Education
Vores studied composition at Lancaster University in Lancaster, England. He initially focused on playing drums and keyboards in local rock bands, but his studies under the tutelage of composer Edward Cowie switched his focus to writing classical music He received first prize in the Kucyna International Composition Competition at Boston University in 1985, and the following year he returned to Massachusetts as a Fellow in Composition at Tanglewood.
His work Hammer and Darkness, Mirror and Knife, written in the summer of 1986, won the Tanglewood Prize for Composition.
Also in 1986, he met pianist Patricia Thom, whom he later married, and decided to take up residence in the United States.
Career
He has lived in the United States since 1986 and is based in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1992, Vores became Composer-in-Residence at Bemidji State University in Bemidji, Minnesota. In this one-year position, he was first person to receive the Interdisciplinary Fellowship established by the American Composers Forum and the Minnesota State University System.
In 1999, Vores was named Composer-in-Residence to the FleetBoston Celebrity Series: Emerging Artists in Boston.
In 2001, he became Chairman of Composition and Theory at The Boston Conservatory. In 2002, he was named Composer-in-Residence to the New England Philharmonic.
His first Civil Defense, Urban Affair, a classical work consisting of nine movements, was released on the Vera label in 2005. Urban Affair was commissioned as part of the Bank of America Celebrity Series and was performed for the Civil Defense by the Boston Trio.
