Mischa Zupko

Celebrated Chicago-based composer Mischa Zupko writes music that is emotionally charged, viscerally engaging, and continually evolving. He has created a body of work that is intensely virtuosic and speaks with clarity of vision. New York Times critic Anthony Tommasini writes, Zupko’s Five Etudes for Piano were “…Liszt-like in their florid generosity.” The Los Angeles Times hails his compositions as “Engaging.” Mr. Zupko’s commissioners include the Minnesota Orchestra, Pacific Symphony, Camerata Chicago, Fulcrum Point New Music Project, Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, Music Institute of Chicago, and New York Youth Symphony. An avid proponent of virtuosity, Zupko has collaborated closely with soloists including cellists Jeffrey Ziegler and Nicholas Photinos, trumpeter Stephen Burns, pianist Winston Choi, saxophonists Timothy McAllister and Fred Hemke, flutist Thomas Robertello, harpist Maria Luisa Rayan, and organists David Schrader and Doug Cleveland. Mr. Zupko’s numerous awards include first place in the Pacific Symphony Orchestra’s American Composer’s Competition, the Lee Ettelson Composers Award from Composers Inc., co-winner of the USA International Harp Competition Composition Contest, three ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards including the first prize Kaplan Award, the First Music Award from the New York Youth Symphony, the Jacob Druckman Prize from the Aspen Music Festival, and finalist in the Rome Prize Competition. Mr. Zupko serves as composer-in-residence for the Music Institute of Chicago and has held teaching positions at DePaul University and Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts.