Jordan College of Fine Arts
School of Music

Dr. Michael Schelle, composer-in-residence, music theory, composition

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MICHAEL SCHELLE (b. 1950, Philadelphia): raised in Bergen County, New Jersey, Schelle graduated from Northern Highlands Regional High School where, as Captain of the track team, he held the all-state distance records in javelin, shot put and hammer for three years running.

Now 30 years running as Composer in Residence at Butler University's School of Music in Indianapolis, he has been 2X a Pulitzer Prize nominee, a finalist for the International Humour in Poetry Competition (Paris), a published author (film music book) and restaurant critic (Indianapolis).

Schelle's music has been performed by over 250 orchestras and professional chamber ensembles across the US & abroad including Chicago Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic, Cincinnati Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Greenwich (CT) Orchestra & Chorus, Honolulu Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Alabama Symphony, New York Festival Orchestra, Missouri Symphony, Dayton Philharmonic, the principal orchestras of Albany (NY), Baton Rouge, Birmingham, North Carolina, New Jersey, New Mexico, Springfield (Mass), Knoxville, Evansville, Tulsa, Fort Smith (AR) and Fort Wayne; Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Cleveland Chamber Symphony, New World Chamber Orchestra, Orkestra Projekt (IN), Columbus Pro Musica, XTET (Los Angeles), Voices of Change (Dallas), SONOR (San Diego), ISIS Ensemble (Austin), UQ (Urban Quartet Phoenix), Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Ronen Chamber Ensemble, Indiana Opera Theatre, Eastman School of Music New Music Group, etc. Recent critically-acclaimed international performances of his music have included Kammerorchester Basel (Switzerland), the Kremlin Chamber Orchestra (Moscow), the St. Petersburg (Russia) Chamber Philharmonic, Czestochowa Philharmonic (Poland), Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional (Costa Rica), the Koenig Ensemble of London, the Vale of Glamorgan Music Festival (Cardiff, Wales), the Banff Centre for the Arts (Canada), CoMET (Contemporary Music Ensemble of Tokyo), the Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) Performing Arts Center Wind Symphony, 2007 Firenza International Music Festival (Italy) and in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Beijing, Brussels, Berlin, Bombay, Budapest, Bucharest, Vienna, Prague and Amsterdam.

Schelle has received composition grants from many prestigious arts organizations including the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation (NYC), the American Symphony Orchestra League (NYC), the League of American Orchestras "Music Alive" program, the Organization of American States (OAS), the Welsh Arts Council (Cardiff, Wales, UK), the International Percussive Arts Society, American Pianists Association, Barlow Endowment for Music Composition (UT), the Great Lakes Arts Alliance, Arts Midwest, the Indiana Arts Commission, ASCAP, BMI, the New England Foundation for the Arts and the New York State Arts Council. Schelle has held numerous extended composition residencies in the USA including the MacDowell Colony (New Hampshire), Spoleto USA Festival (Charleston, SC), Wolf Trap Center for the Performing Arts (Virginia), ICAM (Institute of Contemporary American Music, CT), the Albuquerque Youth Symphony Program, Inc. (two years: 2004 - 2006) and the Finger Lakes Music Festival (upstate NY). He has been featured Guest Composer for ALL-SCHELLEMUSIK programs, masterclasses & lectures at many institutions including the University of Massachusetts, University of Kansas, University of Oklahoma, Sam Houston State University (TX), Louisiana State University, the Catholic University of America (Washington D.C.), University of Notre Dame, Washington State University, the Ohio State University, California Lutheran University, Syracuse University, Eastern Michigan University, Bowling Green State University, Capital University (OH), the University of New Mexico, Old Dominion University, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Kent State University, USC, UCLA, NYU, SUNY and many others. Recent international Guest Composer residencies have included: Aichi Prefectural University (Yazako, Nagakute, Japan 2010), Nagoya Imperial University (Japan 2009) The People's Electric Power University School of Music (Beijing, China, 2010) and the National University of San Jose / Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional (Costa Rica).

Schelle holds degrees from Villanova University (theatre), the Hartt School of Music / University of Hartford, Trinity College of Music, London, UK, (diploma) and a Ph.D. from University of Minnesota. His composition teachers have included Aaron Copland, Arnold Franchetti, Eric Stokes and Dominick Argento. Schelle's works are published by Keiser Music /Hal Leonard (New York/St. Louis), Silman-James Press (Los Angeles, CA), Indiana University Press, European American Music, American Composers Edition (NYC) and commercially recorded by CRS (Philadelphia) and Albany Records (NYC/London).

Download Dr. Schelle's "Strapping" from Straight No Lithium for solo piano.

Visit Michael Schelle's website.
Read the in-depth profile of Michael Schelle.

(317) 940-9642
mschelle@butler.edu