Contact: m.blessinger@tcu.edu |
Martin Blessinger is currently an Assistant Professor of Music Theory and Composition at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, TX. He holds a D.M in music composition from the Florida State University, where he studied with Ladislav Kubik and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, as well as undergraduate and masters degrees from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, studying with Sheila Silver and Perry Goldstein. Prior to TCU, he worked as a Lecturer in Music Theory at the Ithaca College School of Music. His works have been performed around the country by ensembles such as the North Shore Symphony Orchestra, the Metropolitan Brass Quintet, the Stony Brook Contemporary Chamber Players, Sounds New, and the new music ensembles of the University of Nebraska at Kearney, Florida State University, Franklin Pierce College, and Truman State University. His Cradle Song, a recent work for soprano and piano, was named a finalist in the 2005 Diana Barnhart American Song Competition and was granted the distinction cum laude. Additionally, his orchestration of Jessica Grace Wing's score for the hit off-Broadway musical Lost won Best Music in the 2003 New York City Fringe Festival. In 2006, he was declared a winner of the Eppes String Quartet Competition at the Florida State University, for the submission Postcard from the Americas, and most recently he won the 2007 Young Composers Competition at Illinois Wesleyan University. Martin Blessinger served as the vice-president of the SCI student chapter at the Florida State University for the '04-'05 academic year, and as president of the chapter in '05-'06. |
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Recent Works No survivors (2008) for tenor and piano Mockingbird (2007) for soprano and piano Duo for Saxophone and Piano (2007) Tapas (2007) for violin and viola * Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (2006) (can be viewed here) Postcard from the Americas (2005) for string quartet Crossing the Bar (2005) for SATB Chorus Cradle Song (2004) for soprano and piano Four Songs on Poems by Walter Savage Landor (2004) for soprano and piano Four Pieces for Piano (2004) Violin Phrase (2003) for violin and piano Two Dirges and Prayer for Orchestra (2002) Night Song (2002) for violin and piano Soliloquy for Solo Viola (2001) Fanfare for Brass Quintet (2001) Two Songs for Soprano (2000) for soprano and piano * Dissertation Piece |
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Compositions | |||
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Duo for Saxophone and Piano |
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| Duo for Saxophone and Piano.pdf - complete | |||
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Dedicated to Jeff Heisler | |||
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Postcard from the Americas * |
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| Postcard from the Americas *.mp3 - complete | |||
| Postcard from the Americas *.pdf - complete | |||
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performed by the Eppes String Quartet *winner of the 2006 Eppes String Quartet competition | |||
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Fanfare for Brass Quintet * |
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| Fanfare for Brass Quintet *.mp3 - complete | |||
| Fanfare for Brass Quintet *.pdf - complete | |||
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performed by the Metropolitan Brass Quintet Notes: I composed this fanfare in the spring of 2001 for the opening ceremony of the new music library at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. To me, the celebration reflected both the promise of something new and an appreciation of the past, and I tried to capture a little of each in this short work. *winner of the SUNY Stony Brook Fanfare Competition, winner of the Alpha Lambda Young Composers Competition at Illinois Wesleyan University | |||
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Four Songs on Poems by Walter Savage Landor - I. He I love (alas in vain!) |
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| Four Songs on Poems by Walter Savage Landor - I. He I love (alas in vain!).mp3 - excerpt | |||
| Four Songs on Poems by Walter Savage Landor - I. He I love (alas in vain!).pdf - complete | |||
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performed by Raina Murnak, soprano; Jessican Horton, piano Notes: Four Songs on Poems by Walter Savage Landor represents a musical devolution from enthusiasm and innocence to disenchantment and betrayal. I composed “Mother, I cannot mind my wheel,” the second song in the set, first as a stand-alone song; however, as I explored other texts by the same author, it became clear that this movement could serve as a nice centerpiece to a short set, and I let the mood and character of “Mother…” spin out the rest of the cycle. Landor’s text eloquently establishes an archetypically Romantic character, self-absorbed in her own lovelorn despair. The songs in the set comment both on this character and on the progression from unrequited (yet gleeful) infatuation to an inevitable downfall and betrayal. Included here is the first of four songs. | |||
©2005 by Martin Blessinger
All Rights Reserved
Martin Blessinger is a member of Society of Composers, Inc. SCI is dedicated to the promotion of composition, performance, understanding and dissemination of new and contemporary music.