The American composer Mark Gustavson was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1959. He began studying clarinet at eight and composing when he was sixteen. In high school he studied at the Music Institute of Chicago. He later went on to study clarinet and composition at Northern Illinois University, University of Illinois, Columbia University and Conservatory of Amsterdam (under Chinary Ung, Ben Johnston, Fred Lerdahl, Mario Davidovsky and Ton DeLeeuw).

 

Notable works include Twenty Variations for flute and piano (1983) premiered by Rachel Rudick and Marty Goldray at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall in 1983; the internationally acclaimed pianist David Holzman premiered his 1986 piano solo Dissolving Images at Merkin Concert Hall in 1991 and later took the work on a U.S. tour; Waves for orchestra was premiered at Carnegie Hall by the New York Youth Symphony as part of the First Music Series in 1988; his 1993 composition Quintet for clarinet, two violins, viola and 'cello, commissioned by the Fromm Foundation and premiered in 1996 by Contempo on the final Paul Fromm Concert given at the university; and Silent Moon for orchestra (1998) written for and premiered by the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra and the first in an on going series of works inspired by Tarot cards. A Fool’s Journey a mixed chamber ensemble piece commissioned by Parnassus for their 25th anniversary concert was composed and premiered in 1999 at Merkin Concert Hall.

 

He has won honors from ASCAP, BMI, the American Academy of Arts & Letters, League-ISCM, New Music Consort and the Gaudeamus Foundation. In addition Mr. Gustavson has been awarded the Joseph H. Bearns Prize in Music and a Fulbright Fellowship. He has received commissions from, among others, the Brooklyn Heights Music Society, Parnassus, Fromm Foundation, Koussevitzky Music Foundation and the New York Youth Symphony and recording grants from the Alice M. Ditson Fund and Aaron Copland Recording Fund.