About

Cody Criswell (Criswell-Badillo) (b. 1988) is a composer, percussionist, and guitarist. His music is informed by his experiences growing up in rural southwestern Oklahoma, the ten years he spent rough necking in the oilfields of Texas and the Midwest, and the collision of his self-taught musical beginnings with his conservatory education. All of his music deals with the American Southwest, the working class, rural poverty, and his complicated attitude toward his Texas cowboy, Tejano, and indigenous Mexican heritage.

Current projects include commissions from the Victory Players at the Massachussetts International Festival of the Arts and the Lee County Community Orchestra. He has also collaborated with Alarm Will Sound, OMNIBUS Ensemble, the Baltimore Guitar Duo, and Duo Avanzando. Recent projects include commissions for the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) of the Johns Hopkins University and the National Music Teachers Association.

Criswell-Badillo is a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University and the University of Oklahoma. His primary composition teachers were Michael Hersch, Kevin Puts, Sean Shepherd, Ricardo Coelho de Souza, and Marvin Lamb. He studied percussion with Ricardo Coelho de Souza, Lance Drege and Nathan Daughtrey. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland with his wife and children.