John F. Cavallaro, Choral Composer

I am originally from Methuen, Massachusetts, and studied piano and organ at an early age. Although mostly self-taught, I pursued independent study in composition under Giancarlo Aquilanti at Stanford University for several years, while pursuing graduate degrees in other fields. My compositional output has largely consisted of choral music, but I have also composed art songs for solo voice and piano, as well as short pieces for solo piano, organ, harp, strings, and other ensembles, and have executed numerous commissions for weddings and other special events.

Also a baritone, I sang with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus (the chorus of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops) under Seiji Ozawa and John Oliver from 1985 to 2000, and with the Stanford Memorial Church Choir from 2000 to 2008. Most recently, I sang with Princeton Pro Musica (Princeton, N.J.), currently under Ryan James Brandau, from 2009 to 2018.

Outside the music world, I have pursued a professional career life sciences and consulting. I hold bachelor’s degrees in biology and biomedical engineering from Brown University, an MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College, and from Stanford, MS and PhD degrees in management science. I have had careers in bioengineering and hold 4 US patents in the field of tissue engineering. Currently, I’m an Assistant Teaching Professor in Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management at Arizona State University, and am recently retired from Bristol Myers Squibb, where I was Sr. Director and Head of Pipeline Analytics. I live in Gilbert, AZ.

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Honors and Awards

2024 – Awarded commission, New World Chorale, Wellesley MA,
for the organization’s 25th anniversary

2016  – Semi-finalist, The American Prize in
Choral Composition (professional division)

2016
Invited composer, Rostrevor Choral Music Festival,
Rostrevor, N. Ireland

2015
Silver medalist (overall) and bronze medalist (text),
ChoralNet Composer’s Dare

2013
Awarded commission, Schola Cantorum, Mountain View CA,
for the organization’s 50th anniversary