgomery Duo, Davidson College, and the Cleveland Composers Guild. He has also received grants from the Ohio Arts Council, American Composers Forum, Meet the Composer, Iowa Arts Council, Luther College, and the American Music Center. Morrison has also received funding for residencies at the MacDowell Colony, the Schweitzer Institute, June in Buffalo, and the Charles Ives Center for American Music. Morrison publishes through the University of Arizona Press and M. Baker Publications.

Selected premieres