John Costa received his D.M.A. from The University of Michigan in 1994, where he has been a recipient of the Regents Fellowship, The Christine Rinaldo Memorial Scholarship, and The Eugene & Sayde Power Fellowship in The Performing Arts. He has been a Fellow at Wellesley College, The Festival at Sandpoint under Gunther Schuller, The Tanglewood Music Center, MacDowell, and The Charles Ives Center for American Music. He was winner of the Georges Enesco International Competition and recipient of the Charles E. Ives Scholarship from The American Academy of Arts and Letters. He was also the winner of the 2016 North Carolina New Music Initiative Orchestral Composition Competition, the 2018 Music Now Contest at Indiana State University, and the 2018 Washington and Lee University Wind Ensemble Composition Contest.
Costa has received two grants from the Utah Arts Council and several commissions. His orchestral works have been performed by symphonies and chamber ensembles throughout the country. Costa is currently a professor and lecturer at The University of Utah. He has chaired the Board of Directors for the Utah Arts Festival and is producer/coordinator of the Utah Arts Festival’s National Composer Commissioning Program. In addition to composition, he has also written a text, A History of Rock ‘n’ Roll: 12th Edition.
