Musicatlas
Music
- Concert Music: orchestra, chamber, vocal, solo piano.
- Film/television music.
Life
American composer John Kaefer (born 1976; Ridgewood, NJ) has written a wide variety of works, ranging from solo instrumental to chorus and orchestra to music for film and television. Seamlessly incorporating a myriad of styles and genres, from the Renaissance masses of Josquin Des Prez to the electronica of Moby and Brian Eno, his music resonates with audiences and critics alike. The San Francisco Classical Voice praised John’s compositions as "continuously fascinating". The New Jersey Star Ledger stated that his music is "filled with craft without becoming academic, and at all times richly emotional." His recent orchestral composition Mosaic has been described by The New York Times as "vividly scored", by the Los Angeles Times as "steely and hard-edged", and by the Orange County Register as a "strong and entertaining" work which uses "the orchestral resources with dazzling vitality".
John’s works have been performed throughout the world, including major premieres at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York and La Schola Cantorum in Paris. He recently received commissions and/or performances by the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, the New York Youth Symphony, the Chamber Music Society of New Jersey, Les Amis Musicalles, the Haddonfield Symphony, the Chamber Symphony of New Jersey, the Summit Chorale, the Philharmonia Orchestra of Yale, the Manhattan School of Music Philharmonic Orchestra, the Eastman Percussion Ensemble, Studio Percussion Graz, and the Juilliard Orchestra, among numerous others. Recently he received the Barlow Prize 2003 [Honorable Mention] from the Barlow Endowment for Music and a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, as well as awards and honors from BMI, ASCAP, the American Music Center, the International Horn Society, the Renee B. Fisher Foundation, the Bergen Foundation, and the International Clarinet Association, among many others. He also has received residency fellowships from the artist colony Yaddo and the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival.
John studied at the Eastman School of Music and the Yale School of Music, where he earned his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees. Currently, he is a C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellow at the Juilliard School. He is also a composer for DreamArtists Studios, a film and television music production house based in New York City.