John Moran (composer)

John Moran is an American composer, author and choreographer. He was born in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1965.

John Moran is often considered the protégé of composer Philip Glass. He was born in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1965, and began his career with the debut of his first opera in 1988. His works as a composer and theater artist are unusual, in that actors or dancers are generally expected to work silently (as mimes) to a score of highly edited voices and sound-effects. These works are known for such specific interaction between sound and movement that they have sometimes been categorized as dance. Whatever the description of Moran's works, what most have agreed is that they defy any conventional classification. Over the last 2 decades, his work has featured performers such as Uma Thurman, Allen Ginsberg, Julia Stiles and Iggy Pop, at venues like Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, American Repertory Theater, New York Shakespeare Festival / Public Theater and many more internationally. Publications like The New York Times have frequently referred to Moran as "one of the leading vanguards of American music-theater.", and The Boston Globe has written, "Moran is a modern-day Mozart." In 2003, Philip Glass was quoted as saying, "I am convinced that there is no more important composer working today, than John Moran. His works have been so advanced as to be considered revolutionary."

Major works by Moran include: Jack Benny! (1988), The Manson Family: An Opera (1990), Everyday, Newt Burman (The Trilogy of Cyclic-Existence) (1993), Mathew in the School of Life (1997), Book of the Dead (2nd Avenue) (2000), John Moran...and his neighbor, Saori (2005), Saori's Birthday! (2007), John Moran and Saori (in Thailand) (2010) and John Moran: The Con Artist (Etudes: Amsterdam).

Moran has been twice commissioned for large-scale works of music-theater by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (New York), as well as American Repertory Theater at Harvard (Cambridge), The Joseph Papp / New York Shakespeare Festival (New York), Battersea Arts Centre (London), Mayfest Bristol (England), The Arches (Glasgow, Scotland), Pümpenhaus Münster (Germany), Hellerau Center for European Arts (Germany) and others. He has received numerous fellowships and awards, including The Pen American Center, and The American Academy of Arts and Letters. His work Book of the Dead (2nd Avenue) received The Henry Hewes Design Award for Best Theatrical Design of New York City (2000), as well as a Village Voice Obie Award in 1995, and several Best of Fringe awards internationally.

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