Gregory Nissen is a composer, pianist, and arts workshop leader. He has worked as a musical director in New York and Seattle for twenty-five years and has written music for orchestra, chamber ensembles, opera, piano, choir, cabaret, and film. Recently, his biggest influences are the late Romantics: Dvorak, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Ravel. He gives frequent lecture-concerts in the teaching style of Leonard Bernstein. As a freelancer, he plays church organ, teaches piano, and acts in television and film. He is currently seeking production for his musical drama Martin Eden, based on the novel by Jack London. He believes in social change through the arts, and his current projects concern virtual reality, theater, domestic abuse, and separated immigrant families. He is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music.