Michael Ippolito

Michael Ippolito is currently studying composition with Joel Hoffman and Michael Fiday and improvisation with Alan Bern at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He was born in Tampa, FL and began his musical studies as a pianist. In May of 2000, his first major work for piano and orchestra was premiered at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center with the Tampa Bay Youth Orchestras featuring the composer as soloist. In February of 2003, his Waltz was premiered by the Florida Orchestra at the University of South Florida’s composer showcase. In 2004, his song, Willow Poem, was selected as the best student entry in the American Art Song Competition, part of the San Francisco Song Festival. Also in that year, the Ohio Federation of Music Clubs in its annual composition competition recognized his piano piece, Blackbird Variations. In 2005, the Cincinnati Symphony and conductor John Morris Russell commissioned The March of Mad King George, which was premiered at one of the orchestra's Young People's Concerts in November of that year. For the past two years, he has been a participating composer in MusicX in Cincinnati and he participated in the “Upbeat Hvar” International Summer School in Croatia in 2005. His compositions include works for solo instruments, voice, various chamber ensembles and orchestra.