Jon Magnussen’s music has been described as “hauntingly beautiful” (Salt Lake Tribune), “beautifully textured” (New York Times), and “thoughtful… deeply imaginative” (L.A. Times). Composed for the concert hall, drama, dance and film, his music has been commissioned and performed nationally and internationally by organizations including American Ballet Theatre, American Composers Orchestra, Chamber Music Hawaiʻi, Ebb and Flow Arts, ETHEL (string quartet), Haven Trio, Hawaiʻi Youth Opera Chorus, Hawaii Youth Symphony, Honolulu Symphony, The Juilliard School, Limón Dance Company (NYC), Lula Washington Dance Theatre, New York New Music Ensemble, New Juilliard Ensemble, New York Percussion Quartet, New York Virtuoso Singers, The Shakespeare Theatre (Washington, D.C.), and St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble."...beautifully textured new music by Jon Magnussen. It sounds like a modern-day mass and matches the grandeur and simplicity and sweep and vital detail of the dance." – Jennifer Dunning, New York Times
Recent collaborative projects include “Ten Rooms” for ‘cello quartet with four triangles, in celebration of the 90th anniversary of the Fondation des États-Unis in Paris; “Nā Kau ʻElua | The Two Seasons”, an oboe concerto for J. Scott Janusch in chamber and symphonic versions, and Pākaʻa Lanakila!, a Hawaiian-language “music moʻolelo” (music story) for Chamber Music Hawaii’s Spring Wind Quintet and master storyteller B.K. Cabigon;. Magnussen holds doctoral and masters degrees from The Juilliard School where he studied composition with Robert Beaser and participated in seminars with John Corigliano, Ellen Taafe Zwilich and William Bolcom.
He also holds degrees from Conservatoire Nationale Supérieure de Musique de Paris where he studied with Jean-Paul Holstein; and Cornell University, where he studied with Steven Stucky and Karel Husa. He was Artist-in-Residence at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton from 2000 to 2007, and is currently Professor of Music at University of Hawai‘i West O‘ahu.