A.J. McCaffrey
Associate Professor

Brief Biography

Hailed by the American Academy of Arts and Letters as a composer of music “imbued with an extraordinary wit and intelligence”, A.J. McCaffrey’s works have been commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Tanglewood Music Center and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and his music has been performed by the American Composers Orchestra and members of the Boston Modern Orchestra Project and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Critics have singled out A.J.’s distinctive musical personality for attention. The Boston Globe praised his work as “loopy and charming”, and the Glasgow Herald described him as having “a voice that leaps out and grabs you.” His 2013 Underwood Emerging Composers Commission was premiered by the American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall the same year he received the prestigious Goddard Lieberson Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

A.J. holds degrees in music from Rice University, The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, and the University of Southern California. He has been a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center and the Aspen Music Festival and School. A passionate educator, A.J. was one of the founding instructors for the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s groundbreaking Composer Fellowship Program. Since the fall of 2014, he has served on the faculty of California State University, Northridge where he teaches composition and coordinates musicianship studies.

For more information, please visit www.ajmccaffrey.com

Research 

Interdisciplinary Collaboration Composition Music Theory

Connections