CURRENT / RECENT
Premieres: Bloomington, IN : March 5, 2020
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My contribution is ALBERTI BOMBARDIER (2018)
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THE EISENSTEIN MUMMERS (2018)
written for the "Bang on a Roomful of Teeth All Stars"
- tenor saxophone, 3 accordions, tuba, piano, percussion, viola, cello, doublebass -
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TOKYO TO NEW YORK
"Chords That Rhyme with Your Eyes" (2017) commissioned
(an annual series of concerts in New York and Tokyo)
World premiere: 18 November 2017
Tenri Cultural Center
43 W. 13th Street
Hell's Kitchen / Manhattan, NYC
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BURY THE HATCHET (2017)
commissioned for the Corona Guitar Kvartet - Copenhagen, Denmark
Performances : Denmark and Europe, 2017 / 18
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- Multiple Orchestra Consortium
commissioned for the
Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Detroit Symphony Youth Orchestra
Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra
Butler Symphony Orchestra
- Multiple Orchestra Consortium
Honoring the 70th / 75th Anniversary of the End of World War II
1. Dachaulieder
2. Rising Sun, Fallen Sky
3. Blast of Silence
Fort Smith (AR) Symphony Orchestra, Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra
VIDEO
- Butler University School of Music / Jordan College of the Arts
30:00 mono-drama / mono-opera for singer / actor and ten chamber players
Premiere : Artsfest 2015
American premiere - Indianapolis - April 2015
- Ronen Chamber Ensemble / Cathedral Arts, Inc. - 2014/15
THE WOLVES OF PARNASSUS
WORLD PREMIERE: 12 MAY 2015
"The Wolves of Parnassus howls with conviction from the very start. Schelle's wolves are
pack animals and predators upon musical order, particularly in the first and last movements.
They are reminders that in addition to being sacred to Apollo, Parnassus also was regarded
as having a strong connection to Dionysus, a god after Schelle's own heart."
Jay Harvey, Upstage complete review here
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measure soft memories and gain release from shards of harsh remorse, and we
are soaring into space beyond human ken, a soul freeing itself into lightness."
- Greater Hartford Arts Council
- New York State Council for the Arts
$25,000 New York State Arts Council grant to support various projects & activities as Composer in Residence with the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra and the Finger Lakes Chamber Music Festival, NYC and upstate New York
- League of American Orchestras, Inc.
$25,000 grant for five (5) new orchestral works as Composer in Residence for the great state of New Mexico. Michael Schelle was selected - by the League of American Orchestras - for the Music Alive: New Partnerships initiative, which fosters new relationships between composers and orchestras. Eight (8) extended trips to / residencies in New Mexico and five (5) different orchestra-commissioned world premieres during the period, sponsored by the League of American Orchestras, Inc. and MUSIC ALIVE / Meet the Composer, Inc.
- College Band Directors National Association
/ symphonic wind ensemble, 'inspired' by the 2011 Japan earthquakes and tsunami, the Mayan calendar, and the Nostradamus doomsday prophecy for the end of the world on 21 December 2012. 35 CBDNA university bands participating in the consortium include Michigan, Eastman, Texas, Kansas, Indiana, Florida, Minnesota, Illinois, SUNY, New Mexico, Michigan State, Kansas State, Butler University, Trinity, etc. . . . see: The End of the World
- South Shore Orchestra (Chicago)
SUN-WUKONG (2013) was premiered in November 2013, and then included on the SSO's 8-concert tour throughout China (Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, etc.) - December 2013 / January 2014.
Troy Webdell, conductor, Joshua DeVries, cello.
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THE EXORCISM OF THE SUGAR PLUM FAIRY- Midwest Orchestra Consortium
2012/2013 : ORCHESTRA CONSORTIUM COMMISSION : The Exorcism of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Consortium orchestras include the Detroit Symphony, Dayton Philharmonic, Nashville Symphony, Tulsa Symphony, Missouri Symphony, Fort Smith (AR) Symphony, Alabama Symphony Orchestra (Birmingham), Toledo Symphony, South Shore Orchestra (Chicago), Albuquerque Youth Symphony, Illinois Wesleyan Civic Orchestra, and others . . .
LISTEN HERE: THE EXORCISM OF THE SUGAR PLUM FAIRY
N.B. all the theater, ballerina dancing, costuming, smoke, fading lights, falling snow (or equivalent),
etc. are described / indicated in the score . . . and highly recommended !!
