Meet Our 2025-26 COMPOSERS
MAX MARCUS
Composer-in-Residence
Max Marcus is a composer, arranger, tenor, cellist, conductor, and teacher originally from Edmonds, Washington. A graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, he studied composition with David Conte and now serves on the Conservatory’s faculty, teaching musicianship. His previous studies include work with Alan Belkin (Montreal) and James Knapp and Oliver Groenewald (Seattle).
Max’s musical influences span centuries and genres—Monteverdi, Stravinsky, Fauré, Lili Boulanger, Percy Grainger, Henri Dutilleux, Gil Evans, Maria Schneider, and many others—reflected in a musical language that is colorful, rhythmically vibrant, and deeply rooted in song.
Choral music has been central throughout his life: from the Seattle Children’s Chorus and his school ensembles to Pacific Lutheran University’s Choir of the West, and now as a singer with Nebula Consort. He maintains an active private studio in counterpoint, harmony, and composition.
Recordings of his music can be found at youtube.com/@maxmarcusmusic.
PETER HILLIARD
Composer-Not-in-Residence
Peter Hilliard is a composer and music director whose ten operas, four musicals, and numerous choral and orchestral works have been performed across the country. With librettist Matthew Boresi, he has created The Filthy Habit – a National Opera Association finalist with 12 productions and an Emmy-nominated TV feature – Blue Viola, and The Last American Hammer, a bluegrass opera heard at Urban Arias, Pittsburgh Opera, and Opera Grand Rapids. His latest opera, Circe on Superior, premiered in Minnesota in 2024. He is currently collaborating with Boresi and Julie and Nathan Gunn on a new musical.
Peter’s choral and orchestral music is shaped by his experience as a conductor and music director on both coasts and Off-Broadway. He has led multiple productions at the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival in the UK, where he was named Best Music Director in 2024. His performing edition of Victor Herbert’s 1911 opera Natoma, reconstructed from manuscripts at the Library of Congress, received its first hearing in over 80 years.
Peter is Artistic Director of Villanova Theatre and Music Director of the Abington Choral Club. He holds degrees from NYU and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he received the 2020 Hoefer Prize.