Salvatore Giovanni Martirano, internationally acclaimed American composer and Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois was born on January 12th, 1927, in Yonkers, NY, a son of Alexander and Mary Mazzullo Martirano. He died at the age of 68 on Friday, November 17th, 1995.

Professor Martirano studied composition with Herbert Elwell at Oberlin College(1947-51), with Bernard Rodgers at The Eastman School of Music(1952), and with Luigi Dallapiccola at the Cherubini Conservatory in Florence, Italy(1952-4). From 1956 to 1959 he was in Rome as a Fellow of the American Academy, and in 1960 he recieved a Guggenheim Fellowship and an award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. At this time he had works commissioned by the Koussevitzky and Fromm foundations. He was professor of composition at the University of Illinois from 1963 till his retirement in 1995. During the Illinois years he also accepted residencies at The Sydney Conservatorium of Music in Sydney in 1979, Australia, IRCAM in Paris in 1982, France, and The California Institute of the Arts in 1993.

His compositions have been performed by the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras, Cleveland Orchestra, and by radio orchestras and choral ensembles throughout the United States, Europe and the Orient. His chamber and solo works have been performed world-wide.

Professor Martirano's many awards and grants for composition include: Margaret Crofts Award to Tanglewood, Fulbright Grant to Italy, Prix di Rome, Fellowship to the American Academy in Rome, Guggenheim Fellowship, American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, Ford Foundation Grant, Brandeis Creative Arts Award, Fromm Foundation Award, Illinois Arts Council Award, Associate of the Center for Advanced Studies at the University of Illinois (twice awarded), and a National Endowment for the Arts Award.

He received commissions from the Koussevitsky and Fromm Foundations, 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Arts Committee, Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Tone Road Ramblers, Ciosoni Trio, and many individuals and chamber ensembles.

His compositions written during the 1950's include: Contrasto for orchestra and several choral works, among them Mass A Cappella, Chansons Innocentes, and O, O, O, O, That Shakespeherian Rag. During the 1960's he composed Cocktail Music for piano, Octet, Three Electronic Dances, Underworld, Ballad, and L's. G.A., Professor Martirano spent much of the 1970's developing the Sal Mar Construction, an electronic composing/performing system that Science Digest called "the world's first composing machine." He toured world wide with his creation and with its successor, the yahaSalmaMac. His notable works from the 1980's include: Stuck on Stella, Thrown, Sampler, Three Not Two, Four Not Two, Phleu, LON/dons, and MEAND'ER. Isabela for orchestra (1993) was his last major work (American premiere by The Cleveland Chamber Symphony, European premiere by the National Radio Orchestra of Romania). Several works remain incomplete.

Salvatore Martirano was a master collaborator. He consulted with and brought together the best talents from a variety of disciplines: poets, artists, musicians, writers, computer scientists and electronic engineers. These collaborations produced powerful results evident not only in his compositions and inventions, but also in public events and educational endeavors. Many will remember The Round House Concerts, the Summer Workshops for Contemporary Music, Election Nite Diversion, and Moon Landing.

Martirano toured with numerous bands during the "Big Band" Era and later with improvisation groups including Condition Blue, The Border Guard, and The Champaign Museum of Natural History.

His music is available on compact disc. It is published by Schott in London and Smith Publications in Baltimore. He recorded for CRI, Advance, Heliodor, Polydor, New World, Centaur, Einstein, Neuma, and GM Records.

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