Joshua Coyne (born March 5, 1993) is an American musician and composer.

Personal biography

Joshua was born in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

, on March 5, 1993. He was adopted at the age of two and moved to

Cedar Rapids, Iowa Cedar Rapids () is the second-largest city in Iowa, United States and is the county seat of Linn County, Iowa, Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River (Iowa River), Cedar River, north of Iowa City, Iowa, Iowa City and north ...

.Milk, Leslie
"Rising Stars"
''

Washingtonian (magazine) ''Washingtonian'' is a monthly magazine distributed in the Washington, D.C. area. It was founded in 1965 by Laughlin Phillips and Robert J. Myers. The magazine describes itself as "The Magazine Washington Lives By". The magazine's core focuses are ...

'' (October 1, 2008). The Coyne family was involved in the local arts community, participating at

Theatre Cedar Rapids Theatre Cedar Rapids (TCR) is a community theatre in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The theatre performs several stage shows every year, and offers acting classes. Each year TCR is seen by more than 50,000 patrons, who view the work of over 35,000 volunteer ...

and the Cedar Rapids Symphony. Joshua quickly expressed interest and aptitude in music and took his first lessons at the Cedar Rapids Symphony School. In 2006, Joshua and some of his family moved to the Washington, D.C. area, where he continued his violin studies with Lya Stern and began composition study. After moving to D.C., Joshua performed for then candidate

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

at the Stand for Change Rally in February 2008, as well as for the Haitian Embassy. Coyne composed the score to ''

Anne and Emmett ''Anne and Emmett'' is a play by the American Janet Langhart Cohen. It explores an imaginary conversation between Emmett Till, an African-American, and Anne Frank, a German-Dutch Jew, which takes place in ''Memory'', a non-specific afterlife or a ...

'', a play about

Emmett Till Emmett Louis Till (July 25, 1941August 28, 1955) was a 14-year-old African American boy who was abducted, tortured, and lynched in Mississippi in 1955, after being accused of offending a white woman, Carolyn Bryant, in her family's grocery ...

and

Anne Frank Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank (, ; 12 June 1929 – )Research by The Anne Frank House in 2015 revealed that Frank may have died in February 1945 rather than in March, as Dutch authorities had long assumed"New research sheds new light on Anne Fra ...

written by

Janet Langhart Cohen Janet Leola Langhart Cohen (née Floyd; born December 22, 1941) is an American television journalist and anchor, and author. Beginning her career as a model, she started in television reporting the weather. She serves as president and CEO of Lan ...

. The premiere of the play was to be held at the

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) is the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust. Adjacent to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the USHMM provides for the documentation, study, and interpretation of Holocaust hi ...

on June 10, 2009, but was canceled due to a

shooting Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missiles can ...

earlier that day. In the summer of 2011, Joshua was the subject of a series of articles describing the difficulties students may have getting scholarships, loans, and grants, to be able to afford college. As a result of these articles, Joshua received numerous donations which allowed him to attend Manhattan School of Music. Joshua plays on a custom bow b
Joshua Henry
and a violin he named "Lya" for his teacher, made by

Joseph Curtin Joseph Curtin is an American contemporary violinmaker who lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He is recognised as one of the world's greatest violinmakers. He was a 2005 recipient of a MacArthur Fellows Program "genius grant". He has also directed wo ...

. Coyne is the co-subject of a documentary film entitled ''

Sonata Mulattica ''Sonata Mulattica : A Life in Five Movements and a Short Play'' is a collection of poems by U.S. poet laureate Rita Dove, published in 2009, about the life of George Bridgetower. Bridgetower was a biracial (Afro-Caribbean, Polish, German) musicia ...

'', which will compare his life with the life of

George Bridgetower George Augustus Polgreen Bridgetower (11 October 1778 – 29 February 1860) was a British musician, of African descent. He was a virtuoso violinist who lived in England for much of his life. His playing impressed Beethoven, who made Bridge ...

based on the collection of poems of the same name, written by poet laureate

Rita Dove Rita Frances Dove (born August 28, 1952) is an American poet and essayist. From 1993 to 1995, she served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. She is the first African American to have been appointed since the posit ...

Education

* Violin instruction by Lya Stern, herself a student of

Jascha Heifetz Jascha Heifetz (; December 10, 1987) was a Russian-born American violinist. Born in Vilnius, he moved while still a teenager to the United States, where his Carnegie Hall debut was rapturously received. He was a virtuoso since childhood. Fritz ...

and

Raphael Bronstein Raphael Bronstein (June 25, 1896 – November 4, 1988) was a violinist and violin professor. Early life He was born in a Jewish family in Vilnius, Lithuania and studied violin with Leopold Auer at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He arrived in th ...

