Michael Markowski

From Wind Repertory Project
Michael Markowski

Biography

Michael Markowski (b. 14 November 1986, Mesa, Ariz.) is fully qualified to watch movies and cartoons. In 2010, he successfully graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Film from Arizona State University.

While Markowski has never studied music at a university, he has studied privately with his mentors Jon Gomez and Dr. Karl Schindler. However, he has continued his education by participating in a number of programs including "the art of orchestration" with television and film orchestrator Steven Scott Smalley, and in 2008, was invited to be a part of the National Band Association's Young Composer and Conductor Mentorship program.

In 2006, his work for concert band, Shadow Rituals, was honored with first prize in the first Frank Ticheli Composition Contest, sponsored by Manhattan Beach Music. The work is now published by Manhattan Beach Music and is on several state lists including the Texas Prescribed Music List. The piece has received a number of prestigious performances since its premiere by the Arizona State University Wind Symphony, some of which include the Midwest Clinic in Chicago by the VanderCook College of Music and by the 4A Honor Band at the 2008 Texas Music Educators Association Conference, Poteet High School.

Other notable performances include The Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, the U.S. Air Force Band of the Golden West, the U.S. Air Force Band of Mid-America, Arizona State University, California State University-Fullerton, Rutgers University, San Jose State University, The University of North Texas, Arrowhead Union High School, The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Youth Wind Ensembles, and the Austin Symphonic Band.

Markowski has received commissions for new works from a number of organizations including CBDNA, The Consortium for the Advancement of Wind Band Literature, The Lesbian and Gay Band Association, Arrowhead Union High School, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Youth Wind Ensembles, Bethel High School, and other consortiums of schools.

A brief insight into Markowski's creative process can be found in a contributing chapter of Composers on Composing for Band, Vol. IV: Young Emerging Composers, published by GIA Music. His work has also been analyzed in the Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series (Volume 7).

For the last several years, he has arranged, co-composed, and been music director for an original musical celebrating the life of Judy Garland aptly titled Judy: The Musical. He is a member of ASCAP and currently lives in Astoria, New York.


Works for Winds

Adaptable Music


All Wind Works


Resources

  • Meunier, Robert. "Instinctive Travels." In Teaching Music through Performance in Band. Volume 10, Compiled and edited by Richard Miles, 752-761. Chicago: GIA Publications, 2015.
  • Michael Markowski website
  • Suk, Richard. "The Cave You Fear." In Teaching Music through Performance in Band. Volume 11, Compiled and edited by Richard Miles, 279-284. Chicago: GIA Publications, 2018.