Faculty Profiles


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Howard Whitaker, Ph.D.

Professor of Music Emeritus






Howard Whitaker is Professor Emeritus at Wheaton College, where he continues to teach composition and post-tonal theory.

He studied music Education at Wheaton College (B.M.E.) and the University of Colorado (M.M.E.) and composition at the University of Chicago (M.A., Ph.D.), where he studied with Ralph Shapey, Roger Sessions, and Shulamit Ran, with additional academic work at the University of Southern California and the Aspen School, where he studied with Darius Milhaud.

Dr. Whitaker’s catalog of compositions includes children’s music, chamber and orchestral, jazz, electronic, and church music. Chicago performances of his works have featured the Orion and Picosa ensembles, Jim Gailloreto’s Jazz String Quintet, and radio WFMT-FM. He has received grants, awards, and commissions from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Aldeen Fund, the University of Chicago, the Aspen School, the Indianapolis Symphony, the Bay Chamber Symphony, the Calvin Institute, the Millar Brass, the National Flute Association, and others. His choral works have been published by SMP, Harold Flammer, Shawnee Press, and Augsburg. He is also active as a performer in jazz and free improvisation groups.