John Liberatore is a composer, pianist, and one of the world’s few glass harmonica players. Described by critics as “enchanting” and “truly magical” (Boston and New York Classical Review, respectively), his music seeks poignancy through levity, ambiguity through transparency, and complexity within simple textures—“to feel pulled along at varying speeds in multiple directions, but always forward.” (clevelandclassical.com)
Over the past several years, his music has received hundreds of performances in venues on five continents: the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, The Four Seasons Center, the Seoul Arts Center, Sint-Germanuskirk in Belgium, and many others. He is the recipient fellowships from MacDowell (2020, 2017 NEA Fellow) Tanglewood, Yaddo, the Brush Creek Arts Foundation, the I-Park Artist’s Enclave, and the Millay Colony. Other notable distinctions include commissions from the Fromm Music Foundation and the American Opera Initiative, two ASCAP Morton Gould Awards, and the Brian Israel Prize. Through a 2012 Presser Music Award, he studied in Tokyo with Jo Kondo—a mentorship that made an indelible impression on his music.
In 2015, Liberatore commissioned glass blowers G. Finkenbeiner Inc. for a new glass harmonica, becoming one of the few exponents of this rare instrument in contemporary music. Since then, he has been exploring new ways of integrating this unique timbre in contemporary chamber music, both acoustically and electronically. So far, he has collaborated as a composer and performer with Roomful of Teeth, percussionist Daniel Druckman, soprano Jamie Jordan, the Concert Choir of Old Saint Patrick’s, and as a soloist at the Third Practice Festival.
In 2018, Albany Records released “Line Drawings,” a portrait album of Liberatore’s chamber music. The album features Liberatore’s recording debut on the glass harmonica (alongside Daniel Druckman and Jamie Jordan), as well as pieces for The Mivos Quartet, pianist Ryan MacEvoy McCullough, Bent Frequency, and Duo Damiana. Other recordings of his work are available on Centaur, Innova, and Ravello record labels.
In addition to the performers mentioned above, many other leading ensembles and soloists have performed his work, including Dinosaur Annex, Earplay, The New York Virtuoso Singers, The Cleveland Contemporary Players, Duo Cortona, the American Wild Ensemble, Washington National Opera, the Buffalo Philharmonic, Eastman Philharmonica, and the South Bend Symphony Orchestra. Since 2018, he has been collaborating with Zohn Collective, with whom he is planning a second portrait album in 2023.
Liberatore is also active as a pianist, having performed at a number of national venues. Most recently, he appeared at the PianoForte Foundation of Chicago, the Tenri Cultural Institute, the New York Electroacoustic Music Festival, the N_SEME Conference in Philadelphia, the Composition in Asia International Symposium in Tampa, and the Howard Hanson residency of Jo Kondo at Eastman.
He received his PhD from the Eastman School of Music in 2014, writing his dissertation on an aesthetic analysis of Jo Kondo's piano work High Window. While there, he was actively engaged in the production of new music, serving as president of the Ossia New Music Ensemble during the 2010-11 concert season, and producing and supporting concerts through his affiliation with the Eastman Computer Music Center. He served as interim director of the ECMC during the 2012-13 academic year. He holds additional degrees from Syracuse University (B.M. summa cum laude), and Eastman (M.M.).
In 2015, he began teaching at University of Notre Dame where he now serves as Associate Professor of Composition and Theory. In addition to his appointment in the Department of Music, he also serves as a faculty fellow in the Sacred Music graduate program and the Nanovic Institute for European Studies. At Notre Dame, he hosts a wide variety of guest composers and ensembles on behalf of his various affiliations. A passionate educator, he taught previously at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, Syracuse University, and Eastman.