the BRASS PROJECT
Saad Haddad (b. 1992) is a composer of orchestral, chamber, vocal, and electroacoustic music who achieves a “remarkable fusion of idioms” (New York Times), most notably in his work exploring the disparate qualities inherent in Western art music and Middle Eastern musical tradition. His music delves into that relationship by transferring the performance techniques of traditional Arab instruments to Western symphonic instruments, while extending their capabilities through the advancement of technology.
Mr. Haddad’s orchestral works have been performed by the Minnesota Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, American Composers Orchestra, Illinois Philharmonic, Chicago Composers Orchestra, Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, Symphony in C, Hangzhou Philharmonic, and the symphony orchestras of Albany, Columbus, Milwaukee, New Jersey, Princeton, and Sioux City. He has also received performances by the JACK Quartet, Lydian String Quartet, Locrian Chamber Players, Society for New Music, and Utah Arts Festival, and his works have been performed abroad in China, Austria, Germany, Brazil and Canada.
Recent distinctions include the Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Barlow Endowment General Commission, S&R Foundation Washington Award Grand Prize, Jerome Fund for New Music grant from the American Composers Forum, Palmer Dixon Award from The Juilliard School, Aaron Copland Residency Award, and multiple awards from ASCAP, BMI, and the Vancouver Chamber Choir. He has been in residence at the Millay Colony for the Arts, Ucross Foundation, Bogliasco Foundation, Studios of Key West, Soundstreams Composer Workshop, and Luzerne Music Center.
Born in the state of Georgia and raised in California, Saad Haddad holds degrees in composition from The Juilliard School and the University of Southern California, where his principal teachers included John Corigliano, Mari Kimura, Bruce Broughton, Frank Ticheli, Stephen Hartke, and Donald Crockett. He divides his time between Los Angeles and New York, where he currently serves as a Dean’s Fellow at Columbia University.
Mr. Haddad is currently the 2019-2021 Young Concert Artists Composer-in-Residence. Selected by a panel of Young Concert Artists alumni, he joins the roster of Young Concert Artists, which provides management services, publicity, and seeks out commissioning and performance opportunities, and he receives two YCA commissions. The first is for Young Concert Artists pianist Aristo Sham, who will premiere the commission on the Young Concert Artists Series in April, 2020 at Merkin Concert Hall in New York and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. The second commission, for another YCA artist, will premiere during the 2020-2021 season.
NOTE: When editing, please do not delete references to Young Concert Artists, nor special prizes. Please do not use previously dated biographies. (updated April 2019)
Composer in Residence 2016-2019
Rhodes Scholar Nick DiBerardino (b. 1989) is an American composer of orchestral, chamber, and vocal music. His work is strongly motivated by harmony and often invests in melodic lyricism, intricate contrapuntal textures, and idiosyncratic forms. He crafts his pieces around broad, often overtly dramatic narrative arcs, always working to engage and challenge listeners with his art. Nick's orchestral music has been performed by the American Composers’ Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, and the Minnesota Orchestra. He has sustained lasting collaborations with Curtis’ Brass Project and the percussionists of arx duo, among many other ensembles, and his music has received recognition from the Music Teachers’ National Association, the National Federation of Music Clubs, the New York Art Ensemble, the Boston New Music Initiative, PARMA Recordings, the New York Youth Symphony, ASCAP, and the American Composers' Forum. Other accolades include winning the Portland Chamber Music Festival Composition Competition, garnering a soundSCAPE Composition Prize, and receiving a Horizon Award from Connecticut's Westport Arts Advisory Committee, given to young artists who have achieved "measurable excellence" in their field.
Nick earned his bachelor’s degree at Princeton University, where he founded the Undergraduate Composers Collective, was elected early to Phi Beta Kappa, and was awarded the Edward T. Cone Memorial Prize for excellence in music theory and composition. At the University of Oxford, Nick obtained an M.Phil with distinction, co-founded and chaired the Oxford Laptop Orchestra, and was awarded the John Lowell Osgood Memorial Prize for composition. Nick also holds an M.M. from the Yale School of Music, where he received the Charles and Philippa Richardson Memorial Scholarship and was awarded the Frances E. Osborne Kellogg Memorial Prize.
Nick has participated in seminars and festivals with the New York Youth Symphony, the European American Musical Alliance, the Brevard Music Center, the Aspen Music Festival, the Norfolk New Music Workshop, the highSCORE festival, the soundSCAPE festival, and the Bowdoin International Music Festival, where his work was featured on the Charles E. Gamper Festival of Contemporary Music. He has been a composer fellow at the Bennington Chamber Music Conference, a composer-in-residence at the Avaloch Farm Music Institute, and Young Artist Composer-in-Residence at Music from Angel Fire.
As a passionate advocate for new music, Nick has spoken to listeners both at home and abroad about his art, including an appearance on BBC Radio Oxford, an interactive performance workshop with the Oxford Laptop Orchestra at London's Barbican Theatre, and interviews on public radio and television in Philadelphia, Connecticut, and New Mexico. Consistent with his belief in the transformative power of music, Nick also served as co-founder and director of “Back in Tune,” an initiative designed to provide underserved students in Bridgeport, Connecticut with musical instruction and to collect, refurbish, and distribute used instruments on their behalf. A committed teacher, Nick has worked as a teaching fellow and assistant at Yale University, the Yale School of Music, the Curtis Institute of Music, and four of the University of Oxford's Colleges. He serves as the musical studies lead instructor and curriculum coordinator at Curtis' Young Artist Summer Program and is currently composer-in-residence at the Luzerne Music Center, where he is on the composition and theory faculty. Nick is pursuing a Post-Baccalaureate Diploma in composition at the Curtis Institute of Music and maintains a private composition studio in Philadelphia.