American composer Douglas Pew (b. 1980) is noted for his ability to strike at the root of the emotional world through his music, “with a showman’s touch and a poet’s soul, letting it take flight” (Jake Heggie, composer of Moby Dick). His music has been heralded as “stunning…magical” (Washington Times) and “sensual, other-worldly, expressive and showcasing a rich harmonic pallet, sure to connect with audiences, while saying something fresh, profound and meaningful” (The Pianist’s Craft, Vol. 2).

Pew’s sacred choral works have been commissioned and premiered internationally, including his Missa Musica Sacra, commissioned and premiered by the Warsaw-Praga Cathedral Choir in Poland, which received 2nd prize in the Musica Sacra Nova International Choral Composition Competition. His 1-hour chamber opera Penny premiered with Washington National Opera at the John F. Kennedy Center to wide acclaim: “Penny simply works, not because we should like it, but because it has a story to tell” (Washington Post).

Douglas has received multiple additional awards including a Barlow Endowment commission, 1st prize in the 2009 SCI/ASCAP Student Composers Commission Competition, the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composers Award, the Susan and Ford Schumann Fellowship at the Aspen Music Festival, and a prize from the Tangeman Sacred Music Center.

Douglas holds Masters and Doctoral degrees from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, as well as a post-graduate certificate from the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, Poland, where he studied with internationally revered composer Paweł Łukaszewski as a Fulbright Scholar. Douglas served as composer-in-residence at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Cincinnati, OH, and is active as a conductor, vocalist, author, and entrepreneur. His music is published by Boosey & Hawkes, Schott Music, Santa Barbara Music Publishing, Jackman Music Corporation, and his own publishing house, Blue Shore Music.