Composer Nick Morandi’s music is vibrant, rhythmic, and lyrical, often all at once. His works combine influences from Stravinsky to Coltrane, funk to minimalism. While studying at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, he had many works premiered, including the chamber orchestra works Clouds that Veil the Midnight Moon and One Track Mind. He also composed The Birds Return to an Empty City for flutist Laura Lentz’s “Comfort Pieces” project during the COVID-19 pandemic. This collaborative project included an animated music video by animator Lauren Perttula. Nick’s music has won several prizes, including Eastman’s OSSIA New Music Commission for 2017, which resulted in his work Hyperion Songs, and the 2014 Kuttner String Quartet Composition Prize for his work Actor. Nick’s series of Attitudes for piano, which he has been writing since 2014, are quirky character pieces that riff on the tradition of preludes, postludes, and etudes.

 

During his time at Eastman, Nick taught composition and orchestration. He was awarded the 2019 Edward Peck Curtis Award for Excellence in Teaching by a Graduate Student—a competitive prize judged across the entire University of Rochester. After graduating, he taught Composition and Orchestration at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in the fall of 2022, followed by teaching aural skills and music theory courses at the University of Maryland, College Park, from spring 2023 to spring 2024.

 

Nick also has extensive experience organizing and hosting recitals. He served as Secretary and then President of OSSIA New Music, the student-led new music ensemble at Eastman, organizing and hosting their concert series. He also organized many student recitals for performers of all ages during his time at the International School of Music in Bethesda, MD. He has often been tasked with introducing new and challenging pieces–often including his own–to a general audience, and jumps at the chance whenever he gets to speak about the music he loves.

 

An avid clarinetist, Nick has premiered works of his own for clarinet and bass clarinet, as well as many works by established composers and student colleagues. He served as clarinetist and bass clarinetist with the Indiana University New Music Ensemble under the direction of David Dzubay, and premiered and recorded many pieces by guest composers, faculty, and alumni in his time there, including Steven Mackey, John Luther Adams, and David Rakowski. He also served as an ensemble and solo performer at the new music and performance festival soundSCAPE 2017 in the Italian Alps, in addition to participating in its composition program.

 

Nick earned his Ph.D. at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, where renowned scholar and composer Dr. Robert D. Morris advised him on his dissertation, an analysis of a recent work by British composer Harrison Birtwistle using contour theory, an analytical technique for non-tonal music pioneered by Dr. Morris. Nick also holds degrees from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (MM) and University of Utah (BM). He lives in the Washington, D.C., area with his wife and infant daughter, many devices for making coffee, too many books, and two cats named after hobbits.