James Hobbs (born Miami, Florida,
1951) received his musical education at the Cleveland Institute of Music (BM, piano;
BM, MM, composition) and Northwestern University (DM, composition). His principal
teachers were Marcel Dick, Donald Erb and M. William Karlins.
The composer's major orchestral works include
Xiá Xiǎng, Fractals,
Symphony no. 1 and a Piano concerto.
He has also written chamber,
solo, choral,
vocal and
electronic music.
Among his honors are awards from the National Endowment
for the Arts, American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, American Music
Center, Meet the Composer and Rencontres Internationales de Chant Choral. Artist
residencies have included positions as guest composer for the Indiana Contemporary
Music Festival, the Oklahoma City Chamber Orchestra's "Backstage" Series, and the
Omaha Symphony's Festival of Contemporary Music.
Organizations that have performed his works include the Indianapolis, Omaha, Tulsa,
Oklahoma City, Esprit Contemporain, Fox Valley and Peninsula Festival Orchestras;
North/South Consonance, Cleveland Composers Guild, Chicago Society of Composers,
Composers' Resources, International Computer Music Conference, International Electronic
and Avant-Garde Festival, Society for Electroacoustic Music in the United States and
New Music America. His works have been broadcast over the NPR network and been heard
at international and national conferences held in Toronto, Los Angeles, New York,
Chicago and Atlanta.
Reviews of Hobbs' music have been very positive.
About Fractals, Theodore Price for High Fidelity/Musical America
magazine wrote ". . . More than any other composition in this festival
Fractals substantiates the 'good news' that composers have
refreshed the principle of music as an object of beauty . . . " and Gaynor Jones
for the Toronto Star wrote ". . . The piece, listened to for the first time,
sounded fresh and approachable, its elements bonded together like crystals, giving a
reflection of some lovely lights and sounds . . . "
About Symphony No. 1, Kyle MacMillan for the Omaha
World-Herald wrote ". . . This interesting work was an unusual amalgamation of
musical elements that ranged from the highly melodic to wholly atonal. This piece
provided plenty of challenges for the orchestra. . . . " and Frederick Black for
the Terre-Haute Tribune Star wrote ". . . among its commendable qualities were a
lyric middle movement and a brillant final movement that was both syncopated and
rhapsodic. . . . "
Hobbs has taught composition and piano at the Cleveland Institute of Music,
Morningside College and Indiana University of Pennsylvania; managed audio and computer
labs at Northwestern University's Music Library; and currently, is an IT Infrastructure
User Support Specialist at the Northwestern University Libraries.