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John M.
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r. Reese was born in 1963 in Fort Worth , Texas, the eighth of nine children.
From his first musical work at age six, "Once I Saw a Kittycat," young John was bitten by the composition bug.
His vocal and choral training in high school led him to college study at the University of Texas, majoring in music composition.
He writes, "The early attempts were pretty hilarious, but I was convinced I had the makings of a great composer."
Mr. Reese married his wife Cherise in 1986. He dedicated his five "Notebooks for Cherise" to her. Even while working in other positions (currently as tech support for Unisys in Austin, Texas), he has been driven to compose, following this passion which began in high school. Since 1990, Mr. Reese has completed over a hundred works, with particular emphasis on vocal music. You'll find among his works pieces for choir, organ, piano and handbells, as well as various works for instruments and ensembles. He enjoys writing in older styles, as seen in his two volumes of "Preludes and Fugues in the style of J.S. Bach." His personal style is a blend of influences from several different composers. Mr. Reese has collaborated with other composers on projects, and thoroughly enjoys working on commissions. Some of these commissions have been from the Austin Sängerunde Damenchor and the Austin Boys' Choir and from a number of churches. He currently works as a computer programmer at XTI Inc, having recently received an Associate degree in Applied Computer Information Systems. Even working toward a bachelor's degree at Park University does not keep him from his music. He joins his tenor voice to his wife's and many others in the Austin Civic Chorus which is singing Carl Orff's Carmina Burana with the Austin Symphony. In addition to his wonderful skills as a composer, Mr. Reese is also quite talented as a humorist, as a look at his website will attest: http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/Strasse/1570 Beside his rather dated black-and-white passport photo he writes: "This is how I looked in 1993, only I was in color. I currently look five years older." CanticaNOVA Publications, smiling, is pleased to offer several of John Reese's works in our catalogue:
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