Michael Schachter is a composer, writer, and pianist based in Burlington, VT.


His compositions have been performed at venues ranging from Lincoln Center to the Smithsonian to the Minnesota Centennial Showboat. Current projects include a new concerto for pianist Aaron Diehl and the Knights in honor of the centennial of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, which premiered at Carnegie Hall in October 2024, as well as forthcoming commissions with the Knoxville Symphony and Violins of Hope, New World Symphony and bass-baritone Davóne Tines, Vermont Symphony, the Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra, the Harvard University Choirs and Orchestra, and Grammy-winning choir Conspirare.

His concerto for Grammy-nominated violinist Tessa Lark and the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, Cycle of Life, premiered to rave reviews in April 2022 and was profiled in a recent PBS feature (Craft in America: “Harmony”).


Also in 2022, the Los Angeles Philharmonic premiered “Concerto No. 2: Anthem” at the Hollywood Bowl, created in collaboration with Davóne Tines, Caroline Shaw, and Tyshawn Sorey.

His music-theater piece, The Black Clown (libretto co-written with and starring Davóne Tines, directed by Zack Winokur) premiered with sold-out runs at the American Repertory Theater and Lincoln Center, where it was a New York Times Critic’s Pick.


As a [lapsed] scholar, Michael recently completed a three-year term as a Junior Fellow in the Harvard University Society of Fellows.