After a near ten-year hiatus, Mark Jurcisin returned to composition in 2003. His works written since then reflect the crystallization of his long -time interests in the juxtaposition of the tonal and non-tonal, of non-functional triadic harmony and pungently dissonant harmonic structures, and of linear and disjunct melodic material. His music can be texturally dense and constantly vacillates between consonance and free dissonance due to the superimposition of multiple planes of melodic and harmonic movement. The distinctive application of these compositional considerations results in what listeners, performers, and colleagues alike have described as Jurcisin's unique voice.
Mark Jurcisin was born in Passaic, New Jersey and spent most of his childhood in Wayne, New Jersey, approximately 20 miles from midtown Manhattan. He began his musical study by way of piano lessons with Marilyn Skinn at age 13. Almost immediately he began writing small pieces for piano. After a brief academic foray into Environmental Chemistry at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey, he began his initial study of composition at William Paterson University with the late Hugh Aitken. After studying orchestration and 20th Century Techniques at the Mannes College of Music in New York City he subsequently transferred to the University of North Texas and earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Composition with a minor in Music Theory. At North Texas he studied composition with Thomas Clark, Martin Mailman, Michael Matthews, and Rick Montalto. He then continued his academic work at Montclair State University with composer Ting Ho and received his Master of Arts degree in Composition and Theory. After studying at New York University and also privately with composer Justin Dello Joio, he entered Temple University, studying with Matthew Greenbaum, and earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Composition. Additionally, he has participated in master classes with, among others, Louis Andriessen, Luciano Berio, John Cage, George Crumb, Mario Davidovsky, Sidney Hodkinson, Aleksandr Mnatsankanyan, Bernard Rands, Elliott Schwartz, and Robert Ward.
He currently teaches Music Composition and Theory as Professor and Artist Teacher of Music at Mercer County Community College in West Windsor, New Jersey. He has previously taught numerous graduate and undergraduate courses in diverse areas of music at The College of New Jersey along with additional coursework at Bergen Community College and New York University. He currently resides near Princeton, New Jersey.
Performances include My November Guest (2019), with vocalist Camryn Lecain, with the Mercer County Community College Jazz Band, Mark Jurcisin, conductor; Fourth Book of Ephemera, Nos. 2, 3, and 13 (2014), Mark Jurcisin, pianist; Lyric Essay No. 2 (2018), with Mark Jurcisin at the piano, "Sarabande", from the Suite in E (2019) with Jim Holton, cello, Scot Hornick, bass, and Mark Jurcisin, piano. His String Quartet No. 3 (2014) was premièred by the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra String Quartet (Andrew Sumitani and Rose McIntosh, violins; Tricia Wu, viola; Mary Riles, cello), and Second Book of Ephemera (2011) by Quatrain (Taina Karr, oboe; Mary Riles, cello; Moriah Niels, bass; Monica Schley, harp; Seattle, Washington) and Play Nice (2010), for clarinet and piano, performed in West Windsor, New Jersey by Joe Lewis, clarinet, and Pamela Sharples, piano. Litanies (2005), for solo cello with bass clarinet, tubular bells, timpani, harp, piano, and bass, was commissioned and performed by the Meridian Ensemble, sponsored by the Washington Composers' Alliance, and premièred in Seattle. String Quartet No. 2 (2005), written while in residence with the Momenta Quartet, was performed in Brooklyn and Philadelphia on consecutive days. Pneumoplasm (2006), for electronic sound, was realized in Philadelphia under the aegis of the Philadelphia Society of Composers at their inaugural concert. Where Small Souls Ascend (2004, rev. 2006), for violin solo, was performed in Philadelphia by Hirono Oka.