John McGuire initially studied composition with
Robert Arthur Gross at
Occidental College, where he earned a BA in 1964. He received a succession of three Alfred E. Hertz Traveling Scholarships from the University of California at Berkeley (1965–66, 1966–67, 1967–68), and a Fulbright Traveling Scholarship (1966–67), which together enabled him to study with
Krzysztof Penderecki at the
Folkwang Hochschule in
Essen from 1966 to 1968, and at the Fourth Cologne Courses for New Music, under
Karlheinz Stockhausen, in 1967. Two scholarships from the State of
North Rhine–Westphalia for studies in Germany made it possible for him to participate in the composition studios given by Stockhausen at Darmstadt in 1967 and again in 1968. Returning to the United States, he continued his studies at the
University of California, Berkeley, where his composition teachers included
Ingolf Dahl and Seymour Shifrin. After completing his MA there in 1970, he once again moved to Europe, at first studying computer composition with
Gottfried Michael Koenig at the Institute of Sonology of the
University of Utrecht from 1970 to 1971. Having found the atmosphere in Germany congenial, following his studies in Utrecht he settled in Germany again in 1972 and remained for the next twenty-five years, at first working as a pianist with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester
Saarbrücken from 1972 to 1975. From 1975 to 1977 he studied electronic music with Hans Ulrich Humpert at the
Hochschule für Musik Köln, later working as an organist at the Kirche St. Nikolaus von Tolentino in
Rösrath from 1979 to 1982. He received six commissions from
WDR in Cologne for pieces he realised in the
electronic-music studio there, among them
Pulse Music III in 1978,
Vanishing Points in 1988, and
A Cappella in 1997. He has also had works commissioned by Radio Bremen, from pianist Herbert Henck (
48 Variations, for 2 pianos), from
Dartmouth College, and from the Ministry of Culture of North Rhine–Westphalia. In 1995 he was composer-in-residence at the Akademie Schloss Wiepersdorf in Brandenburg. In 1998 he returned to his native country, working for a time as an editor for the Carl Fischer music-publishing firm in
New York City starting in 1998. From 2000 to 2002 he taught advanced composition and twentieth-century music as a part-time Visiting Adjunct Professor at
Columbia University. He is married to the soprano Beth Griffith, for whom he composed
A Cappella in 1990–97 and
Contradance in 2000–2004. ==Musical style and influences==