Larry Bitensky
W. George Matton Professor Emeritus of Music
Education
BM: New England Conservatory of Music
MM: Ithaca College
DMA: Cornell University
BIOGRAPHY
Larry Bitensky is a singer-songwriter, an award-winning composer, a virtuoso keyboardist, and guitarist. A master of songwriting, composition, musical storytelling, and improvisation, Larry retired from Centre in 2025 as the W. George Matton Professor Emeritus of Music. He currently lives in Asheville, NC where he is pursuing his career as a singer-songwriter.
During his time at Centre, Larry taught music composition, improvisation, ear training, world music, piano, jazz history. He was well known for a very popular class on the Grateful Dead.
Larry’s music effortlessly blends rock, jazz, pop, folk, blues and New Orleans piano stylings. In his albums In From the Cold, Happy as Larry, and Live from the Norton Center for the Arts, his eclectic blend of musical genres is paired with lyrics that flow with honesty, poetry, and playfulness, capturing mood and color with rich details. The emotional intensity, melodic beauty and stylistic range of his music are infused with the spirit of Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, and the Grateful Dead.
Trained at the New England Conservatory of Music, Ithaca College, and Cornell University, Larry spent 20 years as a classical composer writing for a variety of ensembles. With music described as “extraordinarily sensitive and beautiful” and “speaking directly to the heart” Larry’s works have been recognized by numerous foundations and institutions: the Fromm Foundation, the Omaha Symphony, the New England Philharmonic, the Saint Mary’s University Kaplan Commissioning Project, the Big Ten Band Commission, the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, the Columbia Orchestra, Jabez Press, the ASCAP Foundation Rudolf Nissim Award, the Kentucky Arts Council, the Music Teachers National Association, the Kentucky Music Teachers Association, the American Music Center, the Joyce Dutka Arts Foundation, the Friends and Enemies of New Music, the International Trumpet Guild, the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles, the Modern Chamber Players, the Harrid Conservatory, the Society of Composers, Inc., Duquesne University New Music Ensemble, Ensemble X, and the ASCAP Foundation Young Composers Competition.