Martin Blessinger

Professor of Music Theory and Composition
Music
Jarvis Hall 313

m.blessinger@tcu.edu | 817-257-7264

Education

DM, Music Composition, Florida State University
MA, Music Composition, SUNY Stony Brook
BA, Music, SUNY Stony Brook

Courses Taught

Advanced Music Theory
Advanced Ear Training
Seminar in Music Theory - 20th C. Counterpoint
Music Composition
Tonal Counterpoint
Composition Lessons (undergraduate and graduate)

Areas of Focus

Music composition, music theory (with an emphasis in early 20th century US and France)

Martin Blessinger is an Associate Professor of Music Theory and Composition at Texas Christian University.  He holds a DM in music composition from Florida State University where he was a University Research Fellow, studying with Ladislav Kubik and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich.  He received undergraduate and master’s degrees from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, studying with Sheila Silver and Perry Goldstein.  Prior to arriving at TCU, he worked as a Lecturer in Music Theory at the Ithaca College School of Music.

His works have been performed around the country and abroad by distinguished soloists, collegiate ensembles, professional groups, and community organizations, as well as on conferences at the national and international level.  His orchestration of Jessica Grace Wing’s score for the critically-acclaimed off-Broadway musical Lost won Best Music in the 2003 New York City Fringe Festival and received a revival performance by the Arizona Onstage Theater Company.  Further, he has won awards from the Diana Barnhart American Song Competition (cum laude, for Cradle Song), the Eppes String Quartet Competition (for Postcard from the Americas), the Illinois Wesleyan University Young Composers Competition (for Fanfare for Brass Quintet), the NACUSA Young Composers Competition (for Duo for Saxophone and Piano), and ASCAP.

In 2014, he served as guest composer for the Talis Festival & Academy in Saas-Fee, Switzerland and in 2015 he was a featured composer on the Cliburn Foundation concert series.  Most recently he was an invited composer at the 2018 Beijing Modern Music Festival/International Society for Contemporary Music World New Music Days Festival in Beijing, China.

His music is published by Reed Music and C. Alan Publications and can be heard on Albany Records.

Website: http://www.martinblessinger.com

Rhapsody for Flute and Orchestra (2017)

Dark Energy for trombone ensemble (2016)

Exodrium et Infra Furorem for solo violin (2016)

Rhapsody for Flute and Orchestra (version for flute and piano) (2016)

Soaring Above the Rest–a book of six etudes for flute (2015)

Sonata for Bassoon (2015)

Diversions and Escapes for flute and piano (2014)

Legend Suite for marimba and clarinet (2014)

A Simple Prelude for clarinet quartet (2014)

For audio samples of works, please see http://www.martinblessinger.com

Society of Composers, Inc.

National Association of Composers/USA (NACUSA)

American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP)

Society for Music Theory

Pi Kappa Lambda Honor Society (TCU Gamma Epsilon Chapter President)

 

Chair, Scholarship and Financial Aid Committee

University Graduate Council