John Sichel is a composer from New Jersey. He would describe himself as "never emerged." His most recent works are Capulin Variations, for chamber orchestra, which was written during a three-week stint as Artist in Residence at Capulin Volcano National Monument in Capulin, New Mexico, and two song cycles, Paradoxides, on texts by Don McKay and Pointing Finger, Winking Eye, on texts by Daniil Kharms, Walt Whitman, John Sichel and the Bible. Paradoxides was premiered in November 2023 by bass Hans Tashjian and pianist Anna Keiserman. John's Paper Pag Song, on a poem by Mary Moore Easter, was premiered in August at the Source Song Festival in Minneapolis, MN by soprano Kathryn Rupp and pianist Ting-an Lai. His Piano Saxophone Quintet (an arrangement of his 2021 Piano Wind Quintet, was premiered at the U.S. Navy Band International Saxophone Symposium in January, 2023 and recorded in April 2023 for a spring 2024 release on the Parma label.. Three Motets, for chorus, piano and a recorded, digitally manipulated birdsong. John made and edited was recorded in the field, edited, written and premiered the help of a $3,000 Faculty Research Grant from Raritan Valley Community College (RVCC), where he is Associate Professor of Music. Other recent works include a Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano, commissioned by the Composers Guild of New Jersey for saxophonist Paul Cohen and pianist Anna Keiserman, the Piano Wind Quintet, which was premiered at RVCC on December 12, 2021 by the Atlantic Chamber Players, a song cycle, The Darkling Thrush, for soprano, chorus, piano, and strings, and a series of seven string quartets to complement five others written between 1979 and 2012. In 2021, John's Second Cello Sonata (1997) was performed in a virtual Mozaika Chamber Music concert by cellist Jonathan Spitz and pianist Anna Keiserman. A video of that performance can be found under the "Listen Tab" on this site.
Duets for Our Times, for violin and clarinet, was premiered in 2018 in New Jersey by Vladimir Tsypin and Pavel Vinnitsky. Tsypin and Irith Gabriely gave the work its European premiere in Germany in September, 2018. Rings for flute ensemble was premiered in October, 2016 by Flutatious at Montclair State College in New Jersey. His Second Cello Sonata was performed in Worcester MA in May, 2016, by cellist Ning Tien and pianist Roy Imperio. The Fishbowl Diaries receives its New York premiere on a January 17, 2016 New York Philharmonic Ensembles chamber concert, with John appearing as narrator alongside violinist Vladimir Tsypin and double-bass player Blake Hinson. The work was premiered in 2014 at Raritan Valley Community College, with choreography by Loretta Fois. It was subsequently performed in concert form in Germany and is scheduled for an April 2016 performance in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
John's The Little Dutch Opera was premiered in April of 2013 by Joy Hermalyn, Jason Barrameda and the Raritan Valley Community College Chorale. His Masque: 2012 was premiered in Berlin and Essen, Germany in August of 2012 by violinist Vladimir Tsypin and guitarist Yevgeny Beleninov. Mr. Tsypin and guitarist Colin Davin gave the work its US premiere on a New York Philharmonic Ensembles concert in January, 2013.
John’s String Quartet #4 was premiered by the Amphion String Quartet in October, 2011. His Songs of a Mannequin, for solo guitar, was premiered by Guitarist Christopher Kenniff in May, 2011 and his Sonata for Solo Violin, was premiered in Mendoza, Argentina in April, 2010 by Vladimir Tsypin and his Two Suburban Madrigals were premiered the following month by the Madrigal Singers in Montclair, New Jersey. Dr. Sichel’s String Quartet #3 received its premiere on January 28, 2007 at an ‘Artistic Club Luba’ concert in Englewood, New Jersey. New York Philharmonic musicians Vladimir Tsypin, Lisa G. Kim (violins), Kathy Greene (viola) and Sumire Kudo (cello) were the featured performers. The first performance of Dr. Sichel’s Piano Trio occurred on April 30, 2006, on a New York Philharmonic Ensembles program with Lisa G. Kim, Eric Bartlett and Susan Walters performing.
Duets for Our Times, for violin and clarinet, was premiered in 2018 in New Jersey by Vladimir Tsypin and Pavel Vinnitsky. Tsypin and Irith Gabriely gave the work its European premiere in Germany in September, 2018. Rings for flute ensemble was premiered in October, 2016 by Flutatious at Montclair State College in New Jersey. His Second Cello Sonata was performed in Worcester MA in May, 2016, by cellist Ning Tien and pianist Roy Imperio. The Fishbowl Diaries receives its New York premiere on a January 17, 2016 New York Philharmonic Ensembles chamber concert, with John appearing as narrator alongside violinist Vladimir Tsypin and double-bass player Blake Hinson. The work was premiered in 2014 at Raritan Valley Community College, with choreography by Loretta Fois. It was subsequently performed in concert form in Germany and is scheduled for an April 2016 performance in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
John's The Little Dutch Opera was premiered in April of 2013 by Joy Hermalyn, Jason Barrameda and the Raritan Valley Community College Chorale. His Masque: 2012 was premiered in Berlin and Essen, Germany in August of 2012 by violinist Vladimir Tsypin and guitarist Yevgeny Beleninov. Mr. Tsypin and guitarist Colin Davin gave the work its US premiere on a New York Philharmonic Ensembles concert in January, 2013.
