The 'white piano' at Virginia Center for the Arts Photo: Lucille Colin

Emerging as a composer with a unique, yet quintessentially American sound, Drew Hemenger’s music has been heard all over the United States and Canada as well as parts of Europe and Asia. Described as “deceptively simple” (New Music Box); “perfectly crazy” (Sequenza 21); and “unlike anything I’ve heard before – in a good way!” (Ned Rorem), Hemenger’s music has been performed in venues ranging from Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center to intimate churches in the Midwest.  Although he now considers himself a New Yorker, Hemenger remains close to his Ohio roots.

His works have been commissioned by distinguished artists and institutions, both here and abroad. These include the Goldman Memorial Band (Manhattan Flourish), Chicago’s Orion Ensemble (Which Way Home?), Chamber Music Yellow Springs (Three Inner Moments: String Quartet No. 2, for The Vogler Quartet), University of Texas at Austin (Sharks, for violinist Brian Lewis), Madrid’s Jones & Maruri Cello/Guitar Duo  (Songs From America), recorded on EMEC Discos; The Auros Ensemble (For Robin), and Sweeden’s Duo Con Forza (Petit Duo), and most recently Pascal and Ami Rog� (Four Places in New York, piano 4-hands version); to commemorate the ten-year anniversary of 9/11, Pascal and Ami were invited to premiere the third movement, “Union Square, September, 14, 2001” at the New York Chamber Music Festival at Symphony Space.

Current stage projects include An Evening in the Harlem Renaissance, a one-act ‘live documentary’ inspired by the life of the jazz-influenced and iconic Harlem Renaissance poet, Langston Hughes, in collaboration with soprano Adrienne Danrich - most recently performed at Cincinnati's Freedom Center; and a large-scale opera, in collaboration with Tony award-winning director Loy Acenas, based on Marianna Villanueva’s novella about a Filipina mail-order bride’s inadvertent witness of the Oklahoma City bombing.

Winner of Boston University’s 1996 ALEA III International Composition Competition, Hemenger’s residencies and fellowships include the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Banff Centre, Omi International Arts Center, and the Bowdoin and Aspen Music Festivals. He has also served as Composer-in-Residence for the New York-based dance company, RamosDance.

Hemenger earned a Bachelor’s degree in Trumpet Performance from Ohio Wesleyan University, after which he studied composition at The Juilliard School with Stanley Wolfe.  His Master’s and Doctoral degrees are from Manhattan School of Music where he studied principally with Richard Danielpour. Other teachers and mentors include George Crumb, David Del Tredici, Sebastian Currier, and Robert Beaser.

Hemenger’s music is published by Seemsa (Madrid) and LK Drew Publishing.

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