John Harbison, born John Harris Harbison on December 20, 1938, in Orange, New Jersey, is an American composer and academic. Coming from a musical family, he won the BMI Foundation's Student Composer Awards at age 16. He studied music at Harvard University and later at the Berlin Musikhochschule and Princeton. His works include several symphonies, string quartets, and concerti for various instruments. In 1987, he received the Pulitzer Prize for Music for The Flight into Egypt. His opera The Great Gatsby, commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera, premiered in 1999. He also served as music director of the Ojai Music Festival and principal guest conductor for Emmanuel Music in Boston. He ran the Token Creek Chamber Music Festival with his wife, Rose Mary Harbison. Notable recordings include Mirabai Songs / Variations (1987) and The Flight into Egypt and other works by John Harbison (1990).