John’s String Quartet #4 was premiered by the Amphion String Quartet in October, 2011. His Songs of a Mannequin, for solo guitar, was premiered by Guitarist Christopher Kenniff in May, 2011 and his Sonata for Solo Violin, was premiered in Mendoza, Argentina in April, 2010 by Vladimir Tsypin and his Two Suburban Madrigals were premiered the following month by the Madrigal Singers in Montclair, New Jersey. Dr. Sichel’s String Quartet #3 received its premiere on January 28, 2007 at an ‘Artistic Club Luba’ concert in Englewood, New Jersey. New York Philharmonic musicians Vladimir Tsypin, Lisa G. Kim (violins), Kathy Greene (viola) and Sumire Kudo (cello) were the featured performers. The first performance of Dr. Sichel’s Piano Trio occurred on April 30, 2006, on a New York Philharmonic Ensembles program with Lisa G. Kim, Eric Bartlett and Susan Walters performing.
Francesca Da Bimini, was commissioned by the National Symphony, and was premiered by that orchestra in December of 2003, with Leonard Slatkin conducting. Pianist Lenore Fishman Davis gave the first performance of Mr. Sichel’s Concerto Mystico II in March of 2003, with the New Philharmonic of New Jersey, Leon Hyman conducting. Other works of that era were written for and performed by The New Jersey Youth Symphony, The New Jersey Music Teachers Association, Duo Fresco (Christopher Kenniff, guitar and Brett Deubner, viola) and the Toy Piano collection of the University of California at San Diego.
John's Piano Saxophone Quintet is scheduled to be recorded April 8, 2023, for Ravello Records. Cellist Ning Tien and pianist Roy Imperio included the Second Cello Sonata on their 2017 double CD set, "Music from Four Continents," available from CDBaby.com. "John Sichel: Piano Sonatas," featuring four sonatas performed by pianists Tomoko Harada and HsinYi Tsai, was released on CDBaby.com in 2016. "The Chamber Music of John Sichel," featuring John 's String Quartets #3 and #4, and his Piano Trio, with the Amphion String Quartet and pianist Hsin-yi Tsai, is also available CDBaby. A compact disc of Dr. Sichel’s solo works and duets was released in 2002 on the Musician’s Showcase label (MS 1071, entitled “Oiseaux Ordinaires”). Two of his Five Chamber Marches were included on the album “Frantic Antics” by the wind band Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (Newport Classics NPD 85644) and his Three Places in New Jersey was recorded by the Slovak Radio Orchestra, Joel Suben conducting, for Opus One Records (CD #170). His orchestrations of music by the 20th Century composer Anthony Scarmolin have been recorded for the Naxos and Centaur labels. His music is published under his own imprimatur, Great Horned Music and also by Ludwig Music.
John received a 2014 Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. He graduated in 1981 from Princeton University and did his graduate work at the Yale School of Music, where his teachers included Jacob Druckman, Nicholas Maw and Martin Bresnick, and from which he received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in 1990. He is a member of ASCAP and is Associate Professor of Music at Raritan Valley Community College, where he is conductor of the college Chorale, and also teaches theory, composition and is currently chair of the Arts & Design Department. He is also music director of the Madrigal Singers, a Renaissance vocal ensemble based in Cranford, New Jersey. A lifelong resident of the Garden State, he currently lives in Union County with his wife (the kids are out of the house). His hobbies include birding and astronomy and he has written a considerable body of bad fiction, which he will let you read if you ask him nicely.
John's Piano Saxophone Quintet is scheduled to be recorded April 8, 2023, for Ravello Records. Cellist Ning Tien and pianist Roy Imperio included the Second Cello Sonata on their 2017 double CD set, "Music from Four Continents," available from CDBaby.com. "John Sichel: Piano Sonatas," featuring four sonatas performed by pianists Tomoko Harada and HsinYi Tsai, was released on CDBaby.com in 2016. "The Chamber Music of John Sichel," featuring John 's String Quartets #3 and #4, and his Piano Trio, with the Amphion String Quartet and pianist Hsin-yi Tsai, is also available CDBaby. A compact disc of Dr. Sichel’s solo works and duets was released in 2002 on the Musician’s Showcase label (MS 1071, entitled “Oiseaux Ordinaires”). Two of his Five Chamber Marches were included on the album “Frantic Antics” by the wind band Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (Newport Classics NPD 85644) and his Three Places in New Jersey was recorded by the Slovak Radio Orchestra, Joel Suben conducting, for Opus One Records (CD #170). His orchestrations of music by the 20th Century composer Anthony Scarmolin have been recorded for the Naxos and Centaur labels. His music is published under his own imprimatur, Great Horned Music and also by Ludwig Music.
John received a 2014 Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. He graduated in 1981 from Princeton University and did his graduate work at the Yale School of Music, where his teachers included Jacob Druckman, Nicholas Maw and Martin Bresnick, and from which he received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in 1990. He is a member of ASCAP and is Associate Professor of Music at Raritan Valley Community College, where he is conductor of the college Chorale, and also teaches theory, composition and is currently chair of the Arts & Design Department. He is also music director of the Madrigal Singers, a Renaissance vocal ensemble based in Cranford, New Jersey. A lifelong resident of the Garden State, he currently lives in Union County with his wife (the kids are out of the house). His hobbies include birding and astronomy and he has written a considerable body of bad fiction, which he will let you read if you ask him nicely.