Nancy Galbraith (b. 1951) resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, where she is Professor and Chair of Composition at Carnegie Mellon University. In a career that spans three decades, her music has earned praise for its rich harmonic texture, rhythmic vitality, emotional and spiritual depth, and wide range of expression. Her works have been directed by some of the world's finest conductors, including Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Mariss Jansons, Keith Lockhart, Sidney Harth, Samuel Jones, and Robert Page. Her compositions are featured on numerous recordings, including five anthologies. With major contributions to the repertoires of symphony orchestras, concert choirs, wind ensembles, chamber ensembles, and soloists, Galbraith plays a leading role in defining the sound of contemporary classical music.

Galbraith has had six works performed by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, beginning with the 1988 premiere of Morning Litany, directed by the eminent Russian conductor Gennady Rozhdetsvensky. The orchestra followed with performances of Danza de los Duendes in 1992 and Piano Concerto No. 1 in 1995 with conductor Kirk Muspratt, and Tormenta del Sur in 2001 with conductor Lucas Richman. In 1998 the PSO commissioned and premiered A Festive Violet Pulse for a celebration welcoming its new music director Mariss Jansons. Most recently, she was commissioned to compose De profundis ad lucem, which the PSO premiered in October 2002.

Galbraith's Piano Concerto No. 1 was recorded by conductor Keith Lockhart (Boston Pops, Utah Symphony) with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra and pianist Ralph Zitterbart. It was released in 1996 on Ocean Records' premiere disc titled New Energy From the Americas. The concerto has been aired on radio stations across North America, and has received praise from Fanfare Magazine, American Record Guide, and the Cincinnati Inquirer who wrote, "A formidable work for piano in three movements, this is an equally virtuoso piece for orchestra, and a welcome addition to the concerto literature of this century." In 1997 USAirways featured the third movement of the concerto on its classical music station, in a program titled "Great Piano Music".

The composer has also enjoyed two premieres by the Orquesta Sinfónica de Tucumán in Argentina—Danza de los Duendes (1992), and Tormenta del Sur (1995)—where La Gazeta described her as "one of the most outstanding composers of her generation along with Philip Glass and John Adams." In 2003 the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra (Pennsylvania) commissioned Fantasy for Orchestra for their 75th anniversary.
 

In 2005, Galbraith's Requiem was premiered by the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh with the Academy Chamber Orchestra. Commissioned by music director Robert Page, the work concluded the celebrated conductor's 26th and final year with the Mendelssohn Choir. Declared "a masterpiece" by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Requiem is a landmark display of the composer's creative and technical proficiency crafted into a work of profound inspiration and spiritual power.

The following year she was commissioned by Beit Benedict United States to compose Novena, an oratorio for four vocal solists, chamber orchestra, and pre-recorded audio elements. The Chicago premiere in April 2007 was presented to raise funds and awareness for the Beit Benedict Interfaith Peace Academy at Dormition Abbey in Jerusalem. The new facilities will provide space and resources for community leaders representing Judaism, Christianity, and Islam who seek solutions for peace in the Holy Land.

The Pittsburgh Camerata commissioned and premiered Sacred Songs and Interludes (2006), which features texts from the seven major world religions. The Camerata later recorded the work, along with Galbraith's O Magnum Mysterium and Ave Maria, for their 2007 release, Nancy Galbraith: Sacred Songs and Interludes.

Galbraith first attained distinction as a choral composer in 1999 when the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh, conducted by Robert Page, commissioned and premiered Missa Mysteriorum (Mass of the Mysteries). Scored for choir and wind ensemble, the composer's glorious Mass merged her sacred and concert art music styles into a work described by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as "both spiritual and radiant, with an immediacy that can't be ignored." It has since been performed by choirs at the University of Chicago and the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, and by the Masterworks Chorale of Thief River Falls Minnesota, and the Choral Art Society of Portland Maine. In 2002 the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh gave two repeat performances, and recorded the Mass for a CD titled Nancy Galbraith.

The success of her Mass quickly led to a string of commissions for new choral and vocal works, including Magnificat (2002), Four River Songs (2002), God of Justice (2004), Requiem (2004), Sacred Songs and Interludes (2006), Novena (2006), O Magnum Mysterium (2006), and Two Emily Dickinson Songs, which was premiered by CONCORA at the 2007 NEA American Masterpieces Choral Festival in Providence, Rhode Island. Galbraith's vocal catalog also includes numerous art songs, sacred anthems, and liturgical works.
 

Nancy Galbraith has attained international recognition as a composer of concert band music. Her works are regularly performed by some of the world's finest ensembles, including the Musashino Academy of Music Wind Ensemble (Japan), the Waspik Symphonic Wind Orchestra (the Netherlands), Bispehaugen Ungdomkorps (Norway), the Yale Concert Band, and the highly acclaimed North Texas Wind Symphony. Her most popular works for this genre—with brightness round about it (1993), Danza de los Duendes (1996), Wind Symphony No. 1 (1996), and Elfin Thunderbolt (1998)—have together enjoyed over 100 performances in the past decade.

