Sonata No. 2 for flute and piano

Martin Amlin (1953) is an American composer and pianist whose music blends lyrical clarity, rhythmic vitality, and a distinctly French-inflected sense of color.
Born in Elmira, New York, he studied at the Eastman School of Music, where he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in composition under Joseph Schwantner, Samuel Adler, and David Burge. He later pursued doctoral studies at the Juilliard School with Milton Babbitt, refining a language that merges structural precision with expressive immediacy.
Amlin also studied in Paris with the legendary pedagogue Nadia Boulanger, whose emphasis on craft and musical architecture left a lasting imprint on his style. His music: tonal yet harmonically adventurous, shows a keen awareness of texture and pacing, informed by his career as a concert pianist.
As a composer, Amlin has written for a wide range of instruments and ensembles, but his close association with flutists has produced a remarkable series of works that have become staples of the contemporary flute repertoire. These include the Sonata for Flute and Piano No. 1 (1983), the Sonata No. 2 (2004), the Piccolo Sonata (1997), Gabriel’s Rapture, and numerous chamber pieces. His music has been championed by artists such as Leone Buyse, Mary Stolper, Linda Toote, and Sarah Brady, and has received awards from the National Flute Association’s Newly Published Music Competition.
Amlin is Professor of Composition and Theory at Boston University, where he also served as Chair of the Composition and Theory Department and Artistic Director of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. He is known for his articulate pianism and frequent performances with major flute soloists, including recordings on Albany, Crystal, and Summit Records.