Craig Russell (composer)

Craig Russell (composer)

Craig Russell (born April 3, 1951) is an American composer of classical music.

Russell was educated at the University of New Mexico and then the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and began a career both as a classical guitarist and as a composer of classical music, in which he follows in the stylistic footsteps of Aaron Copland. He has also been associated with the vocal ensemble, Chanticleer, as well as holding a professorship at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

Middle Earth, a suite after J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, was composed by Craig Russell for the San Luis Obispo Youth Symphony. Commissioned in 1995, a recording was released on disk in 2000 by the San Luis Obispo Symphony, together with his Rhapsody for Horn and Orchestra, and the second movement of his Symphony No. 2 ("American Scenes").