, who were in turn students of

Leopold Auer Leopold von Auer ( hu, Auer Lipót; June 7, 1845July 15, 1930) was a Hungarian violinist, academic, conductor, composer, and instructor. Many of his students went on to become prominent concert performers and teachers. Early life and career Au ...

* Composition instruction from Judah Adashi at

Peabody Institute The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University is a private conservatory and preparatory school in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded in 1857 and opened in 1866 by merchant/financier and philanthropist George Peabody (1795–1869) ...

* Composition instruction from Joel Hoffman, chair of the composition department at the College Conservatory of Music at the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...

* Composition mentor

Marvin Hamlisch Marvin Frederick Hamlisch (June 2, 1944 – August 6, 2012) was an American composer and conductor. Hamlisch was one of only seventeen people to win Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards. This collection of all four is referred to as an " EGOT ...

* Graduated from

Winston Churchill High School (Potomac, Maryland) Winston Churchill High School, often referred to as WCHS, Churchill High School, CHS or Churchill, is a high school in Potomac, Maryland, United States, an unincorporated section of Montgomery County. The school is named after Winston Churchil ...

* Conservatory students accepted in 2011 into the

Manhattan School of Music The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory in New York City. The school offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition, as well as a bachelor's in mu ...

composition department, studying under Robert Sirota and

Richard Danielpour Richard Danielpour (born January 28, 1956) is an American composer. Early life Danielpour was born in New York City of Persian Jewish descent and grew up in New York City and West Palm Beach, Florida. He studied at Oberlin College and the New En ...

Notable accomplishments

Performances

* Performed for 13,000 at

's ''Rally for Change'' * Performed the role of

Tom Collins The Tom Collins is a Collins cocktail made from gin, lemon juice, sugar, and carbonated water. First memorialized in writing in 1876 by Jerry Thomas, "the father of American mixology", this "gin and sparkling lemonade" drink is typically serv ...

in ''

Rent Rent may refer to: Economics *Renting, an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good, service or property *Economic rent, any payment in excess of the cost of production *Rent-seeking, attempting to increase one's share of e ...

'' at the 2009 American High School Theatre Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland * Performed a solo concert at the

Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

Millennium Stage

Compositions

* Composed the score for ''

'', a play by

about

and

*
Daydream
', a composition which won Gold at the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics The Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics (ACT-SO), informally named the "Olympics of the Mind," is a youth program of the NAACP that is "designed to recruit, stimulate, improve and encourage high academic and cultural ac ...

. * Composed ''True Love'', a three-movement ballet

Awards

* Named one of

Bethesda Magazine ''Bethesda Magazine'' is a bimonthly magazine distributed in Montgomery County, Maryland which began in 2004. It is named after the prosperous suburban area Bethesda, Maryland. The magazine was founded by Steve Hull. Despite its name, the magazin ...

's 201
Top Teens
* NAACP ACTSO Gold *

Discus Awards The Discus Awards is an American awards and recognition program for high school students. It was created in 2009 by Campus Direct and Recognition Media, the operator and owner of the Webby Awards. Discus Award winners are eligible for a $2,000 s ...

scholarship winner

Other

* Subject of a
article
describing the difficulties students may have getting funding for college.

External links

Daydream

Daydream with video

Documentary "Joshua Coyne: On Composing"

American Composer Forum profile

Joshua Russell and Joshua Coyne at the Haitian Embassy

References

* http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wypr/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1300950 * https://web.archive.org/web/20110728092020/http://www.theatrelab.org/josh.asp * https://web.archive.org/web/20110515120605/http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=311236&paper=70&cat=180
"Musical expression gives students an emotional outlet"
''The Churchill Observer'', January 4, 2010 * https://web.archive.org/web/20110710164418/http://easterniowalife.com/2010/12/09/cedar-rapids-native-to-be-showcased-in-documentary/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Coyne, Joshua 1993 births African-American classical composers American classical composers African-American male classical composers American jazz violinists American male violinists Child classical musicians American child musicians American adoptees Living people Musicians from Kansas City, Missouri Musicians from Cedar Rapids, Iowa People from Potomac, Maryland American male classical composers Jazz musicians from Maryland Jazz musicians from Missouri Classical musicians from Missouri Musicians from New York City Jazz musicians from New York (state) Classical musicians from New York (state) 21st-century American violinists 21st-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians 21st-century African-American musicians