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Gary Heckard is a versatile composer, brass musician and teacher. He is
proficent in many styles of music, and he incorporates his many influences into a distinctive musical voice all his own. His music has been described as
contemporary classical, jazz and "third stream." Born in Los Angeles in 1974, he is currently based in New York City. He regularly travels to perform, to teach and for performances of his compositions. His music has been performed worldwide and broadcast on the National Radios of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Hungary and Israel. In 1997, he was the feature subject of a one hour documentary on YLE (Finnish National Radio).
As a composer, Gary has written music for symphony orchestras, solo piano and harp, various instrumental chamber ensembles and large and small jazz ensembles. He has written works for Reiko Füting, Evan Matthews and Adan Vasquez, was composer-in residence with The Greenwich Village Orchestra, has received a Wayne Shorter Award for Jazz Composition from The Berklee College of Music and a Greenwood Village Grant for The Arts and Humanities.
As a performer and instrumentalist, Gary has performed and recorded his own compositions and improvisations, covers, standards and classics, and has performed on stage and/or recorded with John Abercrombie, The American Symphony Orchestra, Gary Burton, George Garzone, Cornelius Claudio Kreusch, The Kronos Quartet, David Liebman, Brian Kendall Moore, The New York Philharmonic, Mika Pohjola, The NHK Orchestra, Herb Pomeroy, Casey Scheuerell, The San Francisco Symphony, Clark Terry and Josef Zawinul.
As a teacher, Gary has 24 years of experience in the classroom and more than 28 years in the private studio. He has taught brass instruments, woodwind instruments, piano, voice, band, orchestra, chorus, music theory, ear training and composition to students of all ages. He is a NY and NJ certified teacher and also holds certifications in Kodály, Orff and Dalcroze methods of music instruction. He holds a Master of Education (Ed.M.) degree from Columbia University, a Master of Music (M.M.) degree in composition from The Manhattan School of Music, a Bachelor of Music (B.M.) degree with a double major in classical & jazz composition from the The Berklee College of Music, and has completed additional formal studies in music and education at The Kodály Institute in Kecskemét, Hungary, New York University, Westminster Choir College in Princeton, Aspen Music Festival & School and The Rotterdams Conservatorium in The Netherlands.
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