JOHN G. BILOTTA (1948 - ) was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, but has spent most his life in the San Francisco Bay Area where he studied composition with Frederick Saunders at the San Francisco Music & Arts Institute. He has attended masterclasses and workshops with composers Alexander Tcherepnin, David Del Tredici, and Chen Yi, among others. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, taking Bachelors and Masters degrees in psychology. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Society of Composers, Inc, for which he edits SCION, the organization's opportunities newsletter. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Goat Hall Productions. He is also President of the San Francisco chapter of NACUSA .
Bilotta�s early vocal works, particularly the Renaissance Songs, Yeats Songs, and Two Songs on American Poetry, have been performed repeatedly at music festivals and concerts in both the United States and Europe. His most recent song cycle The League of Minor Characters premiered in August, 2017.
His one-act opera Aria da Capo (1980), a setting of the verse play by Edna St. Vincent Millay, was a finalist in a competition sponsored by the New York City Opera. His second opera Quantum Mechanic, winner of the 2007 Opera-in-a-Month Challenge as well as the 2010 AmericanaFestival Award, has been widely performed in the U.S. and Europe. His third opera Trifles (2010), a setting of the play by Susan Glaspell, has had multiple productions in the U.S. His most recent opera Rosetta�s Stone (2015) was a collaborative project with a Norwegian composer/librettist team and premiered in California in 2016.
Bilotta�s works have been performed in the United States, Canada, Asia, and Europe by outstanding soloists and ensembles including rarescale, Earplay, the Talea Ensemble, the Washington Square Contemporary Music Society, Chamber Mix, Musica Nova, the Avenue Winds, Presidio Ensemble, The City of Tomorrow wind quintet, the Boston String Quartet, the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra, the Kiev Philharmonic, the Oakland Civic Orchestra, San Francisco Cabaret Opera, Bluegrass Opera, Boston Metro Opera, Thompson Street Opera, New Fangled Opera, and Floating Opera.
His music is available on Capstone Records, Navona Records, New Music North, Beauport Classical Recordings, ERMMedia and Australia�s Bouddi Recordings.
Recent Works
Dust and Shadows (2019), for violin and piano
This Silver Minute of Evening (2019), for piano
Heart's Desire (2018), for viola & piano
Night Streets (2017), for trumpet, horn, and double bass or trombone
Midsummer Music (2017), for string quartet
Egress This Way (2017), for piano four hands
Saltarello (2017), for piano four hands
The League of Minor Characters (2017), a cabaret cycle for soprano and piano
Ritornello (2017) for piano four-hands
Capricci (2016) for flute and piano
Rosetta's Aria (2014), for soprano, clarinet, and piano
Tres Canci�nes y Danzas (2016) for guitar
A Door Into Summer (2015), for piano four-hands
Pine Hollow Bestiary (2014), for student string orchestra
Rosetta's Stone (2014), a neuroscience opera
In 3 (2014), for student symphonic band
The Song of the Hermit Thrush (2013), for soprano and five instruments
Etude (2013), for cello from the opera "Rosetta's Stone"
The Hippocampus Monologue (2013), for mezzo and piano from the opera "Rosetta's Stone"
South Albany Street (2013), for two guitars
Thurber Country (2012), for small orchestra
Beauty from Forgetfulness (2012), for piano trio
Brain Freeze (2012), for wind quintet
Komoriuta (2012), for clarinet and piano
This Autumn Day (2011), for voice and piano
Robby's BFF (2012), for narrator and wind quintet
After the Rapture--Just Me and the Cat (2011), for piano
Overture to Quantum Mechanic (2011), for piano
Renaissance Songs (2011), for high voice & piano
Conversations in the Garden (2011), for piano four-hands
Emergence (2010), for organ
Trifles (2009), an opera in one act
Chromaganini (2009), for flutes, horns, trombones, & strings
Yeats Songs (2009), for baritone & piano
The Poems to Come (2008), for mixed quintet
First Light (2008), for wind quintet
Sonatina (2008), for solo piano
Quantum Mechanic (2007), A comic opera in one act
I Fiori di Seta (2006), for Flute, Alto Flute, and String Orchestra/Quartet
A Wedding Braid (2006), for solo Clarinet
Heart's Desire (2006), for Clarinet & Piano
Petroushka Dreams (2006), for Clarinet, Cello, & Piano
Fire in Spring (2005), for Flute & Oboe
Concerto for Wind Quartet & Orchestra (2004)
Shadow Tree (2004), Impromptu for Alto Flute & Guitar
Caprice (2003), for Flute & Piano
Entr'acte (2003), for Unaccompanied Clarinet
Gen'ei no Mai (2002), for Flute & Clarinet
Madison Sketchbook (2002), for Piano
Divertimento for Wind Orchestra (2000)