Bio

Arthur Hernandez is an American composer whose works have been performed by such esteemed music groups and soloists as The Cleveland Orchestra, guitarist Jason Vieaux, The Cavani String Quartet, Apollo Chamber Players, The Cleveland Youth Wind Symphony, The Hartford Independent Chamber Orchestra (HICO), The Hoppa Project, e-cellist Jeffrey Krieger, percussionist Bill Solomon, pianist/conductor Magnus Martensson, The Alturas Duo and flutist Minta White to name a few. His music has been performed at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Symphony Space, Severance Hall in Cleveland, The Tenri Cultural Institute in New York, MATCH (Mid-town Arts & Theater Center Houston) The June in Buffalo Music Festival, the Aki Music Festival, The Wintergreen Music Festival, and on National Public Radio. He has given presentations and lectures about his music as well as the topic of new music throughout the United States.  His music has been described by critics as, “visionary,” “adventurous and daring,” “electrically charged,” “assured of lyric line,” “tender, exuberant,” and even, “defiantly weird.” The American composer David Felder said of Hernandez’s music, “his works display formal invention, a strong lyrical gift, and have behind them a tremendous force of energy.” His music is recorded on Capstone and ABLAZE Records.

Hernandez has been commissioned by, among others, The Cleveland Orchestra, Apollo Chamber Players for their 20×2020 project, e-cellist Jeffrey Krieger, conductor/composer/pianist Erberk Eryilmaz, percussionist Bill Solomon, The Alturas Duo, The Fortnightly Musical Club, The Cleveland Music School Settlement’s Youth Orchestra, Turn On The Music, and The Torrington High School Concert Band. He has studied composition with Donald Erb, Barney Childs, Robert Carl, Steven Gryc, Frank Wiley, Joseph Packales, and Margaret Brouwer. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Composition, cum laude, from the Hartt School where he won the prestigious Graduate Regents Award, a Master’s Degree in Composition, cum laude, from the University of Redlands, and a Bachelor of Music Degree in Theory and Composition from the University of Texas at El Paso. He did extensive doctoral work in composition at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, The American Music Center, The Massachusetts Arts Council, and the Bascom Little Fund.

From 2005-2016, Dr. Hernandez taught at Capital Community College in Hartford, Connecticut where he was Professor of Music and as well as Music Program Coordinator.  While at Capital he authored that college’s Associate Degree in Music Industry. This degree was the first fine arts degree ever offered at Capital Community College. He was also the founder, director, and curator of Concerts@Capital, an eclectic music concert series residing in Centinel Hill Hall on the campus of Capital Community College.  From 2016-2019, Dr. Hernandez was Assistant Professor of Music and Co-Coordinator of the Music Program at El Paso Community College, as well as the producer and curator of The Rio Grande Concert Series, a concert series dedicated to the promotion and dissemination of new music. In September of 2019, Arthur and his wife Sarah returned to their beloved New England while temporarily residing in the great state of Maine. In January of 2020, Hernandez and his wife returned to Connecticut where he is now Assistant Professor of Music at Gateway Community College in New Haven, Connecticut. They now reside, along with their dogs Maggie and Maya, their two goats, Corabelle and Dolly, in a historical home in the bucolic Connecticut countryside.