Graham Yates
Composer of music with heart, humour, and depth.
Pieces that charm performers and audiences alike.
Discover my catalogue below!
Biography
Award-winning composer Graham Yates writes music that balances tradition with tonal adventure, from chamber works to opera. His compositions have been commissioned by Here Be Monsters, Austin Cantorum, Panoramic Voices, One Ounce Opera, and Wellspring United Methodist Church. An acclaimed collaborative pianist, he has performed with Austin Opera, Panoramic Voices, Invoke String Quartet, and One Ounce Opera. A dedicated educator, he brings over two decades of experience nurturing musicianship and creativity.
Songs & Cycles
2025
Always Here: A Cycle of Forgotten Queer Poetry - medium-high voice & piano (range C4-B5)
Poems by Frank, Grimké, Mecredy & Bryher
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2024
Brünnhilde In the Flames - mezzo-soprano & piano (range C4-A5)
An alternate ending to Wagner's Götterdämmerung
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2021
The Garden of Desire: Song Cycle - medium voice & piano (range C4-F#5)
Five Pseudo-Indian Love Lyrics by Adela Florence Cory Nicolson
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2019
English As She Is Spoke: Song Cycle - medium-high voice & piano (range C4-A#5)
Texts from a bungled 19th-century Portuguese-to-English phrasebook.
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2018
Five Youthful Songs - mezzo-soprano & piano (range A3-Ab5)
"Private Teen Poetry... Now a Song Cycle!"
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Choral & Opera
2025
Consolations - SATB (divisi) a cappella
Three existential poems by Li Bai, Machado & C.E.S. Wood.
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2023
Beatitude - SATB & piano, with optional violin obbligato or string trio, drums
A folk-ballad on Kate Bowler's life-affirming "Blessing for when you're different now."
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2019
Of the Father's Love Begotten (Divinum mysterium) - SATB & piano
A new melodic setting to the traditional plainchant Christmastime hymn.
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The Measure of Love - piano-vocal score
70-minute opera in two acts for 7 characters (two may be double-cast). Set during the Napoleonic Wars, a young couple confronts social strictures and a daring naval battle to be together.
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Instrumental
2024
It's In C - string quartet
A playful neo-classical movement in sonata form. 4 minutes.
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2022
Rhapsody - violin & piano
A single-movement sonata blending virtuosic angst and lyrical development. 12 minutes.
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Piano Solo & Duet
Coming soon!
Christmas
2024
Carol of the Bells Fantasy - alto sax & piano
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Carol of the Bells Fantasy - cello & piano
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Holding on For Christmas - alto sax & piano
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Holding on For Christmas - cello & piano
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The Wexford Carol (with The Holly and the Ivy) - alto sax & piano
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The Wexford Carol (with The Holly and the Ivy) - cello & piano
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2023
Christmas Prelude - piano solo
Medley: "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear", "Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow", "Quelle est cette odeur agréable", and "Go, Tell It On the Mountain".
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2022
Christmas Prelude - flute & piano
Original melodies referencing "Jingle Bells", "Silent Night" and "Angels We Have Heard On High".
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2021
Christmas Duet No. 2 - piano duet
Featuring: "O Christmas Tree", "In the Bleak Midwinter", and "The Holly and the Ivy"
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2020
Christmas Duet No. 1 - piano duet
Variations on "Here We Come A-Wassailling"
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Christmas Trio No. 3 - violin, cello & piano
Featuring: "O Come, Little Children", "Still, Still, Still", "Ring Little Bell", and "O How A Rose E'er Blooming"
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Holding on for Christmas - A pandemic-era Christmas song for when things aren't going right
Available formats:
Two soloists, children's (or treble) choir & piano
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SATB a cappella (arranged by Trevor F. Shaw)
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Medium voice & piano (range A3-F5)
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Piano duet (1 piano, 4 hands)
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The Burning Babe - SATB & piano, tenor solo, opt. spoons (or aux. percussion)
Robert Southwell's Christmas poem of an otherworldly encounter with the newborn Jesus.
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2019
Christmas Trio No. 2 - violin, cello & piano
Featuring: "Sing We Now Nowell", "Bring a Torch, Jeannette Isabelle", "He Is Born", and "O Holy Night"
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O Great Mystery (O Magnum Mysterium) - SSA & solo, with piano. Guitar chords provided
A gospel-style, English setting of the traditional Latin text for Christmas mass.
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2018
In Dulci Jubilo - violin, cello & piano
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