Gene Coleman is a composer, musician and director. He is a 2014 Guggenheim Fellow, and received the Berlin Prize for Music from the American Academy in Berlin in 2013. He has created over 70 works for various instrumentation and media. Central to his work is the inventive use of sound, image and time, and the desire to create experiences that expand our understanding of the world. Since 2001 his work has focused on the global transformation of culture and music’s relationship with neuroscience, video and architecture. His most recent research and compositions explore the concepts of Neuro Music and Neuroaesthetics. He studied painting, music and film making at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where his teachers included experimental film artists Stan Brakhage and Ernie Gehr, Robert Snyder (music), Barbara Rossi and Oliver Jackson (painting).
LATEST NEWS
I'm very excited to announce a major project for 2020. I'm a fellow of US Japan Friendship Commission and my composition KATA will be premiered in August, during the Summer Olympics in Tokyo. KATA will feature Karate performers, motion sensor and brain scan technologies and my music and video. I'm working with three outstanding musicians as collaborators: Ota Akiko (Sansuzu Tsuruzawa), Akikazu Nakamura and Adam Vidiksis. For the premiere of KATA I'm very excited to say that my group Ensemble N_JP will feature Naomi Sato, Ko Ishikawa, Naoko Kikuchi and Rei Hotoda, along with more guests to be announced soon. I'm looking forward so much to this project, which got an official launch last night at the US Embassy in Tokyo. Pictures below and more to come soon. Congratulations to the other US artists selected for this amazing opportunity and special thanks to Michael Orlove of the NEA. Check out the page on the KATA project
I'd like to share the last two minutes of my 2nd string quartet RITORNO, as played by the truly amazing Quartetto Prometeo. This is from the premiere on July 21 2019 at the Chigiana International Music Festival in Siena, Italy. RITORNO is an example of my work based on the auditory pathway of the brain. In this section you hear (and see) what I call "geometric bowing" as a musical metaphor for auditory scene analysis (a fundamental concept in auditory neuroscience). Many thanks to Nicola Sani and Francesco Dillon for their support of my work!
Working in Montreal on "Wiretapping" my new work for saxophone quartet and video with the Quasar Quartet. Here's some photos from our workshops at McGill University. The musicians in Quasar are fantastic and I'm so happy to collaborate with them!
I'm in Montreal this week, working on a new piece for the wonderful Quasar Saxophone Quartet. We have a public showing of some results from our workshop on Friday, so if you are in Montreal please come see us!
Many thanks to the musicians who performed in the Transonic Orchestra last Saturday!!! I'm talking about Miya Masaoka, Shinjoo Cho, Layale Chaker, 강가민, Dan Blacksberg, Kinan Abou-afach, Nick Millevoi and Adam Vidiksis - you were all so amazing! Here's a fantastic video by Christopher Andrew McDonald, which features Kinan Abou-afach - this was posted already but deserves an encore!
As we enter the second week of the Site/Sound Festival, I'm thrilled to announce the debut performance by the Transonic Orchestra. The group will perform on October 12 and features some fantastic musicians, including Miya Masaoka, Layale Chaker, 강가민, Shinjoo Cho, Kinan Abou-afach, Dan Blacksberg, Nick Millevoi, Adam Vidiksis and yours truly. You can read about the ethos of this group, along with program information here on the Site/Sound website:
Very Happy and Excited to announce "Site/Sound: Revealing the Railpark", a public art festival that starts on Saturday in Philadelphia. A collaboration between ACF Philadelphia, Mural Arts and The Friends of the Railpark, this project was over three years in the making and features outstanding artists, musicians, dancers, composers and more from Philadelphia and beyond. In this festival we see new possibilities for public art when sound, music, video and performance are combined with more traditional media. Congratulations to the artists in the center of this, including Nadia Hironaka, Matthew Suib, Eugene Lew, Rosie Langabeer, Erik Ruin, John Phillips and Carolyn Healy. Here's an article by Shaun Brady that serves as an excellent introduction to this work.
Very excited that my 2nd string quartet "Ritorno" will have its world premiere in Siena this Sunday (July 21) at the Chigiana International Music Festival. It will be played by the great Prometeo Quartet, featuring cellist Francesco Dillon.
Here in Montreal for the Montreal New Music Festival. Many great things happening here! On Saturday, the festival concludes with "La Grande Nuit", which includes my work "Thrinos" for voice and electronics performed by the great Nicholas Isherwood.
Next Up: The great bass baritone Nicholas Isherwood performs my new work Thrinos for voice and electronics in California. Thrinos is a Greek word for "Lament" and this work incorporates songs of sorrow from both Monteverdi and Bunraku (a form of Japanese Music Theater). This work is part of my media opera, with text by Lance Olsen from his wonderful novel "Dreamlives of Debris" and electronic sound realization by Adam Vidiksis.
Next up: My work "Kirigami I" for cello and koto is played by the great Tom Kraines and Naoko Kikuchi on a concert at The University of Pennsylvania. This piece was inspired in part by the work of the architect Jenny Sabin. Also on the program is a work by the excellent composer Amy Williams and many more great things. Tom and Naoko are among the best musicians I've worked with and I'm really excited for this concert.
In Berlin now for the premier of OTORO II on Jan. 25 at the Konzerthaus Berlin. Played by the wonderful Asian Art Ensemble! This work continues my exploration of music based on the auditory pathway of the brain. Info here, hope to see you there!
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GENE COLEMAN IS
a composer, musician and director. He is a 2014 Guggenheim Fellow and recipient of the 2013 Berlin Prize for Music. He has created over 70 works for various instrumentation and media. Innovative use of sound, image and time are central to his work, and the desire to create experiences that expand our understanding. Since 2001 his work has focused on the global transformation of culture and music’s relationship with neuroscience, video and architecture. He studied painting, music and film making at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where his teachers included experimental film artists Stan Brakhage and Ernie Gehr, Robert Snyder (music), Barbara Rossi and Oliver Jackson (painting).
GET IN TOUCH:
soundfield7@gmail.com