Dominick Argento was an American composer, born on October 27, 1927, in York, Pennsylvania, to Sicilian immigrants. He is renowned for his operatic and choral music. Some of his most celebrated works include the operas Postcard from Morocco, Miss Havisham’s Fire, and The Aspern Papers. Notably, his song cycle, From the Diary of Virginia Woolf, won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1975. Argento spent much of his life in Minnesota, where he taught at the University of Minnesota and was instrumental in developing the Minnesota Opera.

His music is characterized by a blend of tonal and atonal elements. Argento also composed 14 operas and various song cycles and choral works, many of which were performed by local artists. He continued to create music throughout his life and received numerous awards, including the Brock Commission in 2009.