Curtis Cacioppo is an American composer of contemporary classical music

Contemporary classical music

Contemporary classical music can be understood as belonging to the period that started in the mid-1970s with the retreat of modernism. However, the term may also be employed in a broader sense to refer to all post-1945 modern musical forms.-Categorization:...

 and pianist. He is of Sicilian ancestry on his father's side, and Anglo-Saxon ancestry on his mother's side.

He received his bachelor's degree from Kent State University

Kent State University

Kent State University is a public research university located in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university has eight campuses around the northeast Ohio region with the main campus in Kent being the largest...

, where he majored in piano and also studied composition. He earned an M.A. degree in musicology from New York University

New York University

New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...

 in 1976, where he studied with Gustave Reese

Gustave Reese

Gustave Reese was an American musicologist and teacher. Reese is known mainly for his work on medieval and Renaissance music, particularly with his two publications Music in the Middle Ages and Music in the Renaissance ; these two books remain the standard reference works for these two eras,...

. He studied at Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 with Leon Kirchner

Leon Kirchner

Leon Kirchner was an American composer of contemporary classical music. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his String Quartet No. 3.Kirchner was born in Brooklyn, New York...

, Earl Kim

Earl Kim

Earl Kim was a Korean-American composer.Kim was born in Dinuba, California, to immigrant Korean parents. He began piano studies at age ten and soon developed an interest in composition, studying in Los Angeles and Berkeley with, among others, Arnold Schoenberg, Ernest Bloch, and Roger Sessions...

, and Ivan Tcherepnin

Ivan Tcherepnin

Ivan Tcherepnin was an experimental, then later modernist/postmodernist, composer. He was born into a highly musical family, his father and grandfather, Alexander and Nikolai, being distinguished Russian composers, and his mother Ming a well-known pianist...

, earning M.A. (1979) and Ph.D. (1980) degrees in composition. He was also mentored by the ethnomusicologist David P. McAllester

David P. McAllester

David Park McAllester , an ethnomusicologist, was Professor of Anthropology and Music at Wesleyan University, where he taught from 1947-1986. He made seminal contributions to the development of the field of ethnomusicology, and helped establish the ethnomusicology department and the World Music...

.

Cacioppo taught at Harvard University for four years. Since 1983 he has taught at Haverford College

Haverford College

Haverford College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in Haverford, Pennsylvania, United States, a suburb of Philadelphia...

. His music is influenced by Native American music

Native American music

American Indian music is the music that is used, created or performed by Native North Americans, specifically traditional tribal music. In addition to the traditional music of the Native American groups, there now exist pan-tribal and inter-tribal genres as well as distinct Indian subgenres of...

, and he teaches courses on Native American

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 subjects at Haverford College.

Discography

• 1998 - Curt Cacioppo (Capstone
  Capstone Records
  Capstone Records is an American classical music record label focusing particularly on contemporary classical music. It was established by Richard Brooks in 1986, and was based in Brooklyn, New York...
  
  )
• Ancestral Passage (2-CD set)
• Burning With the Muse

External links

• Curt Cacioppo biography
• [ Allmusic page]