Recently, the composer’s unique and spirited Concerto for Piano and Wind Ensemble (2000) has found its way into the concert band repertoire. In 1999 the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh and music director Robert Page commissioned and premiered Missa Mysteriorum, scored for concert choir and wind ensemble. Galbraith's concerto and Mass were recorded in 2003 by the Carnegie Mellon Wind Ensemble and the Mendelssohn Choir, and released on a CD titled Nancy Galbraith.

Her other works can be found on two Klavier disks—Dream Catchers (1998) featuring the North Texas Wind Symphony conducted by Eugene Corporon, and Internal Combustion (2001) with the IUP Wind Symphony conducted by Jack Stamp—and on recordings by the University of Wisconsin (Milwaukee), the University of North Carolina, Drake University, and the Waukesha Area Symphonic Band (Wisconsin).

Galbraith's Washington's Landing (2006) and Luminosity (2008) were commissioned and premiered by Pittsburgh's popular River City Brass Band.
 

Galbraith's most recent chamber works include three electroacoustic compositions Traverso Mistico (2006), Night Train (2008), and Other Sun (2009) [see next section], and a woodwind sextet Reflections (2008) that was premiered in a performance featuring her daughter Amy Galbraith on oboe and English horn.

Capstone Records' recent CD set, Points of Entry: The Laurels Project features numerous works by contemporary women composers, including Galbraith's flute solo Voices That Beautify the Earth performed by Nancy Stagnitta.

Galbraith has composed three works for Mexico's award-winning string quartet, Cuarteto Latinoamericano, who premiered String Quartet No. 1 in 1996, Inquiet Spirits in 2000, and String Quartet No. 3 in 2005. The three works are featured on a new CD collection, Nancy Galbraith: Cuarteto Latinoamericano that also includes Introduction and Allegro for Violin and Piano (2006) performed by Cuarteto violinist Saúl Bitrán and pianist Luz Manriquez.

In 2001, her Atacama Sonata (2001) was premiered at The Juilliard School by flutist Alberto Almarza and pianist Luz Manriquez, and later recorded for Albany Records' CD, Nancy Galbraith: Atacama (2003). The composer's woodwind trio Aeolin Muses (1993) has enjoyed recent performances by New York Philharmonic musicians Pascual Martinez Forteza and Kim Laskowski in recitals at The Harmonie Club in Manhattan.

In 2003 Galbraith completed Of Nature, a double reed quartet commissioned by the University of Texas at Austin for bassoonist Kristin Wolfe Jensen and oboist Rebecca Henderson, who premiered the work at the International Double Reed Society conference at the University of North Carolina. The following year, bassoonist Eric Goldman premiered Sonata for Bassoon and Piano with pianist Donna Amato. In 2007 the sonata was chosen as the contemporary music selection for the program of required works for the Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition. The winner performed the work at the International Double Reed Society conference in Ithaca, New York.

In 1999 ÉLAN Recordings released a disk titled Nancy Galbraith: Four Chamber Works, which received enthusiastic critical acclaim from several publications including American Record Guide, Records International, and Chamber Music magazine, who praised the disk's closing work, Rhythms and Rituals (1995), as "An example of the kind of piece that should be the 'sound of classical music' on today's radio stations."

Mexico's Trío Neos commissioned and premiered Aeolian Muses in 1993, and performs it regularly on tours throughout North and Central America. In 2000 the group released a CD titled Mujeres de las Américas (Quindecim Recordings), which opens with Galbraith's trio. A third ensemble from Mexico, Sinfonietta Ventus, commissioned the composer to write Dos Danzas Latinas (2002), which they premiered and recorded for the Nancy Galbraith: Atacama CD. Both Trío Neos and Sinfonietta Ventus have performed the composer's works at Mexico's prominent Festival Internacional Cervantino in Guanajuato.

Other chamber works include the composer's haunting percussion trio Island Echoes (2000), Incantation and Allegro (1995) written for Pittsburgh Symphony principal players Cynthia Koledo DeAlmeida (oboe) and Nancy Goeres (bassoon), and Two Moods for Harp (2006) commissioned by Pittsburgh Symphony principal harpist Gretchen Van Hoesen. Galbraith has also had several works premiered by the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, including Into Light (1989), Fantasia (1986), and Time Cycle (1984).
 

Galbraith has recently collaborated with world-renowned Baroque flutist Stephen Schultz on three new works featuring electroacoustic performances on cellos and Baroque-era flutes. In 2006 Traverso Mistico was premiered by Schultz, cellist Barney Culver, and the Carnegie Mellon Contemporary Ensemble. This success was followed by the 2008 premiere of Night Train, presented by Schultz, Pittsburgh's cross-over electric cello quartet Cellofourte, and a percussion section of marimba and drums. In 2009 Schultz and Cellofourte's spin-off group, Cello Fury, presented the premiere of the composer's Other Sun.

