Myron Fink - composer of The Conquistador

	MYRON FINK: composer, pianist, coach, teacher

Ever since he was a little boy growing up in Chicago, Myron Fink knew his was going to be a life in MUSIC. In fact he can point to that precise moment in time the decision was made. He was a 4-year old boy when his mother took him to a music store and he heard this beautiful music playing over the PA system. He was so enraptured he did not want to leave the store and had to be dragged home crying. (Later he learned it was Mozart's Symphony in Gminor.) There and then, he knew for sure he was going to be a musician when he grew up. Very few of us are so lucky.

There were no tortuous paths for the young Myron. He has no memory of learning music - he just had it in him. His parents, sensing his inclinations early on soon started him on piano lessons. His first piece - Here Comes the Bride. When he was taken to be tested by one of Chicago's most famous music teachers, Myron impressed him so much that he offered free lessons if the family could not afford them.

When at age 8 he learned that music existed because someone had written it, he knew he had to become a COMPOSER. He devoured lessons in music theory and soon was studying harmony and counterpoint. A year later he went to see a performance of Puccini's Tosca and instantly knew he would compose for the OPERATIC STAGE.

He then went on to study at the Eastman and Juilliard Schools of Music. A Woodrow Wilson Memorial Fellowship enabled him to obtain a Master of Music degree at the University of Illinois where he met his wife Bonnie (a voice teacher) and fellow music student Donald Moreland. Fink and Moreland have been friends and collaborators in music ever since. A full year at the Staatsakademie der Musik in Vienna as a Fulbright scholar completed Fink's formal music education. His teachers have included: Felix Borowski, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Bernard Wagenaar, Burrill Phillips and Robert Palmer.

A few years later, he became a teacher himself. From 1966 to 1991, he was on the faculty of Hunter College of the City University of New York (CUNY). He has also taught at the Curtis School of Music and at the State University of New York at Purchase.

To this day, Myron Fink is an active composer, pianist, coach-accompanist and teacher. He is a prolific composer who has written for voice, piano, organ and a wide variety of instrumental and choral ensembles. He is presently working on his fourth symphony. But his greatest interest remains opera and music for the theater. His incidental music to Brecht's Caucasian Chalk Circle has been performed in the United States, Canada, Great Britain and South Africa. Jeremiah, his first full-length opera was the first opera to be funded by the New York State Council on the Arts; the New York Times called it "one of the best operas written in the United States". (Click HERE for a complete listing of Myron Fink's works.)

During the writing of the libretto of The Conquistador, Myron Fink was injured in an accident. He and his wife came to San Diego, California to convalesce. They loved the climate and were charmed by the city they've called home since 1990. From 1993 to 1997, Mr. Fink was Composer-in-Residence at the San Diego Opera which in March 1997 world- premiered his latest operatic work, The Conquistador, with great success.

Home	Overview	Story	Scenes	Credits
The Making of the Opera How it began The Libretto Donald Moreland Myron Fink Myron's Works The Music Karen Keltner Cast Creating the Role The Staging Set / Costumes

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