Dary John Mizelle (born 6.14.40 Stillwater Oklahoma) studied trombone theory and composition in California (B.A. Sacramento State University, MA UC Davis, PhD UC San Diego). Mentors include Larry Austin, Richard Swift, Jerome Rosen, Karlheinz Stockhausen, David Tudor, Roger Reynolds, Robert Erickson, Pauline Oliveros and Kenneth Gaburo. One of the New Music Ensemble (the first free group improvisation ensemble) and a founding member of SOURCE Music of the Avant Garde magazine, he has specialized in the sonic and structural aspects of contemporary compositional practice. He works with electronic/computer/concrete materials, chamber, solo instrumental, large ensemble, choral, orchestra, opera and experimental combinations. He performs on the trombone, trumpet, shakuhachi, voice, performance art, jazz and intermedia idioms, and conducts. A prolific composer with over 450 works for all media, he is currently engaged in the SPANDA project consisting of 13 days and 8 hours of music for all musical media having a coherent macrostructure.  His works have been performed locally, nationally and internationally since the sixties. He taught music theory, composition, orchestration and world music at Purchase College SUNY where he served as head of the composition area. He makes his home in Yonkers, New York. Dr. Mizelle's works were presented in a 25-year retrospective concert at Symphony Space in 1988 to critical acclaim, where he was compared with Ives, Cage, Messien, Bartok, and Xenakis. He is listed in Baker's International Dictionary of Music and Musicians and the Groves Dictionary of American Music and Musicians. He invents and builds electronic and acoustical instruments and he makes sculptures and visual arts in various media. His works are published by Composer Performer Edition, Lingua Press and Mizelle Publications: they are recorded on the Furious Artisans, Irida, Lumina and Nataraja labels.