George Wurzbach is a multi-award winning composer, musician, and performer described by Performing Songwriter Magazine as “a welcome mix of wit, wisdom, and wonder.” He's from Brooklyn: born, raised and residing in. Perhaps this is why his music has a sort of attitude, a uniqueness reflected in the number of prominent artist songwriters who have recorded it — including Tom Paxton, David Wilcox, The Kingston Trio, Bob Malone, David Ippolito, Seamus Kennedy, John McNally, Keven Briody, Hot Soup and many others.

After his selection as a coveted Kerrville New Folk Award winner in 1995, followed by the release of his first album Not Pictured, George formed the notorious music comedy troupe Modern Man with Rob Carlson and David Buskin, releasing four albums and earning a BackStage Magazine Bistro Award and several MAC Award nominations while frightening many innocent people. His song collaboration with folk legend Tom Paxton was featured on the Grammy-nominated album Comedians and Angels.

George has performed as sideman and session player for a sharp diversity of artists from Mel Tormé to Johnny Cash by way of Melanie, with many in between. Most recently, he has recorded piano tracks for newly released and highly acclaimed albums from the prodigious artist songwriter Bob Lind, composer of the iconic Elusive Butterfly.

As a composer for film and theater, George has composed and produced theme and segment music for the PBS series Real Simple. He has scored several documentary films for Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Dean Love and is currently scoring a documentary that follows a team from Astronomy for Equity (A4E) on a mission to Ukraine, bringing telescopes to astronomy students in the war-torn country and taking positive advantage of nightly blackout conditions. In 2025, George collaborated with Monmouth University students to write and produce a Beatles-inspired song for the film Miss O'Dell, directed by Simon Weitzman, documenting the life of legendary music insider Chris O'Dell — subject of the eponymous George Harrison song.

For stage, George has written music and lyrics for Roasting Alice, a comedy depicting a celebrity roast of Alice by the Mad Hatter and crew, directed by Nicole Ricciardi, who also directed an adaptation of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night with original contemporary music and lyrics by Wurzbach — both staged at the Shadow Lawn Theater in NJ.

As producer, his award-winning works include The Lingonberry Collection, the children's music catalog of renowned storyteller, musician and author Bill Gordh. He also originated electronic sound design for The Roaring Mountain with composer Jon Deak and librettist Bill Gordh, debuted by the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center.

George continues to perform live as a solo artist, on split bills, and with the NY funk band The Fumos. When not performing, George serves as a full-time Professor at Monmouth University, where for the past two decades he has taught music theory and composition.

CAREER HIGHLIGHT

A working life in music

1995

Kerrville New Folk Award

Selected as a coveted New Folk Award winner, followed by the release of his first album, Not Pictured.

1996

Modern Man formed

The notorious music comedy troupe with Rob Carlson and David Buskin — four albums, a BackStage Bistro Award, several MAC Award nominations, and many frightened innocent people.

2008

Comedians and Angels

A song collaboration with folk legend Tom Paxton featured on the Grammy-nominated album.

2010s

Screen & stage

Theme and segment music for the PBS series Real Simple; scores for documentaries by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Dean Love.

2020s

Roasting Alice & Twelfth Night

Music and lyrics for two productions directed by Nicole Ricciardi at the Shadow Lawn Theater, NJ.