Samuel Hazo

Samuel R. Hazo (b. 1966) has been a music teacher at every educational grade level from kindergarten through college, including tenure as a high school and university band director. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Duquesne University, where he served on the Board of Governors and was awarded as Duquesne’s Outstanding Graduate in Music Education. In 2003, Mr. Hazo became the first composer in history to be named winner of both composition contests sponsored by the National Band Association, and was twice named “Teacher of Distinction” by the Southwestern Pennsylvania Teachers’ Excellence Foundation. He has composed for the professional, university, and public school levels, in addition to writing original scores for television, radio, and the stage. His original symphonic compositions have been performed on programs that included actors Brooke Shields, James Earl Jones, David Conrad, and Richard Kiley. He has also written symphonic arrangements for three-time Grammy Award winning singer/songwriter Lucinda Williams. Mr. Hazo’s compositions have been performed and recorded worldwide, including performances by the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra (national tour), the Birmingham Symphonic Winds (UK), and the Klavier Wind Project’s recordings with Eugene Corporon. Additionally, his music is included in the series “Teaching Music Through Performance in Band.” Mr. Hazo’s works have been premiered and performed at the Music Educators’ National Conference, Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles Convention, National Honor Band of America, National Band Association/TBA Convention, and College Band Directors’ National Association Convention, and have also aired in full-length programs on National Public Radio. He has served as composer-in-residence at Craig Kirchhoff’s University of Minnesota Conducting Symposium, and has lectured on music and music education at universities and high schools internationally. In 2004, Mr. Hazo’s compositions were listed in a published national survey of the “Top Twenty Compositions of All Time” for wind band. Mr. Hazo serves as a guest conductor and is a clinician for Hal Leonard Corporation. He is also sponsored by Sibelius Music Software. Recordings of his compositions appear on Klavier Records and Mark Records. He resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with his wife and children.