Faculty Composer is Prize Winner

Dr. Michael D’Ambrosio

Dr. Michael D’Ambrosio, composer and member of the David L. Walters Department of Music at Jacksonville State University, was recently announced as First Prize winner of the 2007 University of South Carolina Choral Composition Competition.

Dr. Larry Wyatt, Director of Choral Studies at USC, announced that Dr. D’Ambrosio’s winning composition, “Wind on the Island”, will be premiered in the spring of 2008 and will be performed by the USC Choir when it tours China next year. The prize garnered a cash award and will be submitted for national publication.

Dr. D'Ambrosio has been Assistant Professor of Music at Jacksonville State University since fall 2005. His responsibilities include teaching courses related to music theory, composition, aural skills, and arranging, as well as directing the overall operation of the music theory area.

Previously, he taught theory and composition at Oklahoma State University, aural skills at the University of Dayton, and a variety of theory subjects at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). He received his D.M.A. and M.M. degrees in music composition from CCM where he studied with Joel Hoffman and Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon (now at Eastman). Originally from Long Island, New York, he completed his undergraduate work at Lehigh University where he double-majored in music and accounting.

Dr. D’Ambrosio’s music has been performed by the Philadelphia Brass, Monarch Brass, Catskill Brass Quintet, Shepherd School Brass Choir (Rice University), Oklahoma State University Concert Chorale, Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra, CCM Symphony Band, CCM Brass Choir, Lehigh University Wind Ensemble, and by soloists and chamber musicians throughout the United States.

One of his most recent pieces, "In You The Earth," was recently awarded the Arant Choral Composition Prize through the University of Georgia and placed third in the NUVOVOX Choral Competition. He was also named an ASCAPLUS Award recipient for the 2006-07 period.

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