Dr. Frank Felice,
composition, electronic music, music theory
Frank Felice began his musical studies in Hamilton, Montana, playing piano, guitar and double
bass. Interest in composition began through participation with a number of rock bands, one of
which, Graffiti, toured the western United States and the Far East in 1986-1987. Dr. Felice
attended Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, the University of Colorado, and Butler
University, studying with Michael Schelle, Daniel Breedon, Luiz Gonzalez, and James Day. Most
recently he has studied with Dominick Argento and Judith Lang Zaimont at the University of
Minnesota in Minneapolis, where he completed his Ph.D. in 1998. In addition to currently teaching
as an associate professor at Butler University, he has previously taught at
Eastern Wyoming College, the University of Minnesota, Sam Houston State University and Lamar
University.
Dr. Felice has served as composer-in-residence with the Symphony of Southeast Texas in Beaumont,
where he helped write the Create a Symphony Program. He has also served as composer-in-residence
for Eastern Wyoming College, along with the Wyoming Council on the Arts from 1988-1990. During
his tenure there he not only taught in the public schools, but lectured and composed pieces for
many of the ensembles in residence as well. He also serves as an adjudicator and judge for a
variety of composition contests each year, throughout the United States, as well as lecturing
around the Midwest on new music.
A composer of many styles and genre, his works have been performed extensively in the U.S. as
well as Japan, the United Kingdom, Austria, the Czech Republic and Hungary. His commissions
have included funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Omaha Symphony, the Indiana
Arts Commission, The Indiana Repertory Theatre, the Wyoming State Arts Board, the Indianapolis
Youth Symphony, Kappa Kappa Psi/Tau Beta Sigma and the Minneapolis Vocal Consort as well as
many private commissions. In 2003 the Butler University Department of Dance commissioned an
evening-length ballet from him, The Willow Maiden, which was premiered at Clowes Hall in
April of that year. A recording of electronic and electro-acoustic music entitled Sidewalk
Music is available on Capstone Records, while other scores can be obtained from MMB Music
or Mad Italian Bros. Ink Publishing. Frank is a member of the Society for Electro-Acoustic
Music in the U.S., the American Composers Forum, the American Music Center, The Society of
Composers Inc., and the Christian Fellowship of Art Music Composers. In addition to musical
interests, he pursues his creative muse through painting, poetry, cooking, home brewing,
paleontology, theology, philosophy, and basketball. He is very fortunate to be married to
mezzo-soprano Mitzi Westra.
The Music at Butler Jukebox includes music by Dr. Felice as well as performances by other Butler faculty and ensembles.
E-mail: ffelice@butler.edu
Web page: www.frank-felice.com
Phone: (317) 940-3236
