John Musto (1954, USA)

"His grandly jazzy Passacaglia for large orchestra (2003) sounds like Bach rediscovered by Krazy Kat. His Five Piano Rags (1995) cast the smoky nonchalance of Scott Joplin in a Rachmaninoff glow. His opera Volpone, which had an acclaimed premiere at the Wolf Trap Festival last March, employs everything from Broadway to bel canto in a ferociously clever musical adaptation of Ben Jonson’s play. Like Bernstein, Mr. Musto is not afraid to entertain."

Charles Michener, The New York Observer

"Musto spins flaxen pop into golden art, with an intuitive sense of how to make each instrument fill the others' gaps. The energetic coda at the end of the first movement prompted a burst of audience applause."

Ken Smith, New York Newsday, on Piano Trio