About

I am a musician living in South Wales, where I play trumpet, piano, and provide private tuition. I am currently a PhD candidate at the University of Huddersfield where I am researching the use of games methodologies in musical settings. My first piece to engage with this research is a card-game piece for two or more players called Frustration!, which was performed by the Edges Ensemble at Dai Hall at the beginning of 2023.

Portrait of Composer Clifford Gagliardo

I have recently served as director of the University of Bath Concert Band, with whom I premiered my short piece for wind ensemble Carnival. I also worked with the University of Bath Strings Ensemble as an assistant director and as a composer, writing a short theme and variations for this group called Finnländische Straße Variations.

I hold degrees in music composition from Bath Spa University (MA 2020) and the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (BM 2009). At Bath Spa University my experimental work based on computer automata, Kipple, was workshopped by Ensemble Plus Minus. In 2009 the first movement of my saxophone quartet (Emergency!) was performed at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater. My Brass Quintet (2007) was presented at the University of Iowa during the 2008 Midwest Composer’s Symposium.

Before transferring to Indiana University in 2005, I studied instrumental music education at Harding University. It was there where I took my first composition lessons with Dr. Scott Carrell, under whose tutelage I composed my first pieces. My first performed piece, Duo for Horn and Euphonium, was composed during this time. I also arranged music for the music and dance revue called “Spring Sing”.

In addition to my activities as a musician, I have worked in politics (serving as an intern for the Garcetti for Mayor 2013 campaign in Los Angeles), photography and public radio, receiving an award for my reporting on minority issues in southern and central Indiana. I also received an MSc in Social and Cultural Theory from the University of Bristol (2023).