| Occupation | Composer, Performer, Musicologist, Teacher |
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| Categories | Classical, Contemporary, World |
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Edward J. Hines is an ASCAP award winning composer, publisher, performer and teacher, who has researched Middle Eastern music and dance for over 30 years. He currently teaches classroom music in Franklin County, Massachusetts.
Hines attended the Hartt School of Music in Connecticut, where he studied composition with Edward Diemente and Thomas Putsche. He later graduated from Bennington College in Vermont where he earned the Bachelor of Arts and Master of Fine Arts Degrees. His composition teachers included Vivian Fine, Marta Ptaszynska, Jeffrey Levine and Louis Calabro. Hines also studied bassoon with Maurice Pachman, Charles McCracken and voice with Frank Baker.
Hines was a 1985 Fulbright scholar to the Republic of Turkey where he studied composition and ethnomusicology with Ahmet Adnan Saygun and the choral traditions of the Turkish State Classical Music Chorus under the direction of Dr. Nevzat Atleh. Since the 1980's, he has composed new works based on the ancient, microtonal modes and rhythms of Turkish and Arabic music known as Makams. His publications include the Yeni Makam Series of works for solo bassoon, violin, cello, clarinet, percussion and saxophone, as well as works for children's chorus and orchestra. His chamber works based on Middle Eastern modes and rhythms are featured on a CD titled An American in Istanbul, which was released in 1999.
Hines is founder and director of the folk music group ANATOLIA which performs Middle Eastern folk, classical and dance music on traditional instruments. ANATOLIA's debut recording, Folk Songs and Dance Music of Turkey and the Arab World was released in 1996. A second CD, Lost Songs of Palestine was released in March of 2001 and received worldwide media attention. The latest CD Middle Eastern Songs and Dances for Children includes a teaching guide with classroom activities and choreography, as well as a music video.
Edward J Hines' long career in research, composition, performance and theory of Middle Eastern music has brought him numerous invitations from colleges, universities, libraries and school educators interested in learning more about Middle Eastern folk and classical music traditions.
