About Michael
Bio
Michael K. Slayton has composed numerous works in a cross-section of musical genres, with specific emphasis on chamber music. His continuing dedication to the value of artistic exchange has afforded him the opportunity to write for distinguished performers all over the world.
Global Performances
Published through American Composers Edition, Inc. (BMI), his music is regularly programmed in the U.S. and abroad, including Chemnitz, Seitz, Leipzig, Droyssig, and Weimar, Germany; Graz, Austria; Paris, Tours, and Marquette-lez-Lille, France; Kristiansund, Norway; Aviero, Portugal; Brussels, Belgium; Johannesburg and Potchefstroom, South Africa; Sao Paulo, Brazil; London, UK; and New York, NY.
Notable Recordings
2016 saw the PARMA Recordings release of his first portrait CD, entitled Sursum. His second, Sage Brushes (PARMA, 2024), offers musical representations of works by visual artists, including Joan Miró, Paul Klee, Alma Thomas, Marcel Duchamp, Frida Kahlo, Beatriz Milhazes, Mark Rothko, and On Kawara.
Other Publications
Slayton is also an author/editor-in-chief of Women of Influence in Contemporary Music (Scarecrow Press, 2011), a book detailing the lives and music of several of America’s notable women in composition. Women of Influence was the winner of the 2013 Pauline Alderman Award, awarded by the International Alliance for Women in Music.
A member of the American Composer’s Alliance, Society of Composers, Inc., the College Music Society, Connecticut Composers, Inc., and Broadcast Music, Inc., Michael continues to be an active participant in the national and international music community. He currently serves as professor and chair of composition and theory at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music.