BIOGRAPHY
John 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 soloists Jo Ellen Miller, Curt Macomber, Chris Finkel, Steven Gosling, Christopher Oldfather, Sam Solomon, 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. In 2010, Aylward was selected as a Composers Apprentice at the National Centre for the arts in Ottowa, Canada.
Aylward maintains a research profile currently focused on the works of Elliott Carter. Aylward has twice received fellowhsips to the Paul Sacher Stiftung in Basel, Switzerland to continue research on Carter's sketches and compositional process. 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. Aylward's recent research on Carter can be read in the summer 2010 issue of Perspectives of New Music.
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.
Contact: