Featuring a Number of College Contributors – Posted 12/7/15

After traveling more than 4,000 miles and crowdfunding $8,000, Dr. José Beviá, professor of music at County College of Morris (CCM), recently released his long-awaited second CD of original compositions.

Included on the two-disk CD are “Symphony No. 2: Shapes of the Cities,” which was recorded by the North Czech Philharmonic in the Czech Republic and funded through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. According to Beviá, of Union City, that composition was inspired by the New York City skyline. Also included on the CD are four other arrangements, “El Puente de las Almas,” “Trio No. 3,” “Cenizas y Fuego” and “Trio No. 4.” Those compositions were recorded in Connecticut, Prague, New York City and New Jersey.

“Many members of the CCM community helped me to make this project a reality: faculty, administration, staff, alumni and students,” says Beviá. “They helped me create and advertise the Kickstarter campaign and many donated, too.”

Another CCM professor, Denise Barbarita, did most of the recording and mixing work for the album. Two former CCM music students, Bethany Damato and Patricia Anselmo, are featured in one of the compositions and another CCM alumnus, Anouska Swaray, co-wrote the CD liner notes.

The CD is available through CD Baby at www.cdbaby.com/Artist/JoseBevia.

Beviá, a native of Spain, is an award-winning composer and musician, who has earned top prizes and honorable mentions multiple times. He is the winner of the 2014 Robert Avalon International Competition for Composers, the 2011 Lee Ettelson Composer Award, the 2010 International Music Prize for Excellence in Composition from the National Academy of Music and the Municipal Conservatories of Neapolis and Sykies in Greece, the 2007 BMI Foundation Charlie Parker Composer Prize in New York, and the 2006 University of West Florida Phillips Jazz Piano Competition. He also was a finalist at the 2006 Brussels Jazz Orchestra International Composition Contest and the 2009 Artez International Composition Contest in the Netherlands. He also received an Honorable Mention at the Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute.

This year, he also was included, along with 27 other composers, in the book “Composition in the Digital World: Conversations with 21st Century American Composers” (Oxford University Press) by Robert Raines.

Photo Credit José Beviá – Life in MoPhoto