" Mike McFerron's "Perspectives" had. . .rhythmic variety and energy. . .with drum and percussion ostinatos driving the music jazzily."
John von Rhein
Chicago Tribune
Mike McFerron is Professor of music and
Composer-in-Residence at Lewis University in the Chicago area. At Lewis
University, McFerron teaches music composition and directs the music
technology program. He received a DMA in composition from the
Conservatory of Music--University of Missouri at Kansas City where his
primary teachers were James Mobberley, Chen Yi, and Gerald Kemner. A
native of Oklahoma, McFerron also studied composition with Ray E. Luke. He
has been on the faculty of UMKC and the Kansas City Kansas Community
College, and he has served as resident composer at the Chamber Music
Conference of the East/Composers' Forum in Bennington, Vt. McFerron is
founder and co-director of Electronic Music Midwest.
McFerron's music has received critical acclaim and recognition.
Perspectives for orchestra was awarded first prize in the Louisville
Orchestra Composition Competition (2002), was a recipient of the Chicago
Symphony Orchestra's "First Hearing" Program (2001), was awarded an
honorable distinction in the Masterprize International Composition
Competition (2003), and an honorable mention in the Rudolf Nissim Prize
(2001). McFerron was chosen the winner of the Cantus
Commissioning/Residency Program (2003), and he was a recipient of the
2005 CCF Abelson Art Song Commission. His music was a finalist in the
1st International Electroacoustic Music Contest - CEMJKO (2006), the
2004 Confluencias Electronic Miniatures II International Competition,
the 2005 Truman State/MACRO Composition Competition,
The 2005 American
Modern Ensemble Composition Competition, the 2002 Swan Composition
Competition, the 1999 Salvatore Martirano Composition Contest, and the
1997 South Bay Master Chorale Choral Composition Contest. McFerron has
been a composers fellow at the MacDowell Colony(2001), Ucross (2010), June in Buffalo
(1997), and the Chamber Music Conference of the East/Composers' Forum in
Bennington, Vt (1999). His music has been featured on SCI National
Conferences, SEAMUS National Conferences, the International Computer Music Conference
(ICMC), University of Richmond's 3rd
Practice Festival, Spark Conference, Annual Florida Electroacoustic
Music Festivals, Spring in Havanna, the MAVerick Festival, several SCI
regional conferences, and concerts and radio broadcasts across the U.S.
and throughout Europe. He has received commissions from Cantus,
SUNY-Oswego, GeNIA, the Chamber Music Conference of the East/Composers'
Forum, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Lewis University, Sumner Academy of Arts and Science, and four
times by the Metropolitan Youth Symphony Orchestra.
McFerron serves on the executive committee of Society of Composers,
Inc. and the
board of directors for the Metropolitan Youth Symphony Orchestra.
McFerron's music can be heard on numerous commercial CDs as well as on
his website at http://www.bigcomposer.com.
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