DR. MONTE KEENE PISHNY-FLOYD was born in Oklahoma City in 1941. At six, he wrote his first composition. He attended Oklahoma City elementary and secondary schools, Oklahoma City University (B.Mus.,1964), University of Oklahoma (M.Mus., 1965) and Eastman School of Music (Ph.D. in composition, 1972).

He studied composition with Bernard Rogers, David Diamond, Burrill Phillips, Ray Luke, among others, and piano with Eugene List. Dr. Pishny-Floyd joined the Faculty of St. Mary's College in South Bend, Indiana in 1968, and in 1971 started teaching composition, theory, music literature, and piano at the University of Saskatchewan, where he was Head of Composition for many years. He is an associate of the Canadian Music Centre.

His compositions have been performed in Canada, the USA, South America, Israel, and Europe and have been recorded, broadcast nationally on CBC, and published. Blues (1977) has been recorded by horn player James MacDonald and pianist Monica Gaylord (1978, Music Gallery Editions MGE-21). The Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra and the University of Saskatchewan Department of Music, with the assistance of CBC radio, devoted an entire concert 3 Mar 1989 to his chamber works, including the premiere of his Four Movements for bassoon and string trio (1983).

Dr. Pishny-Floyd is married and has four daughters, all musical. His wife Annette Floyd (M.A. Eastman, 1970) is a pianist, educator, and conductor, and she both copies and performs his music.

For the past three seasons, Dr. Pishny-Floyd has written the program notes for the Fort Bend Symphony Orchestra, all of which are available via hyperlink. For information on obtaining rights to use this material, please contact Dr. Pishny-Floyd at programnotes@fbso.org

Source: http://www.pishny-floyd.blogspot.com/