Born in Richmond, Virginia in 1974, Mr. Harvey began playing the trombone at age eleven. He attended Interlochen Arts Camp in 1991 and 1992. During his senior year of high school, he studied Music Theory and Ear Training as the first Advanced Scholar in Music at Virginia Commonwealth University.
In the Fall of 1992, Mr. Harvey began study at The University of Georgia where he earned a B.MUS. in Music Composition and Music Theory in 1996 and an M.M. in Music Composition in 1998. While at The University of Georgia, Mr. Harvey studied Trombone with Dr. Philip Jameson and Composition with Dr. Roger Vogel, Dr. William Davis, Dr. Leonard V. Ball, and Dr. Lewis Nielson. In fulfillment of the teaching requirements for his graduate degree, Mr. Harvey taught Ear Training at all levels of the undergraduate sequence from Elementary Harmony to Contemporary Techniques and Materials. As a member of the university's Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, he played trombone in performances of Edgard Varese's Offrandes and Deserts and Iannis Xenakis' Epei.
After graduating from The University of Georgia in 1998, Mr. Harvey worked at the University of Richmond in Richmond, Virginia as the Multimedia Specialist and later as the Music Lab Assistant. His duties included technology planning and support for all of the university's technology equipped classrooms and software and hardware maintenance for the university's Electronic Music Laboratory headed by Dr. Benjamin Broening.
Mr. Harvey returned to graduate school at The University of Notre Dame in the Fall of 2001. He graduated from Notre Dame in 2003 with an M.A. in Music Theory. During his time at Notre Dame, Mr. Harvey studied the use of Serial Techniques in the music of Schoenberg, the logical principles governing tonal forms in Haydn and Beethoven, and Music Composition with Dr. Ethan Haimo. Under the guidance of Dr. Paula Higgins, he studied the music of the Renaissance with a special focus on the music of Busnois. He studied Electronic Music Composition with Dr. Paul Johnson, and he studied German Romantic Song with Dr. Susan Youens. Mr. Harvey completed his M.A. Thesis on the measurement of Motivic Association and Hierarchy under Dr. Peter H. Smith with whom he also studied Schenkerian Analysis and Tonal Forms. In his service as a Graduate Teaching Assistant, Mr. Harvey provided tutoring and grading assistance for Music Theory I, II, and III under Dr. Smith; assembled and oversaw the university's electronic music studio; and provided classroom technology and grading assistance for Gender, Race, Class, and Sexuality in Western Musical Culture under Dr. Higgins.
Mr. Harvey was named the Presser Scholar at The University of Georgia for the academic year 1995-96 and received the Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award from the University in 1998. He is a member of both the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi and the Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society. His pieces have been performed at regional meetings of the Southeasern Composers' League and the Third Practice Electronic Music Festival at the University of Richmond. In 1995, he received First Place in the Salop Memorial Composition Contest, and in 1996, he received Second Place in the Slates Memorial Composition Contest. As a member of the music production team for Mammita Rica, a computer animation by Chris Higgins, he received second place in the 1998 National Student Emmy Awards.
Mr. Harvey makes his home with his wife Petra and their cat Padrig in Charlottesville, Virginia.