The composer behind the voice

Classical roots.
Unfiltered truth.

Michael Contorno is an American composer, songwriter, cellist, and recording artist whose work moves between orchestral intimacy and contemporary R&B storytelling.

Raised in Monticello, New York, and now based in Fort Myers, Florida, he began composing in 1996 with Chanson des saisons (“Song of the Seasons”), an original work for cello and piano written for his school talent show. The piece was not selected, but he kept writing.

He composed Jorden’s Diabolical Suggestion for his high school orchestra and conducted its spring 2000 performance. Concerto for Aly followed and was performed by the orchestra in 2001, his senior year.

His formal musical studies continued at the Crane School of Music, where he distinguished himself on cello under the direction of the world-renowned cellist Matthias Wexler. He later earned a bachelor’s degree in music from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in 2006. There, he was selected for the university’s composer symposium in consecutive years: Lujan’s Lullaby in 2004 and Tristezza Infinita in 2005. Music majors were invited to submit original works for review by the composition faculty, with only a select number chosen for public performance at the university.

Across deeply personal pieces, social observation, and documentary-style songs, the through line remains the same: music built from memory, evidence, and emotional truth.