WATCH THE VIDEO HERE: THE EXORCISM OF THE SUGAR PLUM FAIRY
THE EXORCISM OF THE SUGAR PLUM FAIRY was a 2012 consortium commission from 15 American orchestras including the Detroit Symphony, the Nashville Symphony, the Dayton Philharmonic, the Alabama Symphony (Birmingham), the Tulsa Symphony, the Albuquerque Youth Symphony and nine others. The Exorcism of the Sugar Plum Fairy was originally intended as a creepy, spooktacular new alternative to the standard predictable Halloween Concert fare (Night on Bald Mountain, In the Hall of the Mountain King, Dance Macabre, March to the Scaffold from Symphony Fantastique, etc.), but the piece has quickly - and quite surprisingly - graduated from Halloween status and already been scheduled to be part of various 2013/14 and 2014/15 season programs of youth concerts, Halloween in April concerts (cool!!), big orchestra Christmas / Holiday concerts (yes!!) and, amazingly, for two orchestras, as the opening piece for Classical Series Subscription concerts, sharing program space with the likes of Beethoven, Mozart, Bruckner, Stravinsky and Bartok (Yes !!). God Bless America and Halloween.
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- Arts Council of Indianapolis
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PRINCIPAL COMMISSIONS
ORCHESTRAL
- Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
- Minnesota Orchestra
- Detroit Symphony Orchestra
- Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra
- Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra
- Kansas City Symphony Orchestra
- Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra
- Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra
- Nashville Symphony Orchestra
- Knoxville Symphony Orchestra
- Fort Smith Symphony Orchestra
- Indiana State Orchestra Consortium
- South Shore Orchestra (Chicago)
- Missouri Symphony Orchestra
- Culver Military Academy Orchestra
- Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
- Manhattan Chamber Orchestra
- Cleveland Chamber Symphony
- Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra
- St. Petersburg Philharmonic (Russia)
- Kremlin Chamber Orchestra (Moscow)
- Kammerorchester Basel (Switzerland)
- Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional (Costa Rica)
CHAMBER MUSIC
- XTET (Los Angeles)
- "Tokyo to New York" Chamber Music (x3)
- American Pianists Association
- Ronen Chamber Ensemble (x3)
- UQ (Urban Quartet of Phoenix)
- Indiana Opera Theatre
- Koenig Ensemble of London
- Eastman New Music Group
- Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble
- Firenza New Music Festival (Italy)
- ArtsFest 2015 (The End of Al Capone
SYMPHONIC BAND / WIND ENSEMBLE
CONSORTIUM COMMISSIONS
- World Association for Symphonic Bands and Wind Ensembles (WASBE)
- College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA)
- Mid-America College Band Directors Association (MAC-BDA)
- Various university wind ensemble / consortium commissions
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COMPOSITION AWARDS (grants, prizes, awards and fellowships)
National Endowment for the Arts
American Music Center
American Symphony Orchestra League, Inc.
Rockefeller Foundation
League of American Orchestras, Inc.
The Welsh Arts Council (Cardiff, Wales)
The Organization of American States (OAS)
International Percussive Arts Society
American Composers Forum
Eli Lilly Foundation Grant
National Band Association : 2012 Revelli Composition Prize
New York State Arts Council
Pennsylvania Council on the Arts
New England Foundation for the Arts
Greater Hartford Arts Council
AMC "Meet The Composer" Music Alive program
Broadcast Music, Inc.
Arts Midwest
Pi Kappa Lambda (National Music Honor Society) Board of Regents - 2020
Minnesota State Arts Board
Great Lakes Arts Alliance
Barlow Endowment for Music Composition (Utah)
American Pianists Association : 1998 commissioned etude for the 12 semi-finalists
The Jerome Foundation
Pew Charitable Trust
Margaret Jory Fairbanks Fund
Butler University / Holcomb Research Foundation : multiple faculty grants
MacDowell Artists Colony, New Hampshire : extended residencies in 1977, 1989
ASCAP "Morton Gould Award" for Young Composers (under age 30): 1978, 1979, 1980
Wolf Trap Center for the Performing Arts (Vienna, VA) : Composer in Residence
Music Teachers National Association Composition Prize : Composer of the Year
Inter-American Music Festival Prize for New Orchestral Works (Costa Rica)
Delius Association Composition Prize
Music in the Mountains Orchestral Composition Prize (New York)
Arts Council of Indianapolis :
$7,500 Creative Renewal Arts Fellowship: for composition (2000)
Indiana Arts Commission : Individual Artist Fellowship program ($5,000): 1986, 1991, 1997
