BIOGRAPHYJohn Aylward’s music has been praised for its youthful energy and precision. In line with his mentors David Rakowski, and George Tsontakis, Aylward is quickly paving a new path of sophisticated and emotional American modernism. Aylward’s latest works entertain experimental harmonic and textural concepts while not sacrificing rigorous technique or rhythmic vitality.
Aylward’s music has been performed within the U.S and abroad by numerous ensembles including the New York New Music Ensemble, The Lydian String Quartet, Third Angle, The Bard Symphony Orchestra, Juventas, and The Aspen Contemporary Ensemble. His work has also been championed by internationally touring soloists Chris Finkel, Steven Gosling, Christopher Oldfather, Elizabeth Keusch, Karina Sabac and Daria Binkowski.
Aylward has received grants and awards for his compositions from numerous national institutions including the Wellesley Composer Conference, the MacDowell Colony, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, and the Society of Composers. In 2007, Aylward won the Composition Prize from the International Society for Contemporary Music.
As a pianist, Aylward regularly performs contemporary music worldwide. Recent concert dates include The American Composers Forum in Washington, DC, the University of Campinas in Sao Paulo, and Distler Hall at Tufts University.
In addition to composition and performance, Aylward is also an avid researcher in 20th Century American music. Recent presentations on Elliott Carter’s music have been at the 2008 New England Conference of Music Theory, the 2008 American Innovator’s Series, and a colloquium at the Paul Sacher Stiftung in Basel, Switzerland, where Aylward was a fellow during the summer of 2008.
Aylward is currently Assistant Professor of Music Composition and Theory at Clark University in Massachusetts. Before his post at Clark, Aylward taught at Tufts University and at Brandeis University. John lives in Boston, Massachusetts and is originally from Tucson, Arizona.
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