Baljinder Singh Sekhon, II
The music of Baljinder Sekhon has been presented in over 600 concerts in twenty-six countries. Notable ensembles to program his music include the Albany Symphony, The Florida Orchestra, US Army Band Pershing’s Own, Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra, Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, and Los Angeles Percussion Quartet. His most recent commissions include a commission from the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition to be premiered by the Grossman Ensemble (Timothy Weiss, conductor) in May 2027, a double concerto for flute, percussion, and open-instrumentation ensemble for Caballito Negro, and a consortium commission for a new double concerto for two percussion and wind ensemble commissioned by eleven wind ensembles from across the USA.
Eighteen commercial recording releases on twelve record labels from four countries feature Sekhon’s work. These include two full-length albums dedicated to his compositions for percussion and saxophone. Alchemy, the second full album of Sekhon’s work, features compositions for saxophone and was released on Innova Recordings October 22, 2021, with the first portrait album entitled Places & Times featuring works for percussion. Sheet music of Sekhon’s work is published by Glass Tree Press (ASCAP) and is available internationally from Keyboard Percussion Publications, Steve Weiss Music (USA), JW Pepper’s MyScore (USA), AvA Musical Editions (Europe), and Southern Percussion (UK). Sekhon’s work has been supported through grants from D.C. Council for The Arts, New Music USA, MetLife Creative Connections, Music at the Anthology, Boehmler Foundation, Florida State Music Teachers Association, and various grants from Penn State University and the University of South Florida. Performers and ensembles around the world have organized many consortium commissions to support new works from Sekhon, with over 150 soloists and ensembles supporting his work. As a frequent guest presenter, he has been invited to present at conferences and festivals including the North American Saxophone Alliance National Conference, Percussive Arts Society International Conference, Eursax International Saxophone Conference, and at numerous new-music events on college campuses across the USA.
Baljinder has served in guest composer residencies and lectures at over 30 universities, including the Peabody Institute, Oberlin Conservatory, Boston Conservatory, Eastman School of Music, University of Maryland, and University of Florida. Sekhon’s former students are leading successful careers and have been recognized in a range of disciplines in the field. These include serving as faculty members at universities around the United States, composers in residence for ensembles, orchestras, and festivals, composers of music for video game and film, work in curation for concerts and radio programming, and a variety of arts administration positions. His students’ work is regularly selected through juried review for conferences and festivals across the United States and abroad, and they consistently find continued academic success with graduate assistantships and fellowships at top-tier institutions such as Cornell University, Eastman School of Music, McGill University, New York University, University of California San Diego, and more.
Sekhon currently serves as Associate Professor of Composition at Penn State University where he is head of the composition program at the School of Music in the College of Arts and Architecture. At Penn State, he received the 2024 Excellence in Mentoring Award from the College of Arts and Architecture. Previously, Sekhon taught composition and electronic music at the University of South Florida where he received a 2017 Outstanding Undergraduate Teacher award. He holds the PhD and MA from the Eastman School of Music where he is a three-time recipient of the Howard Hanson Orchestral prize, and holds a BM from the University of South Carolina. Sekhon is also active as a percussionist with numerous appearances including those with the Northeastern Pennsylvania Chamber Music Society, at the L.A. Philharmonic’s Green Umbrella Series in Walt Disney Hall, Festival Spazio Musica in Cagliari, Italy, and at the Bang On a Can Marathon in New York City.
Baljinder Singh Sekhon 