Jack Hughes is a Cleveland-based composer, music theorist, and educator and is a member of the music theory faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM). The American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2020 named him a Charles Ives Scholar, and the Ecoles d’Art Americaines de Fontainebleau in 2018 awarded him the music theory prize for its famed course of study designed by Nadia Boulanger. The Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival in 2021 commissioned him for its Young Composer String Quartet Project, and the American Composers Orchestra recently awarded him its Underwood Commission to be premiered in Carnegie Hall. Jack served as composer fellow of San Francisco’s Volti choral ensemble and of the Canton Symphony Orchestra. His music has also been performed by eighth blackbird, Quatour Bozzini, the FLUX Quartet, and the Imani Winds.

Jack received his PhD in Music from the University of Chicago, where he studied composition with Augusta Read Thomas and Shulamit Ran and theory with Larry Zbikowski. He received his Bachelor of Music degree in composition and theory at CIM, in the studio of Keith Fitch. He began his musical studies on trumpet and piano in Reston, Virginia and also plays viola and traditional Irish fiddle.

Jack is a committed educator and enjoys giving seminars and lessons to students of all ages.