| Michael Mikulka has written well over 100 pieces with varied styles, lengths, and instrumentations. His music has been premiered by several artists and ensembles, including the Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic, The Young Eight String Octet, the Halcyon Trio, the Seattle University String Quartet, the University of Texas Symphonic Band, the Humboldt Brass Faculty Octet, and members of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and Seattle Symphony. His music has been premiered in venues such as the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, North Carolina's Progress Energy Center, and Seattle's Benaroya Hall. Michael was a winner or finalist in the Young Eight (2006), Montclair Art Museum "Pictures" (2008), Western Michigan New Music Project (2009), Humboldt Brass (2009, 2011), Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic (2010), Vox Novus 15 Minutes of Fame ("Parhelion Trio"[2012] and "Peter Reit, Horn" [2012]), and Dallas Wind Symphony Brass Fanfare (2012) composition competitions. Michael was also commissioned to write a string quartet for the Opus Prize award ceremony (2008), "Hymn for Armenia" was selected for premiere (2011) by the CSU Bakersfield Concert Band, and "Sonatina for Bassoon and Piano" was selected for performance at the SCI Region VI Convention (2012) . Michael is currently pursuing his DMA in Composition at the University of Texas, where he has studied with Donald Grantham, Yevgeniy Sharlat, and Dan Welcher. He completed his MM in Composition at Central Michigan University (studying with David Gillingham), and received his Bachelor's degree in Music Education with a concentration in French Horn from Rutgers University, where he co-founded the Rutgers Undergraduate Composers Recital. Ten of his solo/chamber pieces have been published by JPM Music Publications and are distributed through Shattinger Music. Michael grew up in rural New Jersey, which is actually not an oxymoron. After a childhood that consisted primarily of playing sports and catching literally tens of thousands of fish, he eventually became an avid cook, a frequent reader of comedy and science non-fiction, a staunch feminist, and an inveterate hot sauce enthusiast. He remains a fan of the New York Giants, New Jersey Devils, New York Mets, and Boston Red Sox. He is a proud user of Sibelius and owns a PC, which he is mostly indifferent about. |