Jason Eckardt

Jason Eckardt (born 17 May 1971 in Princeton, New Jersey) is an American composer. He began his musical life playing guitar in heavy metal and jazz bands and abruptly moved to composing after discovering the music of Anton Webern.[1]

Compositions

Atonal and microtonal harmony, intricate rhythms, highly polyphonic textures and large-scale transformational processes[2] are prevalent in Eckardt’s compositions. Allan Kozinn of The New York Times wrote, “[Eckardt’s] music celebrates harmonic prickliness, rhythmic complexity and a density of ideas.”[3] Though Eckardt has been associated with the New Complexity movement, he is also influenced by American composers Milton Babbitt and Elliott Carter.[4]

Major works include After Serra (2000) for chamber ensemble, Tongues (2001) for soprano and chamber ensemble, Reul na Coille (2002) for percussion and orchestra, Trespass (2005) for piano and chamber orchestra and the Undersong cycle (2002–2008), a series of four chamber works (A way [tracing], 16, Aperture, The Distance (This)) that, when played together without pause, form a concert-length supercomposition.

Some of Eckardt's compositions are inspired by extramusical subjects, such as extraordinary rendition (Rendition), the sculptures of Richard Serra (After Serra),[5][6] W.S. Merwin's poem "Echoes" (Echoes' White Veil)[7] and George W. Bush's 2003 State of the Union Address (16).[8] Subject, a work for string quartet, uses special concert lighting to recreate the conditions used to interrogate military detainees.[9] Eckardt has also written about the influence of research in cognitive psychology on his compositional techniques.[10]

Eckardt has received commissions for his work from several major institutions and performers including Carnegie Hall,[11] Tanglewood,[12] the Koussevitzky Foundation (1999, 2011),[13] the Guggenheim Museum, the Fromm Foundation at Harvard University (1996, 2008),[14] Chamber Music America,[15] the New York State Music Fund, Meet the Composer,[16] the Oberlin Conservatory and percussionist Evelyn Glennie.[17] His works have been programmed internationally by festivals including the Festival d'Automne a Paris, IRCAM-Resonances, ISCM World Music Days (1999, 2000), Darmstädter Ferienkurse, Musica Strasbourg, Voix Nouvelles, Musik im 20. Jahrhundert, Musikhost, Currents in Musical Thought-Seoul, New Consortium, International Review of Contemporary Music, Festival of New American Music and the International Bartok Festival. Eckardt’s catalog is published by Carl Fischer Music.[18]

Career

Eckardt has taught composition, theory and musicology at Columbia University, the Peabody Conservatory, the Oberlin Conservatory, New York University, the University of Illinois, Rutgers University and Northwestern University. He is also the co-founder of Ensemble 21, the contemporary music chamber ensemble based in New York City. He is currently Professor of composition at City University of New York’s Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College and Graduate Center.

Awards

In 2004, Eckardt was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.[19] Eckardt has also earned fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Letters,[20] Fondation Royaumont, the MacDowell and Millay Colonies, the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, the Fritz Reiner Center for Contemporary Music, the Composers Conference at Wellesley, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, and the Yvar Mikhashoff Trust for New Music. Eckardt’s compositions have received awards from the League of Composers/ISCM (National Prize), Deutschen Musikrat-Stadt Wesel (Symposium NRW Prize), ASCAP (Morton Gould Award), the University of Illinois (Salvatore Martirano Memorial Composition Award) and Columbia University (Rapoport Prize).

Education

Eckardt attended Berklee College of Music, first as a guitar performance major before switching to composition, eventually earning a BA (1992). He continued his studies at Columbia University, principally with Jonathan Kramer, and earned MA (1994) and DMA (1998) degrees. He attended masterclasses with Milton Babbitt, James Dillon, Brian Ferneyhough, Jonathan Harvey, and Karlheinz Stockhausen.

List of compositions

Discography

Publications

References

  1. ↑ http://newmusicbox.org/article.nmbx?id=5376
  2. ↑ Eckardt, Jason. 2007. "Process and Timbral Transformation in 16." Arcana: Musicians on Music, Volume 2. Hips Road. (ed. John Zorn).
  3. ↑ Kozinn, Allan. 1993. “Ensemble 21 at Merkin Concert Hall.“ The New York Times, 12 October.
  4. ↑ Cooman, Carson. 2005. "Great Clarity." Music and Vision, August. Mvdaily.com (13 August 2005). Retrieved on 25 October 2011.
  5. ↑ Dyer, Richard. 2003. "Another Class Act Performance from BMOP." The Boston Globe, 18 November.
  6. ↑ Kozinn, Allan. 2008. "The Rites of Chaos and a Dip Into Verdiana Past." The New York Times, 27 July.
  7. ↑ Dyer, Richard. 2001. "Marilyn Nonken: American Spiritual." The Boston Globe, 22 November.
  8. ↑ Tommasini, Anthony. 2010 "A Send-Off for Darmstadt Scholars at Poisson Rouge." The New York Times, 30 June.
  9. ↑ http://www.ensemble21.com/eckardt/je.notes.html#subject
  10. ↑ Eckardt, Jason. 2005. "Surface Elaboration of Pitch-Class Sets Using Nonpitched Musical Dimensions." Perspectives of New Music, Volume 43, Number 1.
  11. ↑ Blog. Carnegie Hall. Retrieved on 25 October 2011.
  12. ↑ Boston Symphony Orchestra. Bso.org. Retrieved on 25 October 2011.
  13. ↑ Koussevitzky Music Foundation Previous Grants. Koussevitzky.org. Retrieved on 25 October 2011.
  14. ↑ fromm_foundation. Music.fas.harvard.edu. Retrieved on 25 October 2011.
  15. ↑ Chamber Music America. Chamber-music.org. Retrieved on 25 October 2011.
  16. ↑ Still. Meet The Composer (15 March 2008). Retrieved on 25 October 2011.
  17. ↑ Commissions, Dame Evelyn, Jewellery, Merchandise, Instrument Hire, Musician, Jeweller,media, Photography, Recordings. Evelyn.co.uk. Retrieved on 25 October 2011.
  18. ↑ Publisher of Fine Music. Carl Fischer. Retrieved on 25 October 2011.
  19. ↑ Jason Eckardt – John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Gf.org. Retrieved on 25 October 2011.
  20. ↑ American Academy of Arts and Letters. 2015 Music Awards Press Release. Retrieved on 6 March 2015.

External links

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