Paul Brantley’s compositions have been performed or commissioned by The Knights (at Tanglewood, BRIC, Dumbarton Oaks and Naumburg Concerts), Minneapolis Guitar Quartet, Horszowski Trio, Flux Quartet, New Esterházy Quartet, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, U.C. Berkeley Chamber Chorus (on tour), Monadnock Music Festival, Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, St. Bartholomew’s Summer Festival of Sacred Music, The Young People’s Chorus of NYC, Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas conducted by Alondra de la Parra (NYC’s Town Hall), Left Bank Ensemble (Kennedy Center), Ethel (Kimmel Center), Excelsior Trombone Ensemble (NPR’s Performance Today), The Goliard Ensemble on tour, The Manhattan School of Music Symphony, Belladonna (Schubert Club, St. Paul, MN), L’Opera duVillage (Pourrieres, France), SONYC (the Kitchen), and as featured composer on the series Bargemusic, Ecstatic Music (Merkin Hall), The Harry Jacobs Chamber Music Society, HVG, North River, MOSA, and Concerts in the Heights.
Recent premieres and performances include Brantley’s cello concertino, The Royal Revolver, with cellist Eric Jacobsen (The Knights) and the University of Michigan Symphony conducted by Kenneth Kiesler. The premiere recording of his Filles de l’Élysée, for cello and classical guitar appears on the new Boyd Meets Girl CD (Sono Luminous/Naxos). Aliénor Competition commission, Yeeremynd for solo harpsichord, was premiered by Steve Beck. In the last two years The Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra (NYC) with soprano Jennifer Zetlan has given the 25th anniversary performance of On the Pulse of Morning (a setting of Maya Angelou’s inaugural poem) as well as the premiere of Linden Terrace. At the 92nd St Y soprano Ariadne Greif and pianist Steve Beck gave the premiere of Four American Songs; and alto-flutist Alice Teyssier and classical guitarist Dan Lippel premiered Apollo Architectons, builder of shelters and bridges. In October 2024 Columbia University presented a concert of Brantley’s music including two premieres — performed by Steve Beck, Dan Lippel, Laura MetCalf, and Alice Teyssier. Upcoming performances include premieres by Electric Earth Concerts and Marshall Opera.
Paul is a seven-time MacDowell Fellow who has also received fellowships from Banff Centre and Anderson Center. Brantley has been composer-in-residence for Monadnock Music Festival, Gabriel Fauré Conservatoire (France), Goliard Ensemble, Yara Arts Group, The Seal Bay Festival, Children’s Choral Celebration, Sewanee Music Festival, Washington and Lee University, and the Sophia Institute at Union Theological Seminary. He has given composition seminars at Yale School of Music, Hunter College (Anthropology Dept.), The University of Georgia Hugh Hodgson School of Music, and The University of Michigan School of Music.
A multifaceted musician, Brantley has performed or recorded as solo cellist with Trey Anastasio (Phish), Cantata Profana, CITH, Cassatt Quartet, Jeff Coffin Mutet, Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, Dave Gregory (XTC), Heartbeat Opera, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, Lenny White, and SONYC.
Brantley has arranged and conducted for David Binney, Ethel, Todd Rundgren, and Christian Scott. Paul studied at Manhattan School of Music (B.M), Curtis Institute (diploma), Eastman School of Music (M.M.) as well as Fontainebleau, Tanglewood, and The Yellow Barn where he was later artist faculty. His principal teachers include Samuel Adler, Leonard Bernstein, Eugene Eicher, Alan Harris, Betsy Jolas, Leon Kirchner, David Loeb, Ned Rorem, and David Wells. He co-founded the Seal Bay Festival of American Music and was artist faculty at Yellow Barn Music Festival for many years. In addition to positions at Syracuse University and Washington and Lee University, Brantley was a Manhattan School of Music faculty member from 2000 to 2014.
Paul Brantley resides in New York City where he free-lances as a composer, cellist, and conductor. His music is published by Bill Holab Music and Oxford University Press. He has recorded solo cello for Sony/Columbia, Rounder, Warner Bros., Polydor, Compass, etc.
During his MacDowell residencies, Brantley has composed and worked on many other projects, recordings, and works, including The Royal Revolver, Brünhilde’s Peroration, Esterhâzy, The Rebirth of the Dream, Mystery Sonata, Lamentation for string orchestra, a setting of the Hermann Hesse poem Höhe des Sommers (The Height of Summer), Quiēs in memory of his friend Kim Saxon Fratesi, a setting of Maya Angelou’s inaugural poem On the Pulse of Morning for soprano and orchestra, and Concord Psalms.
Portrait by Drake White
