B i o g r a p h y
Tony is a composer and orchestrator for concerts and multimedia living in Petoskey, MI. He provides a multi-layered and sensory experience through expressive, colorful orchestration and warm melodies. He adds new perspectives to stories, environments, and everything in between through massive orchestral productions, as well as intimate atmospheres.
With performances and readings from renowned ensembles such as Apollo Chamber Players, the University of Cambridge Concert Band, and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Tony's music has been played across the nation and is now published through both MusicSpoke and New Music Shelf.
He actively brings new music to his Northern Michigan home. Love Awakens: for concert band was commissioned by the Mackinac Arts Council and premiered by the Straits Area Concert Band, celebrating Henry David Thoreau's bicentennial birthday. Soon after, Northern Symphonic Winds (NSW) of Charlevoix, MI, commissioned Tony to write a new piece for the ensemble, titled, On the Threshold of Spring, which premiered in May 2019. He is currently NSW's composer-in-residence. He was also the local Bay View Music Festival's first-ever composer-in-residence for the 2018 summer season, working with the Woodwind Quintet Faculty on his character piece, WHOA!. Tony's involvement with Bay View continues in 2019, with the premiere of three new Art Songs, to be performed by Casey Robards (piano) and Risa Harman (soprano). Currently, he is working with The Accidentals, a local folk band, orchestrating their music to be performed alongside the Traverse Symphony Orchestra.
All the while, Tony lives the life of a video game composer, constructing sonic spaces and emotionally-driven tracks to enliven each game's world. His most recent, completed soundtracks are that for Kharon's Crypt and Rot:Purge. Currently, he is working on the music for Call of Saregnar, a 90’s-inspired low-poly 3D RPG. Bridging the gap between “game music” and “contemporary classical music,” he continually strives to have his soundtracks performed as a means to draw in new audiences to the world of classical music. One example is his Suite from Kharon's Crypt, an orchestral medley of tracks from the Kharon's Crypt soundtrack.
Continually branching out into various styles, many of his projects involve sacred music: the full, orchestral score for Saint Luke Productions' latest drama, "Tolton: From Slave to Priest," their upcoming film, "Faustina: Messenger of Divine Mercy," and a Concert Band piece commissioned by Holy Ghost Preparatory School in Bensalem PA, "Rejoice in the Holy Spirit," which premiered in September 2018.
Recent awards include Brazosport Symphony Orchestra's Composer Competition, the inaugural Texas A&M University’s Composition Competition and Symposium, Symphony Number One's Fourth Call for Scores as a semi-finalist, and a Merit Award in the Tribeca New Music Young Composer Competition.
