John Sichel

John Sichel was named artist in residence at Capulin Volcano National Monument (NM), for November 2022. He is a composer from New Jersey and is thrilled to be taking part in this year’s Source Song Festival.

John’s most recent premiere, in May, 2022, was of his Three Motets for chorus and digitally treated birdsong. The motets were created with the help of a Faculty Research Grant from Raritan Valley Community College, where John serves on the faculty. Other recent works include a Piano Wind Quintet, written for the Atlantic Chamber Players, which was premiered December 12, 2021, two song cycles (Pointing Finger, Winking Eye and The Darkling Thrush) and a Sonata for alto sax and piano, commissioned by the Composers Guild of New Jersey for Paul Cohen and Anna Keiserman and scheduled for a 2022 premiere. Other prominent recent performances include a recent virtual concert performance of his Second Cello Sonata by Jonathan Spitz and Anna Keiserman (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8BEmLUneaA ) and the inclusion of The Fishbowl Diaries on a 2016 New York Philharmonic Chamber Ensembles concert, where it was performed by John (as narrator), along with NY Philharmonic musicians Vladimir Tsypin, violin and Blake Hinson, bass. The Piano Wind Quintet is scheduled to be recorded on the Ravello Records label by Paul Cohen, Anna Keiserman et. al. in Summer, 2022. Recent recordings include John Sichel: Piano Sonatas with pianists Hsin-Yi Tsai and Tomoko Mizuno Harada, and The Chamber Music of John Sichel, with Hsin-Yi Tsai and the Amphion String Quartet (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5eVoQ5Qpo0 ). Both are available on CDBaby.com. John’s 2 nd Cello Sonata was included by Duo Forte (Ning Tien, cello and Roy Imperio, piano) on an album entitled Music from Four Continents (also CD Baby). Other works are recorded on the Musicians’ Showcase, Opus One and Newport Classic labels.

At Raritan Valley Community College, John is Professor of Music and Co-Chair of the Arts & Design Department. He is a 2014 recipient of a New Jersey State Council on the Arts fellowship in composition. He received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in 1990 from the Yale School of Music, where he studied with Nicholas Maw, Jacob Druckman and Martin Bresnick. His hobbies include birding, astronomy and writing fiction of questionable quality.