In this trilogy of works, Galbraith makes use of guitar effects processors, loop stations, and amplification to produce enhanced flute and cello timbres, echoes, and delays. The three premieres were received with great enthusiasm by audiences at Carnegie Mellon University, and the listeners of broadcasts on WQED-FM in Pittsburgh. In 2010, a new CD, Nancy Galbraith: Music With Friends, will include recordings of Traverso Mistico and Night Train.

Recently Galbraith's oratorio Novena (2007) premiered at Chicago's St. Procopius Abbey with four vocal soloists, a chamber orchestra, and pre-recorded audio featuring the composer's sound designs, which make use of primitive flutes and chants, inter-faith prayer recitations, animal voices, and original sounds created in her home studio. The audio integrates seamlessly with the live performances of the vocalists and instrumentalists.

Composer Galbraith is also an accomplished pianist and organist, and has written and performed a number of works for those instruments. She performed the premiere of her first professional work Haunted Fantasy (1979) in a concert with the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble. At Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Arts Festival she played the premiere of her Prelude for Piano (1986). In her earlier years at Carnegie Mellon University she performed in numerous recitals as an accompanist and soloist.

Her virtuosic and inspired Piano Sonata No. 1 (1997) is a familiar fixture in contemporary piano music literature, and has been recorded by pianists Nancy Boston, Leslie Spotz, and Pittsburgh Symphony principle keyboard artist Patricia Prattis Jennings (Nancy Galbraith: Atacama).

Galbraith frequently performs her own organ works, and has concertized on several of the finest pipe organs in the Pittsburgh area, and on the chapel organ at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg. Her organ repertoire includes Prelude and Fugue, Cortege, Litany, Agnus Dei (adapted from her Mass), Christ by Whose Death, O Lord Who May Abide?, and Gloria Te Deum, which was recently performed by Thomas Weisflog at the University of Chicago's Rockefeller Chapel. Organist Carson Cooman has performed a number of Galbraith's works in concerts in New York, Massachusetts, and California.

In addition to her two epic works Missa Mysteriorum (1999) and Requiem (2004), which set traditional Latin Christian texts, Galbraith has composed several concert choral and vocal works with inter-faith themes. God of Justice (2004) and Novena (2006) combine sacred texts from Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Sacred Songs and Interludes (2006) celebrates texts from the world's seven major religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Tao, Confucianism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Concurrent with her concert music career, Galbraith has enjoyed great success as a composer of music for church choirs and congregations. Drawing upon her experience as music director and organist at Christ Lutheran Church in Pittsburgh, she has composed a sizeable collection of anthems, canons, liturgical settings, and organ works. Her most popular sacred anthems include In Unity and Love (1997), Christ By Whose Death (1999), and O Magnum Mysterium (2006) which was premiered by the Beit Benedict Festival Choir at St. Procopius Abbey in Lisle, Illinois.

Since 1997 she has enjoyed a special relationship with the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg. During this time she has composed several commissioned works, has appeared as Artist-in-Residence, and has performed and conducted her own works. In 2001 the seminary teamed with Music Gettysburg!, a community arts organization, to present a public concert of Galbraith's sacred works to celebrate the seminary's 175th Anniversary. The concert concluded with a performance of Missa Mysteriorum, presented by the combined forces of the Schola Cantorum of Gettysburg, the Seminary Motet Choir, and the Music Gettysburg! Wind Band.
 

Galbraith is in frequent demand as a guest lecturer and clinician. Recent engagements include appearances at UCLA, California State University at Northridge, the University of Chicago, Vassar College, Northwestern College (Minnesota), Washington and Jefferson College, the Patabsco High School & Center for the Arts (Baltimore), and the Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Arts.

In 2004 she was engaged as the featured Artist-in-Residence at the 7th Festival of Women Composers International sponsored by Indiana University of Pennsylvania. The event featured numerous performances of her works along with those of other prominent writers, including Libby Larson and Katherine Hoover. Recently, Galbraith's music has been presented by esteemed conductor Judith Clurman for choral workshops at The Juilliard School and Virginia Wesleyan College.

Galbraith has worked as a recording producer on many of her own albums, and was engaged to help produce the Mendelssohn Choir/River City Brass CD, Christmas!, which was the declared favorite of astronaut John Glenn on his 1998 Space Shuttle mission.

A prolific and obsessive composer, Galbraith devotes the same amount of time and energy to her students at Carnegie Mellon University, where she is highly respected as a teacher of composition and music theory.
 

Nancy Galbraith was born into a musical family on January 27, 1951 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She began piano studies at the age of four with her mother, pianist/organist Alverta Hoffman Riddle, who passed her along to pianist Fredrick Schiefelbein. She also enjoyed the encouragement and support of her uncle, Pittsburgh Symphony violinist Freeman Hoffman. During her teen years she studied piano with Father Ignatius Purda at St. Vincent's College, and music theory and piano at the Carnegie Mellon Preparatory School of Music. She also studied clarinet with the Pittsburgh Symphony's Jerry Levine, and was first chair clarinet of the Allegheny Valley Honors Band for four years. Galbraith earned degrees in composition from Ohio University (BM, 1972) and West Virginia University (MM, 1978), and continued studies in composition, piano, and organ at Carnegie Mellon University.