Congratulations to each of our 2012-2013 Con Edison Musicians’ Residency Composers-in-Residence. These eight composers will be in residence at one of four host organizations for fall 2012 and spring 2013. Following the announcement of our winners, we now introduce our panelists.

With recommendations from the New York State Council on the Arts, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, local arts councils, and former composers and panelists, we gathered a distinguished panel of professional musicians, composers and arts administrators. For a second time, our wonderful space was generously donated by our friends at the New York Foundation for the Arts.

Bios of each panelist are below. We thank the panelists for their time, insights and expertise.

****************************************************
Cristian Amigo is an American composer, guitarist, producer, and educator who explores connections between art (classical and jazz) music and American popular music. His composition work includes avant-music for chamber ensembles, orchestra, dance, opera, theater, and film.  Known as an acoustic and electric guitarist and improviser, Amigo composes and performs in various roots/blues/Americana and experimental music groups including The Gotham Roots Orchestra and Kingdom of Jones.

His awards include fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the Smithsonian Institution Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, The Brooklyn Philharmonic, and Meet the Composer. His work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council for the Arts, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the American Composers Forum, and Innova Recordings, among many others. The 2012 New Grove Dictionary of American Music will contain an entry on Amigo and his music. He holds a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from UCLA and is composer-in-residence at INTAR Theater in New York City.

 

Film & Concert Composer Joshua Green has worked with Howard Shore on Academy Award winning films for Martin Scorsese, Peter Jackson, and David Cronenberg, while writing orchestral arrangements for The New York Pops, composing concert pieces for internationally acclaimed performers, and orchestrating a Broadway musical in New York and London. Green has been an honoree of the Dinu Ghezzo Award for Outstanding Achievement in Composition, a finalist for ASCAP’s Composer’s Awards, winner of the MTNA Composition Competition, Park City Film Music Festival two-time nominee, and has music in publication with Carl Fischer Music.

 

Fusing classical and popular idioms to dramatic effect, the music of composer David T. Little is widely performed, including at the Tanglewood, Aspen, and Cabrillo Festivals, and by eighth blackbird, So Percussion, Todd Reynolds, the London Sinfonietta, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Alarm Will Sound, and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under Marin Alsop. An active drummer, Little has performed and recorded with the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), and performs regularly with his amplified chamber ensemble Newspeak, for which he is also the Artistic Director. He is the Executive Director of New York’s MATA Festival, and holds degrees from Princeton University, the University of Michigan, and Susquehanna University.

 

Demetrius Spaneas travels the world as a musical ambassador, connecting classical, jazz, and traditional music throughout the US, Eastern Europe, and Asia. He has worked with such diverse artists as John Cage, Ray Charles, and Kyrgyz traditional musicians, and has been a featured soloist and composer at major concert venues and international festivals. Through his work with the US Embassy system, he has presented concerts and lectures on American music throughout the former Soviet Union. Interested in connecting cultures and creating artistic dialogue through cultural diplomacy, he is currently working on initiatives focusing on Central Asia, the Balkans, China, and Russia. To this end, he is a Fulbright Specialist in American Studies, Music. He has won grants and awards from ASCAP, Meet the Composer, the American Music Center, Exploring the Metropolis, and other organizations, including a special certificate from the Russian Duma (senate) for enriching the cultural life of St. Petersburg.

 

Born and raised in Shanghai, China, currently based in NYC, Du Yun is an internationally-performed composer, musician and performance artist. Hailed by the New York Times as “cutting-edge… to whom the term ‘young composer’ could hardly do justice,” “heralds a significant voice” (Financial Times), “re-invents herself daily… so does her music” (TimeOut-NYC),  “…the strongest impression made yet” (by De Rode Leeuw, Amsterdam), and “…one senses the exceptional ear, exploration and the results are impeccably powerful” (by Le Devoir, Montreal), her music exists at an artistic crossroads of orchestral, chamber music, opera, theatre, cabaret, storytelling, pop music, visual arts and noise. NPR has recently voted her as one of 100 composers under 40. Also as an avid performer, her onstage persona has been described by the New York Times as “an indie pop diva with an avant-garde edge,” and “flamboyant” by the Chicago Tribune.