JOHN G. BILOTTA (1948 -       ) was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, but has spent most his life in the San Francisco Bay Area where he studied composition with Frederick Saunders at the San Francisco Music & Arts Institute.  He has attended masterclasses and workshops with composers Alexander Tcherepnin, David Del Tredici, and Chen Yi, among others.  He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, taking Bachelors and Masters degrees in psychology. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Society of Composers, Inc, for which he edits SCION, the organization's opportunities newsletter.  He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Goat Hall Productions.

 

Bilotta’s early vocal works, particularly the Renaissance Songs, Yeats Songs, and Two Songs on American Poetry, have been performed repeatedly at music festivals and concerts in both the United States and Europe.  His most recent song cycle The League of Minor Characters premiered in August, 2017.

 

His one-act opera Aria da Capo (1980), a setting of the verse play by Edna St. Vincent Millay, was a finalist in a competition sponsored by the New York City Opera.  His second opera Quantum Mechanic, winner of the 2007 Opera-in-a-Month Challenge as well as the 2010 AmericanaFestival Award, has been widely performed in the U.S. and Europe. His third opera Trifles (2010), a setting of the play by Susan Glaspell, has had multiple productions in the U.S.  His most recent opera Rosetta’s Stone (2015) was a collaborative project with a Norwegian composer/librettist team and premiered in California in 2016.

 

Bilotta’s works have been performed in the United States, Canada, Asia, and Europe by outstanding soloists and ensembles including rarescale, Earplay, the Talea Ensemble, the Washington Square Contemporary Music Society, Chamber Mix, Musica Nova, the Avenue Winds, Presidio Ensemble, The City of Tomorrow wind quintet, the Boston String Quartet, the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra, the Kiev Philharmonic, the Oakland Civic Orchestra, San Francisco Cabaret Opera, Bluegrass Opera, Boston Metro Opera, Thompson Street Opera, New Fangled Opera, and Floating Opera. 

 

His music is available on Capstone Records, Navona Records, New Music North, Beauport Classical Recordings, ERMMedia and Australia’s Bouddi Recordings.