Born in Los Angeles, Jeffery Cotton lived and worked in Philadelphia at the time of his death. As a composer he was affiliated with the St Luke’s Chamber Ensemble (New York) and the Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra (Boston) for many years. His music was commissioned and performed by the Cleveland, Detroit, Philadelphia, and St. Louis Symphony Orchestras, and by countless chamber musicians. He received awards and fellowships from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Copland House, the Fromm and Guggenheim foundations, and MacDowell, among many others. He studied music composition with Daniel Kessner at California State University, Northridge, and then as a Fulbright Scholar with Hans Werner Henze from 1983 to 1985 at the Academy of Music in Cologne, Germany. Later he studied with George Crumb at the University of Pennsylvania, where he received his Master of Arts and Ph.D. in 1989. Proceeds from the sale, rental, and performance of his music support the Jeffery Cotton Awards for reprise performances, a grant program of the BMI Foundation.

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