A native-born Texan, John Michael Pekowski, PhD (b. 1975) began composing music at age 11. Simple improvisations on the family upright piano were followed by electronic compositions in BASIC code on the TI-99 computer.

In Junior High (1988) he was elected President of the Science Club, served as Social Chairman of the band, was awarded the John Philip Sousa Award, and was a featured soloist on trumpet. In High School (1994) John was section leader, co-principal trumpet of LYSO, Jazz One soloist (TTU Band Camp), and TMEA All-State Concert Band participant.

He was a member of the Texas Tech University Jazz One, Symphonic Band (1994-2002), recorded with the fee-improvisation ensemble YATE, his dissertation greatly advanced our understanding of the hierarchical organization of pitch-interval cycles within a voice-leading context, and was in contention for the Graduate Achievement Award.

The world premiere of his composition Jest of Moonlit Point for Pierrot Quintet, took place in 2024 and was performed by the Texas New Music Ensemble conducted by Bill Tacket. In 2021 Forest of the Birdsong for soprano sax (David Dees) and piano (Nataliya Sukhina) was premiered at Crickets Theater / Buddy Holly Hall.

Dr. Pekowski continues to compose classical instrumental. Recent works include String Quartet Suites No. 1-9 (2019-2022), Jest of Moonlit Point for Pierrot Quintet (2024), Brookhollow Bayou for Solo Flute (2024), and Suite for Orchestra No1-No2 (2023-2025).

Followers of eSymposium 001