John Tarrh, composer

John M. Tarrh (b. 1947) was fortunate to grow up in a musical household. His mother was choir director at their church, his father loved opera, and his sister played the piano and organ professionally. After a failed attempt at the piano as a young child (during a year of constant battles over lack of practice), Mr. Tarrh subsequently learned to play the drums and performed with a variety of bands (concert, marching, and jazz) and orchestras through college. While always a passionate lover of classical music, Mr. Tarrh had little time for music during busy careers first as an engineer/scientist and then as a financial executive. In 1990, he discovered the opportunity to become engaged in music by performing with community orchestras, first playing under Ronald Knudsen (with the Newton Symphony, and later with the New Philharmonia Orchestra when it was founded in 1995). Thus began a long journey to becoming fully engaged in music. He began piano lessons in 2000 and, upon his retirement as a financial executive, began studying music in earnest at New England Conservatory's School for Continuing Education in 2002.

Mr. Tarrh has always been most deeply moved by music of the Romantic and Post-Romantic composers, even as a child. In the 1970's he discovered Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged, and the philosophy of Objectivism, which had a significant impact on his philosophical development. He partially agrees with Gustav Mahler's statement that to write a symphony is to create a world. More specifically, he believes that every artist recreates the world (or existence) as they experience it, consistent with the Objectivist view. When one responds to music (or to any work of art), it is the result of an emotional response to the identification of "yes, this is what life is, to me." Mr. Tarrh's musical goal is to create more of the sound world that he responds to most deeply and, by doing so, to experience that sound world every day.

Mr. Tarrh currently studies music composition with Michael Gandolfi (http://www.michaelgandolfi.com/) in the Master's program at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, MA. He previously studied composition with Larry Thomas Bell (http://www.larrybellmusic.com/index.htm) through NEC's School for Continuing Education. Mr. Tarrh earned the degree of Master of Music in Theoretical Studies with Academic Honors from NEC in 2007, and was elected to membership in the Iota Chapter of Pi Kappa Lambda that same year. Mr. Tarrh also studies piano with Patricia Smith at the All Newton Music School, and plays percussion with the New Philharmonia Orchestra of Newton, MA. Mr. Tarrh has written music for a variety of ensembles, including solo piano, solo voice and piano, chorus and piano, string quartet, wind quintet, brass ensemble, and full orchestra.

Originally trained as an electrical engineer, Mr. Tarrh earned his B.S. from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1970 and his M.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1972 and worked for a number of years for several small businesses and labs at MIT, specializing in the design of large electromagnets for advanced energy research and the management of large technology projects. He developed an interest in accounting and finance, and was a co-founder, Director and CFO of Applied Science and Technology, Inc. (ASTeX) at its inception in 1987. ASTeX found a successful niche in the application of its reactive gas technology to the manufacture of semiconductors, and grew to become a publicly traded (NASDAQ: ASTX) global supplier of advanced equipment subassemblies to the world's leading producers of semiconductor manufacturing equipment. Following the sale of ASTeX in 2001 to MKS Instruments, Inc., Mr. Tarrh retired in 2002 to pursue a lifetime dream of studying music. Mr. Tarrh currently serves on the Board of Directors of The Horn Corporation and Energetiq Technology, Inc. and is Chairman of the Audit Committees for both of these small, privately held companies. He also serves as a Co-chairman of the Board of Trustees for the New Philharmonia Orchestra. Mr. Tarrh resides in Lexington, MA with his wife and three children.

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