November, 2007
I am a composer, critic, essayist and musician. My music, performances and writings explore the relationships between art and culture, and how the values of each interact constructively and destructively. Some of my compostions include the music for the Butoh piece “Come Let’s View Snow Until We’re Buried,” by Tai Dang; “Threnody for 20th Century Man,” written expressly for flutist Ned McGowan; and the chamber piece “Big City,” recently performed at Delta State University. I am a skilled and veteran improviser, and owe a great deal to the exceptional training I received from Meyer Kupferman at Sarah Lawrence College in both composition and performance; it was perhaps the key experience and relationship in my career. I have performed classical, jazz, rock, funk, pop and show-tunes from Weill Recital Hall, The Knitting Factory, CBGB, to the Maritime Museum in San Francisco and Masonic Temples.
This blog is the main venue for my independent, committed and ever-questioning critical thinking about human and aesthetic values in music and the larger culture. I have written for Modern Mask, The Brooklyn Rail, Arete magazine, and have recently published an essay co-written with Brendan Brogan, ‘A New Detroit on the Urban Prairie,’ in “What You Can Do With The City,” Centre Canadien d’Architecture, 2008. As an educator and advocate, I have lectured at City College and presented music in community settings on both coasts. I am a member of the American Composers Forum, the American Music Center, the American Musicological Society and the Electronic Music Foundation and Harvestworks. I am currently working on opera and writing a book on the history of music in Western culture.
