Asaf Peres is an Ann Arbor based composer, music theorist, and guitarist. He is also the founder of Top40 Theory, a platform dedicated to producing music theory content for pop songwriters and producers.
Asaf's compositions have been performed in the United States, Europe, and Israel. Among his pop-influenced works is Fun Fun Fun Fun, a piece which was commissioned and premiered by the internationally renowned Akropolis Reed Quintet, as well as featured on their debut album, High Speed Reed, and is part of their Under the Influence program, which features pop-influenced concert music. Asaf's work has also been performed by the University of Michigan's Women's Glee Club, and the Montreal-based Allegra Chamber Music Ensemble, and workshopped by renowned groups such as Speculum Musicae, Eighth Blackbird, and the Enso String Quartet. Asaf has written music for some of the most outstanding young performers in the concert music world, such as contrabass player Marie-Claude Tardif, violinist Tema Watstein, and percussionists Eliza Kinney and Jeffrey Barudin.
Prior to launching Top40 Theory, Asaf earned a Ph.D. in music theory from the University of Michigan (UM), where he researched contemporary pop music, with particular focus on sound production and its role in the dramatic development of songs. This research has been funded by the UM's Institute for the Humanities and the Rackham Graduate School's Predoctoral fellowship. Asaf has presented his research at national and international conferences, such as the Art of Record Production Conference in Oslo, Norway (2014), the International Association for the Study of Popular Music Conference in Louisville, KY (2015), and the Society for Music Theory's National Conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (2016).
Asaf also holds a doctoral degree in music composition from UM, as well as a master's degree from Rice University and a bachelor's degree from Tel-Aviv University. Among his composition teachers were William Bolcom, Michael Daugherty, Erik Santos, Richard Lavenda, Shih-Hui Chen, Ruben Seroussi, and Avner Dorman. In 2007, Asaf received the Lola and Edwin Jaffe Fellowship to attend the Boston Symphony Orchestra's Tanglewood Music Center, where he studied with John Harbison, Michael Gandolfi, and Colin Matthews. Asaf was also the 2006-07 recipient of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation (AICF) Scholarship for Studies Abroad.
In addition to his research on pop music, Asaf is an avid pedagogue, and has published an ear-training textbook, entitled Tonal Sight-Singing, the Book. Lastly, Asaf regularly performs contemporary music. as an electric guitarist. In recent years, he has premiered William Zuckerman's Music in Pluralism, Annika Socolofsky's Boža, and Jules Pegram's Easy as That.
Asaf's compositions have been performed in the United States, Europe, and Israel. Among his pop-influenced works is Fun Fun Fun Fun, a piece which was commissioned and premiered by the internationally renowned Akropolis Reed Quintet, as well as featured on their debut album, High Speed Reed, and is part of their Under the Influence program, which features pop-influenced concert music. Asaf's work has also been performed by the University of Michigan's Women's Glee Club, and the Montreal-based Allegra Chamber Music Ensemble, and workshopped by renowned groups such as Speculum Musicae, Eighth Blackbird, and the Enso String Quartet. Asaf has written music for some of the most outstanding young performers in the concert music world, such as contrabass player Marie-Claude Tardif, violinist Tema Watstein, and percussionists Eliza Kinney and Jeffrey Barudin.
Prior to launching Top40 Theory, Asaf earned a Ph.D. in music theory from the University of Michigan (UM), where he researched contemporary pop music, with particular focus on sound production and its role in the dramatic development of songs. This research has been funded by the UM's Institute for the Humanities and the Rackham Graduate School's Predoctoral fellowship. Asaf has presented his research at national and international conferences, such as the Art of Record Production Conference in Oslo, Norway (2014), the International Association for the Study of Popular Music Conference in Louisville, KY (2015), and the Society for Music Theory's National Conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (2016).
Asaf also holds a doctoral degree in music composition from UM, as well as a master's degree from Rice University and a bachelor's degree from Tel-Aviv University. Among his composition teachers were William Bolcom, Michael Daugherty, Erik Santos, Richard Lavenda, Shih-Hui Chen, Ruben Seroussi, and Avner Dorman. In 2007, Asaf received the Lola and Edwin Jaffe Fellowship to attend the Boston Symphony Orchestra's Tanglewood Music Center, where he studied with John Harbison, Michael Gandolfi, and Colin Matthews. Asaf was also the 2006-07 recipient of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation (AICF) Scholarship for Studies Abroad.
In addition to his research on pop music, Asaf is an avid pedagogue, and has published an ear-training textbook, entitled Tonal Sight-Singing, the Book. Lastly, Asaf regularly performs contemporary music. as an electric guitarist. In recent years, he has premiered William Zuckerman's Music in Pluralism, Annika Socolofsky's Boža, and Jules Pegram's Easy as That.
