John Warthen Struble is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 composer-pianist and writer. Born in 1953 in Washington, D.C, he began piano studies at the age of eight and performed his first work, a children’s musical theatre

Musical theatre

Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...

 piece, when he was 15. That same year, he made his concert debut playing Mozart’s C major Concerto, K. 467

Piano Concerto No. 21 (Mozart)

The Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467, was completed on March 9, 1785 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, four weeks after the completion of the previous D minor concerto.- Structure :There are three movements....

, with original cadenzas, with the San Bernardino

San Bernardino

San Bernardino, California is a large city in the Inland Empire Metropolitan Area of Southern California.San Bernardino may also refer to:-Landforms:*San Bernardino , a torrent that flows through the Italian province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola...

 (CA) Youth Symphony under Gerald Christensen.

As an undergraduate at Indiana University

Indiana University

Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...

, Struble studied with John Eaton

John Eaton

John Henry Eaton was an American politician and diplomat from Tennessee who served as U.S. Senator and as Secretary of War in the administration of Andrew Jackson. He was the youngest U.S. Senator in history, having been 28 years old at the time of his swearing-in.-Biography:Eaton was born near...

, Bernhard Heiden

Bernhard Heiden

Bernhard Heiden was a German and American composer and music teacher, who studied under and was heavily influenced by Paul Hindemith...

 and Juan Orrego-Salas

Juan Orrego-Salas

Juan Antonio Orrego Salas is a Chilean composer of contemporary classical music and musicologist.He was a student of Randall Thompson and Aaron Copland in the United States, and later he settled in that country in the early 1960s to work at Indiana University, where he co-founded the Latin...

, in addition to seminars with John Cage

John Cage

John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...

, Iannis Xenakis

Iannis Xenakis

Iannis Xenakis was a Romanian-born Greek ethnic, naturalized French composer, music theorist, and architect-engineer. He is commonly recognized as one of the most important post-war avant-garde composers...

, George Crumb

George Crumb

George Crumb is an American composer of contemporary classical music. He is noted as an explorer of unusual timbres, alternative forms of notation, and extended instrumental and vocal techniques. Examples include seagull effect for the cello , metallic vibrato for the piano George Crumb (born...

, Virgil Thomson

Virgil Thomson

Virgil Thomson was an American composer and critic. He was instrumental in the development of the "American Sound" in classical music...

, Aaron Copland

Aaron Copland

Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...

, Donald Erb

Donald Erb

Donald Erb was an American composer best known for large orchestral works such as Concerto for Brass and Orchestra and Ritual Observances.-Early years:...

 and others. His undergraduate thesis was a one-act opera, Pontifex (Op. 8), for theatre-in-the-round

Theatre in the round

Theatre-in-the-round or arena theatre is any theatre space in which the audience surrounds the stage area...

 with multiple chamber ensembles in lieu of orchestra.

Struble received his M.A. in Music from the University of California, San Diego, where he studied with Pauline Oliveros

Pauline Oliveros

Pauline Oliveros is an American accordionist and composer who is a central figure in the development of post-war electronic art music....

 and Robert Erickson

Robert Erickson

Robert Erickson was an American composer.He studied with Ernst Krenek from 1936-1947: "I had already studied—and abandoned—the twelve tone system before most other Americans had taken it up." He influenced notable students Morton Subotnick, Pauline Oliveros, Terry Riley, and Paul Dresher...

. His thesis was The “Concord Sonata” of Charles E. Ives: a reference for pianists and scholars, on which he worked with the late John Kirkpatrick at Yale, and which began his lifelong passion for American classical music

American classical music

American classical music is music written in the United States but in the European classical music tradition. In many cases, beginning in the 18th century, it has been influenced by American folk music styles; and from the 20th century to the present day it has often been influenced by folk, jazz,...

.

In subsequent years, Struble has written and performed a variety of works, ranging from his Granite State Suite (Op. 26 & 26a) to the somber Archbishop Romero Mass (Op. 18) for mixed chorus, brass choir, timpani and organ, premiered under the composer’s direction at the cathedral of the San Bernardino/Riverside Roman Catholic Diocese. His compositions range from serious piano sonatas to Broadway musicals

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

, from string quartet

String quartet

A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...

s to his 1996 Rhapsody for Piano and Jazz Band (Op. 46).

He is the author of The History of American Classical Music, published in 1995 by Facts on File (New York). In addition, his collection of 104 fundamental American folk songs

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

, entitled Classic American Folk Music, arranged for piano with historical commentary by the author, was published in two volumes by Belwin Mills in 1996.