Michael Seyfrit

Biography

Michael Seyfrit was born in Kansas in 1947 and grew up in Pasco, Washington and Piqua, Ohio. In the course of a multifaceted career, Seyfrit did research and historical orchestrations for the Smithsonian Institution's Divisions of Musical Instruments and Performing Arts, and was Curator of Musical Instruments at the Library of Congress for four years. His writings include Musical Instruments in the Dayton C. Miller Collection at the Library of Congress, Volume I: Recorders, Fifes, and Simple System Transverse Flutes of One Key, and the articles on woodwind instruments in the 1986 edition of The New Harvard Dictionary of Music. As a composer, he received the Charles Ives Scholarship from the National Academy of Arts and Letters.

As an instrumentalist on recorder, baroque oboe and baroque flute, Seyfrit performed and recorded with the Smithsonian Chamber Players and appeared with other ensembles including Hesperus, Wondrous Machine, Berkeley Collegium Musicum, Portland Baroque Orchestra and Early Music Guild of Oregon. His final years were spent on the West Coast, where he worked as a computer programmer. Michael Seyfrit died of AIDS in Portland, Oregon at the age of 46 on May 29, 1994. —Nurit Tilles

ACE Publications

52 title(s)
Composer Title SCORING/INSTRUMENTATION Year
Michael Seyfrit WITHIN VIEW OF THE SEA ob, 2tbn, bstbn, mmb, str
Michael Seyfrit WINTER'S WARMTH bass voice, cl,bsn,hp,vln,vla,vcl
Michael Seyfrit WINDFEST: SYMPHONY NO.1 2fl, ob, 2EH, 2cl(Bb and A), sop sax, alto sax, tenor sax, 2 bsns
Michael Seyfrit WHAT HAS COME ON THIS DAY? - a piece for Good Friday voices (2-part choir), viola, timpani
Michael Seyfrit Wedding music for Jean and Chris flute, horn, cello
Michael Seyfrit VARIEGATIONS pf
Michael Seyfrit TRUMPET TUNE
solo reed, accompaniment (kb)
Michael Seyfrit TRIALOGUE celesta, harpsichord, muffled piano
Michael Seyfrit THREE VIEWS OF THE MOON 2pf
Michael Seyfrit THREE SOLOS AND ALL
Horn, Ehn, Cl
Michael Seyfrit TEN PIECES FOR JEFF BIDDICK Solo Saxophone
Michael Seyfrit SYMPHONY FOR CARILLON SOLO carillon
Michael Seyfrit SPANS AND CHANGES solo cl, 8 fl,ehn,b.op,hp,db
Michael Seyfrit SLICE OF LIFE
string orcherstra
Michael Seyfrit SLEEPWALK vla d'amore, harp
Michael Seyfrit SIMILES solo oboe & cello, 4 flutes (4th = alto fl), 4 perc
Michael Seyfrit SILK DANCERS voice, piano
Michael Seyfrit SHADOWS & THE NIGHT WIND alfl,cl,mmb,timp
Michael Seyfrit SERENADE alt rec(or fl),hp
Michael Seyfrit SAM DONE THE BEST HE KIN voice, piano
Michael Seyfrit RITUAL Tenor and Piano
Michael Seyfrit REMEMBERING OUR FRIENDS male choir, ob, Ehn, pf, vcl
Michael Seyfrit REFUGE ehn,cl,alsax,tbn,pf,vln,vcl,cb, echo consort(3 unspec instr)
Michael Seyfrit QUINTET fl, ob, a-clarinet, hn, bsn
Michael Seyfrit PORTAL ob,ehn,cl,bsn

Additional Works