b. 1958) Keith Lay grew up in rural Wadsworth, Ohio playing the saxophone in school and writing for symphonic band at 15. After earning a Master of Music Composition degree from the University of Akron, his careers focused on concert music composition while producing commercial music and teaching. In concert music, Keith has won awards, commissions, honors, and performances across the US and Europe. The New York Times' chief classical music critic Antonio Tommasini hailed Keith as "a composer to watch for" in a rave review. Gramophone magazine described his work, “Earth Caoine”, recorded by Richard Stoltzman and the Warsaw National Philharmonic as "unapologetically emotional". His violin concerto "Children on the Playground" was chosen as the Grand Prize winner of the Riverside Competition from over 500 international submissions over 11 previous years for a performance at Lincoln Center. In commercial music Keith has won national awards for his work as composer, producer and engineer since the mid 90s and is a voting member of the Grammys. He has been awarded Full University’s top awards for excellence in teaching and grants from United Arts of Central Florida, The American Music Center and The State of Florida. He was key in designing Full Sail’s successful Music Production online bachelor’s degree program where he holds the Chair of Music Technology and teaches popular music composition. Keith is also a founding judge and supporter of Orlando Philharmonic’s National Young Composers Challenge and the Central Florida Composers Forum.