My musical education began at an early age: my parents claim that I could sing along to every Beatles song by the age of three. My formal training in classical music began with piano lessons at age six, inspired by my kindergarten teacher. During high school, I played keyboards in a cover band called the Planetary Buzz and the jazz band. And in my freshman year at
Williams College, I found out that I wanted to become a composer rather than, for example, a biochemical engineer.
I wrote my first relatively decent piece during my junior year, and ended up studying composition with Lewis Spratlan, Robert Suderburg, David Kechley, and Karl Korte, receiving my B.A. in Music in 1998. I have since received an M.M. and G.D. in Music Composition from New England Conservatory, where I studied with Michael Gandolfi. While at NEC, I started a tour of duty fighting in the trenches for new music, serving as General Manager of Dinosaur Annex Music Ensemble for nearly four years. Some time after that, I got to hang out for a while at Harmonix Music Systems working on transcribing songs for the Rock Band series of video games, writing music for internal prototypes, and eventually contributing lots of music, sound, and game design to Fantasia: Music Evolved.
I live in Boston with my wife, two sons, and cat.
I was named Time’s Person of the Year in 2006.
Born in 1977 in Brooklyn, New York, Michael J. Veloso’s studies in music began with piano lessons at age six, which eventually blossomed into a love of composition at Williams College, where he studied with Lewis Spratlan, Robert Suderburg, David Kechley, and Karl Korte. While there he helped found the Independent Music Project, a student organization dedicated to the performance of works by Williams composers. After receiving his B.A. with Highest Honors in Music, he continued his education at New England Conservatory, earning an M.M. and G.D. in Music Composition while studying with Michael Gandolfi.
Michael has written dozens of works for a wide range of musical forces. He has composed music for Joshua Lawton, David Stansbury, Sharon Hsin-Yi Chen, Fireworks, New Century Voices, and Roseae Feminae, and has received commissions from the NOW Ensemble and the Arlington-Belmont Chamber Chorus. In addition to those performers, his works have been played by Jordan Winds (under the direction of Bill Drury), Peter Sykes, Larry Zimmermann, and Karna Millen, and his music has been presented by New Music North, Composers in Red Sneakers, and the New Gallery Concert Series. His setting of E.E. Cummings’s poem “love is the every only god” was awarded First Prize in Singing City’s annual choral competition in 2007.
For four years, Michael was General Manager of Dinosaur Annex Music Ensemble, a Boston-based chamber ensemble dedicated to the performance of new music. He also hosted a two-hour show on public radio called “Bouquets of Drone” on which he broadcast electronica and classical music new and old. Michael’s volunteer efforts have included accompanying for Allegra Martin’s New Century Voices, a chorus focused on performing 20th- and 21st-century music.
Available on CD are Honey Glazed, a collection of chamber music; Point of Descent, a soundtrack for a video game that was, sadly, never released; The Winter’s Tale, incidental music for a production of Shakespeare’s play; and Parquet Deformation, the third movement of Honey Glazed, is featured on the New Hudson Quartet’s CD Quartet at the Crossroads.
Let’s talk about how I can contribute to your vision! I have experience writing in a wide variety of styles, including: modernist classical music, big band jazz, pulpy ’50s sci-fi, Elizabethan folk, ’80s video game retro, and ambient electronica. I love collaborating with other artists, and diving into something new.
