Experienced as a piano accompanist and conductor, Al Benner is best known as a composer with over ninety published works. His music has been performed throughout the United States and Canada, including New York's Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. He has also been played at The Vatican (Italy), several cities throughout Norway, Greece, and in the Czech Republic. He has received numerous commissions from organizations, institutions and individuals, such as the Louisiana Association of Symphony Orchestras, St. Norbert College and the Louisiana Sinfonietta, to name a few. His awards include ASCAP Standard Awards, two Composers Commissioning Awards from the Louisiana Music Teachers Association, and the Audience Choice Award from the Louisiana Sinfonietta’s String Quartet Festival of New Works, among others.
He is the editor of
Composer/USA, the bulletin of the
National Association of Composers, USA, and a member of their National Advisory Board, the editor of the "Music of America" reprint series by Conners Publications, the founder of the Wisconsin and the Louisiana Composers Consortiums, the Commissioning Chair for LMTA, and on the Advisory Board of the Louisiana Sinfonietta. Dr. Benner has taught composition and theory at Louisiana State University and St. Norbert College (De Pere, WI). He holds undergraduate degrees in philosophy and music and a Master’s degree in composition from Tulane University. His Doctorate of Musical Arts in composition was awarded from LSU. Currently he is on the music faculty of the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts in Natchitoches, LA.
