Scott Perkins

Connecticut native Scott Perkins (he/him) enjoys a multifaceted career as an international prize-winning composer of vocal music, an award-winning scholar, and a dynamic educator. His “beautifully crafted” (American Record Guide) and “tightly composed” (Choral Journal) compositions have been called “dramatic” and “colorful” (The Washington Post), and “perfectly orchestrated” and “haunting” (The Washington Times). He has been commissioned by organizations ranging from the Washington National Opera to the American Guild of Organists, and his work has been performed throughout North America and Europe. He has released three discs on the Gothic and Navona labels, and he is published by E. C. Schirmer, Augsburg Fortress, and Paraclete Press, among others. He has been an invited guest lecturer on his music and research at Harvard University, The Hartt School, Boston University, and the University of the Pacific.

Scott’s recent and current projects have been extended works that support and illuminate the words of living authors on themes of social justice, environmentalism, and mental health. His style can be characterized by its lyricism, modal influences, tonal centricity, and metric flexibility. Benjamin Britten, Thomas Tallis, Sigur Rós, Arvo Pärt, and Samuel Barber have influenced the techniques and sound of some of his music.

Scott is Associate Professor of Music at California State University, Sacramento, where he is Head of Music Theory and Composition. For five years, Scott served as co-director of Sacramento State’s Festival of New American Music (FeNAM), the nation’s longest-running, free new music festival.

Scott earned his PhD in Composition, an MA in Music Theory, and an MA in Music Theory Pedagogy at the Eastman School of Music. A lifelong learner, he studies Hindustani music with Saili Oak, the acclaimed North Indian classical vocalist of the Jaipur-Atrauli Gharana, and Arabic music with the international prize-winning qanun virtuoso and vocalist Ali Paris.