John Howell Morrison

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.[3]

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.[2] 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.[3] His doctoral dissertation was Hear What the Earth Says, a composition for large orchestra in three movements.[4] 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.[2] His wife is the keyboardist and conductor Vivian Montgomery.[5][6]

Morrison has received frequent commissions from many organizations, including the Intergalactic Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), 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 (2002 Individual Artist Fellowship), American Composers Forum (Composers Commissioning Project and Performance Incentive Fund), 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.[3]

• Hard Weather Makes Good Wood – Intergalactic Contemporary Ensemble; soloists, Troy Gardner, Maria Jette, and Vivian Montgomery. This recording entirely devoted to Morrison's compositions contains Hard Weather Makes Good Wood, The Heart Poems, Rising Blue, and My Love Lies Down that Long Dirt Road. Label: Innova #584.[1][11]
• America's Millennium Tribute to Adolphe Sax, Vol. 3 – (Track 12 Light Possessing Darkness performed by Jeremy Koch on saxophone and Doug Schneider on piano). Label: University of Arizona Recordings #3098.
• Songs in the Ground – (Track 6: Twisted Little Ground performed by Cléa Galhano on recorder and Vivian Montgomery on harpsichord). Label: 10,000 Lakes/The Schubert Club #114.

• Fells (2010) for flute, clarinet, cello, and piano[12]
• Hollow Box (2010) for trumpet and resonating piano
• Compass (2009) for baritone saxophone, trombone, and dancer
• Ember (2009) for 2 clarinets and 2 accordions
• Whipping Post (2008) arrangement of Allman Brothers song for string quartet
• Fanfare for KZ (2007) for three trumpets
• Lonesome Whistle (2007) for unaccompanied flute
• Deepening Groove Near Walden Pond (2007) for chamber orchestra
• Ten Violins (2006) for ten violins
• Trio (2006) for violin, cello, and piano
• Nanocosmos (The Book of Ezra) (2004–06) for piano
• Groan (2005) for saxophone quartet
• Breathing Memory (2004) for accordion, harpsichord, and pre-recorded CD
• Aquarium (2004) film score
• TTC #12, a realization in sound of Tao Te Ching poem 12 (2004) for treble choir
• The Fall (2003) for band
• Crows (2002) for alto saxophone and soprano set to a poem by Xue Di
• Brown Dog (2001) for middle school band
• Oh Mary (2001) for SATB choir and string orchestra
• The Heart Poems (2001) for soprano and piano set to poems by Ruth Montgomery
• Charon (2001) for unaccompanied bass clarinet
• Twisted Little Ground (2000) for recorder and harpsichord
• In God We Trust performance piece with recorded and real-time interactive computer-processed sound
• Hard Weather Makes Good Wood (1999) for string quartet and tape
• Grace (1998) for a cappella choir
• Light Possessing Darkness (1997) for alto saxophone, piano
• Rising Blue (1996) for violin and tape
• Dark Hollow (1996) for string orchestra with flugelhorn solo
• String of Pearls (1994) for unaccompanied tuba
• Two Poems of Wendell Berry (1994) for soprano, clarinet, violoncello
• Spin Control (1994) for chamber orchestra
• Elegy (Separation) (1992) for flugelhorn, oboe, clarinet, violin
• My Love Lives Down That Long Dirt Road (1992) for harpsichord
• 57" (Landscape, Report) (1992) for computer-generated four-channel tape
• Hear What the Earth Says (1991) for orchestra
• Excursive Sonata for thirteen musicians (1988) for wind ensemble
• Partial Tendencies (1988) for computer-generated four-channel tape
• Over the Head (with a stick) (1987, revised 1998) for percussion trio
• Wright Songs (1987) for bass-baritone and string trio
• Voices Bending Open (1987) for violin, tape, and optional dance
• Piece for Solo Trumpet (1986) for b-flat or c trumpet
• Blues Outside Inside Shadow (1984) for piano
• Prevalent Modes (1984) for soprano saxophone and tape

• Official website
• John Howell Morrison on Inova Music