Rand Snell

Rand Snell is a composer, choral accompanist and jazz pianist who is equally at home writing for instruments and the human voice. The son of a piano teacher who began his lessons at age four, he also studied voice, violin and organ, and received his Masters in Music Composition from the University of South Florida. His music has been performed in concert by the Congressional Chorus of Washington DC, the Orlando Chorale, the Richard Zielisnki Singers, the Florida Orchestra Brass Quintet, the University of Maryland Percussion Ensemble, the St. Petersburg Opera Chamber Ensemble, church and community choirs, soloists and instrumentalists, and at numerous events at the University of South Florida in Tampa. His One Land: An American Tapestry, commissioned by Louise Buchanan to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Congressional Chorus, and in memory of founding Director Michael Patterson, was premiered at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 2007. Snell lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, but also spends much time in Berlin and in Washington DC, where he lived for many years. In fact, his early career was in public policy and politics; after undergraduate studies in history and political science, he studied international economics at the Universität Mannheim and received his Diploma in International and Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics. He went on to work in the U.S. Senate, the Florida Governor's office, and as a Presidential appointee at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where he was Director of State and Local Relations and senior advisor to the Administrator. But during this time he continued to play, perform publicly and compose, and found his music ever more in demand. Since 2008 he has devoted himself to composition, with occasional appearances as a performer. He has served on the Board of the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay and the Florida Orchestra. He is also a writer and avid pilot, holding commercial pilot and flight instructor certificates.