Benjamin Boone, originally from Statesville, N.C., is an Associate Professor at California State University Fresno where he has taught in the areas of music theory and composition since 2000. Prior to this appointment, he taught at the University of Tennessee, where he received the “Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.”
A Fulbright Senior Specialist Fellow to the Univeritatea de Stat “Alecu Russo” (Republic of Moldova), Boone’s research on speech from a musical perspective has been noted in Oxford’s The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (under blue note) and in Judith Martinovich’s Creative Expressive Activities and Asperger’s Syndrome. He has also edited manuscripts of Music Theory texts for Schirmer/Wadsworth, McGraw Hill and Prentice Hall.
Boone’s compositions have been performed in over seventeen countries -- from Carnegie Hall to China, Japan, Australia, Africa and Eastern/Western Europe and appear on over twenty CDs of performers/groups such as the Electronic Music Foundation, Vox Novus, the National Flute Choir and the New Century Saxophone Quartet, , among others. His works have also been featured in Film (Guy Livingston’s One Minute More), on National Public Radio’s “Weekend Edition,” and Bayerischer Rundfunk (Bavarian National Radio). His works have garnered over eighteen national/international honors and awards from the International Society of Contemporary Music, the Olympia International Prize for Composition, Billboard Magazine, the National Association of Composers, The American Music Center, the American Composer’s Forum, ASCAP, Meet the Composer/Southeastern Arts Federation, the National Flute Association, the Southeastern Composers' League, the Delius Foundation, and Boston University, among others.
Boone has received fellowships from the Fulbright Foundation, Fundación Valparaíso (Spain), the Aspen Music Festival Center for Compositional Studies/Advanced Master Class Program, "Words and Music" (international composition symposium sponsored by Indiana University and the United States Information Service), A*deVantgarde Festival für Nueue Musik, Munich/Office of the American Consulate, the North Carolina Arts Council Composition Fellowship and the Tennessee Arts Commission Composition Fellowship.
Recent works include Ascencion, a two-hour dramatic cantata for mezzo soprano, piano, choir, Mission bells and Native American instruments (by librettist and Helene Joseph-Weil); Place Setting DJ, for solo piano, commissioned by Guy Livingston (Paris) for his DVD and world tour, One Minute More; Joropo Jam, for guitar and saxophone, commissioned by Alan Durst for his Centaur Records CD, Tangos y Serenades, premiered in Beijing, China and performed at the Kennedy Center; and Figuratively Speaking, performed in New York and other locations in 2008-9 as part of the Vox Novus International Mix. Boone's compositions are published by Latham Music, Alry Publications, Sentinel Dome, Eighth Note Publications (Canada) and Vester Music.
Boone has presented guest lectures and master classes at the Academy of Music (Moldova), the University of Magdeburg (Germany), the University of Erlangen (Germany), Charles University (the Czech Republic) and the University of Cape Town (South Africa), among others in the US. He has been in residence at festivals and colonies such as Fundación Valparaíso (Spain), May in Miami, June in Buffalo, the Bowling Green New Music Festival, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, and the Aspen Music Festival and he has given presentations at conferences such as the Society of Composers (national and regional), National Flute Association, North American Saxophone Alliance (national and regional), National Association of Composers, World Saxophone Congress, Society for New Music, Conference on American Culture, Music Education Association, and International Trumpet Guild.
In addition, Boone has assisted a biologist with the infrasonic recording of rhinoceros vocalizations in Zimbabwe and Zambia; served as a music business manager in New York City; performed as a saxophonist throughout the United States and Europe; researched the effect of University interaction with students at a Court School; and designed Service-Learning and Civic Engagement best-practices.
Boone studied with Bernard Rands, Gordon Goodwin, Charles Fussell, John A. Lennon and Jerry Coker at the University of Tennessee (BM), Boston University (MM) and the University of South Carolina (DMA).
For a catalogue of works, sound files, research summaries, press, discography, and educational resources, visit www.BenjaminBoone.com and www.myspace.com/thebenjaminboonequartet