About

The Composer

Betty Wishart’s music has been performed throughout the United States, in England, France, Germany, Italy, Greece, South Korea, Russia and Japan.  After graduating from Queens University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she continued her studies in New York City.  Her major piano and composition teachers were Richard Bunger, Michael Zenge, Roger Hannay, Donald Waxman, and Wolfgang Rosé. 

Although many of her compositions are for solo instruments and small chamber ensembles, she has also written for voice and orchestra. In 2013 she wrote Suite of Miniatures for alto recorder, premiered by Dr. James Chaudoir at Clarke University in Dubuque, Iowa.  In 2014 she was commissioned to write a piece to promote awareness of domestic violence. This commission resulted in Requiem for Dreams, a four-movement song cycle for mezzo soprano and piano that encompasses a wide range of styles:  pop, musical theater and pop vocalisms, as well as classical recitative and spoken dialogue.  Judith Bruno and Kent Lyman premiered the work in January 2015.