Wayne Oquin’s music has been performed on three continents. His original compositions have been premiered in London, Paris, Prague, Moscow, Toronto, Tokyo, Vienna, Warsaw, and throughout the United States. A native of Houston, Texas, Oquin has composed for The King’s Singers, The New York Concert Singers, The Juilliard Symphony, and The Aspen Contemporary Ensemble. Boosey and Hawkes published his Ave Maria for SATB chorus.

    Recent projects include Reverie, premiered by organist Paul Jacobs for the dedicatory performance of the newly installed pipe organ in New York City’s historic Christ and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, and featured on Michael Barone’s Pipedreams NPR radio broadcast in 2008. Tower Ascending, commissioned by conductor John P. Lynch for the University of Georgia Wind Ensemble, which will be performed at the 2009 Convention of the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA). Watersong, for solo violin, marimba/vibraphone, harp, piano, and string orchestra, was composed in collaboration with choreographer Christopher Vo for his Out of the Sky, into the Sea. In 2007 The Juilliard School commissioned A Time to Break Silence: Songs inspired by the Words and Writings of Martin Luther King Jr., premiered by baritone Sidney Outlaw at Saint Bartholomew’s Church in New York City. The work was subsequently broadcast on WQXR on a program sponsored by the Marilyn Horne Foundation.

    After completing his Bachelor of Music at Texas State University, graduating in three years with a 4.0 GPA, Oquin continued his studies at The Juilliard School where he earned his Master of Music and his Doctorate of Musical Arts. His principal teachers were Milton Babbitt, Samuel Adler, and Mary Anthony Cox. As a student, Oquin served an unprecedented seven-year teaching fellowship, where he helped to develop a course curriculum for Juilliard students at the undergraduate and graduate levels. At the 2008 Juilliard Commencement Ceremony, Oquin was also awarded the Richard F. French Doctoral Prize for outstanding work on his doctoral document and the coveted Juilliard Interarts Award for particular sensitivity in artistic collaborations with all three divisions of the Juilliard student body-dance, drama, and music. Dr. Oquin joined the Juilliard faculty in the fall of 2008.

    In March 2007 Oquin founded Juilliard Joins Texas State for a Common Experience in the Arts. Each year he travels to San Marcos, Texas, with approximately 20 of Juilliard’s actors, dancers, and musicians for a two-hour inner-arts extravaganza. This event has attracted national attention to the Texas State campus.

    Oquin is also a gifted pianist. His solo piano engagements have taken him from the Chopin Academy in Warsaw, Poland, to The Empire Theatre in San Antonio, Texas. Concordia Publishing House released his CD and accompanying score, All Things New, a collection of 11 hymn arrangements for solo piano.