Michael Kaulkin is active as a composer and teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area. His choral, orchestral and chamber works have been performed around the world, and his music has been described as “exceptionally beautiful on all counts.”
RECORDINGS
String Quartet No. 1 (“City Walks”) was recorded in July 2025 by the Juventas New Music Ensemble for release on a forthcoming Navona Records compilation, scheduled for spring 2026.
A finalist for The American Prize, the piece will also be featured on an album release concert presented by Juventas in Cambridge, MA on May 2, 2026.
My arrangement of Tumbalalayka (SATB, c. 2’30”) has been performed in the US, Australia, Denmark, France, Italy, Japan, Romania and other countries around the world. It is included on French vocal quartet Quatour Aesthesis’ 2022 CD O Do Not Move.
One of the most performed and beloved Yiddish folksongs. This choral setting employs the use of instrument-like sounds imitating the strumming of the balalayka, a Russian folk instrument similar to a guitar.
HIGHLIGHTS
Cycle of Friends
Soprano solo, SATB chorus, and chamber orchestra ・25’
Cycle of Friends is a lush, emotional journey through five texts taken from such diverse sources as Tang Dynasty poets Li Po & Meng Haoran, Sappho and Emily Dickinson, each dealing in its own way with the universal theme of friendship. Premiered by the Music Group of Philadelphia in 1996, the entire work can be heard via the link below.
American Standard
clarinet & piano ・9’
American Standard, a lyrical and macabre recital showpiece for clarinet and piano, is included on the U.K. label Clarinet Classics release “TIME PIECES: 60 Years of American Music” featuring clarinettist Peter Furniss and pianist David Leiher-Jones.
PERFORMANCES
for clarinet and piano