Lee University music professor Dr. John Wykoff has been commissioned to compose two new choral works for the inauguration ceremony of the President of the United States in January.
A Lee University associate said, "Besides being a composer, John is a sincere Christian liberal arts music educator, and I'm so grateful to have him as a mentor at Lee University."
Lee University's Mass Choir performed at the Presidential Inauguration in 2013.
Dr. Wykoff holds a Ph.D. in music composition from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, an M.A. in music composition from the Aaron Copland School of Music, Queens College, and a B.A. in music and philosophy from Covenant College.
He has composed works for piano, voice, various chamber ensembles, orchestra and choir. His music has been performed by the International Contemporary Ensemble, Cygnus, Second Instrumental Unit, and the MIVOS Quartet. Queens College awarded him the George Perle Award for music composition, a distinction particularly meaningful to him, since he especially admires the music of George Perle.
Before joining the Lee University faculty, he taught music theory and musicianship at the Aaron Copland School of Music, Queens College. He was a Chancellor’s Fellow at the Graduate Center in Manhattan, where he studied composition with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Del Tredici. Wykoff is deeply interested in church music, and has been a featured speaker at the annual conference of the Alliance of Christian Musicians. In addition to composition, he has research interests in atonal voice-leading and theories of form.
His parents are Dale and Lucy Black Wykoff of East Brainerd.