Michael Kerbeykian-Mikulka's music has been performed throughout the United States and abroad, including by members of the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, and Dallas Symphony Orchestra, by performance faculty at universities across the country, and by founding members of the Canadian Brass, Mnozil Brass, and the Kronos Quartet. He has been named a winner or finalist 33 times in composition contests and calls for scores. Michael is Assistant Professor of Music Theory and Composition at Lamar University. He previously taught at Austin Community College.
Michael (b. 1985) completed his DMA in
Composition at the University of
Texas, where his primary teacher was Donald Grantham. He completed his MM in Composition at Central
Michigan University, where he studied with David Gillingham, and he received his undergraduate degree in Music Education
from
Rutgers University.
As a horn player, Michael has studied with Pat
Hughes, Douglas
Lundeen, and Amy Larkey-Emelianoff. While pursuing his doctoral degree, Michael performed as a
member of the University of Texas Symphony Orchestra, Wind
Ensemble, and Horn
Choir. He has performed several solo and chamber compositions
by living composers, including the October 2018 premiere of David
Carlton Adams' "Concerto for Horn and Chamber Orchestra".
Michael has been selected as a clinician and contributing artist at
several conferences, including the 54th, 55th, 56th, and 57th International
Horn Symposiums. His book A Practical Method for Horn Multiphonics has been widely praised by new music experts and brass pedagogues, and his Horn Quarter-Tone Fingering Chart is widely utilized by horn players.
In March of 2013, Michael created New Band Music,
a composer advocacy site which promoted self-published wind ensemble
works written by "emerging" composers for free. He was the founder and conductor of
the Vine
Orchestra, which resulted in
the premiere of more than 50 (six-second or less) compositions.
Michael also performs on duduk, oud, and trumpet. He
is half Armenian and hopes that his cooking and duduk/oud playing
at least partially offset his blond hair and toddler-like grasp of the
Armenian language. Michael
grew up in rural New Jersey (it exists). He is a fan of
the New York Mets and Boston Red Sox (and whichever team is playing the Yankees).
Michael also follows basketball and is a casual
fan of the New York Liberty, but he primarily roots for
individual players rather than teams ever since the Nets moved from New Jersey to Brooklyn.