Drake (b. 1987) is a prolific young composer currently studying at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. Raised in Des Plaines, Illinois, he was simultaneously playing in a punk rock garage band, The Red Smurfs, and studying classical composition when his piece, Vivo for Wind Ensemble, won the 2004 IMEA Composition Contest for Large Ensemble.
In St. Paul, he has worked with Stephen Paulus, Marjorie Merryman, Christopher Gable, Cary Franklin, Jan Gilbert, and Carleton Macy. He has also attended workshops led by composers like William Bolcom, Yehudi Wyner, Stacy Garrop, Daniel McCarthy and Andrew Rindfleisch. Drake has written concert music for large ensembles (choirs, bands, orchestras), chamber ensembles and solo instruments, as well as opera, incidental music for dance and theater, and popular music for rock groups, bossa nova ensembles and jazz combos. He is an accomplished flute player, but also performs on guitar, piano and cavaquinho, presenting new and traditional repertoire regularly. His music is informed by a particular affinity for Spanish, Brazilian and Latin American voices.
In 2007, Drake was awarded a Keck Research Grant from Macalester College to compose his first full-length opera, "Blood Wedding", after the play by Federico García Lorca. Outside of the concert hall, Drake's music has been heard in recent Twin Cities theatrical productions of "The House of Bernarda Alba" and "Lysistrata". This year, Drake spent six months abroad studying music in Salvador da Bahia, Brasil. Most recently, he was named the 2008-09 Composer-in-Residence with the Waukesha Area Youth Orchestras.