Sound and silence are allies in the minimal yet intricate music of Lou Bunk. In both his acoustic and electro-acoustic music, timbre unfolds alongside harmony, while extended instrumental techniques, microtones, and a rejection of the virtuosic paints an alien and sometimes barren soundscape.
A native of the Connecticut suburbs, Lou’s earliest compositions were noise improvisations, and four-track collage experiments. Educated at Washington University (MA Composition) and Brandeis University (completing a PhD in Composition and Theory), he has studied music composition with such diverse composers as Eric Chasalow, Michael Tenzer, David Rakowski, Ladislav Kubik, Marty Boykan, and Yehudi Wyner. At Brandeis, he was Assistant Director of the Brandeis Electro-Acoustic Music Studio (2001-2003), and Director of the New Music Brandeis concert series for the 2002-2003 concert season. This year Lou is teaching electronic music and running the studio at Franklin Pierce College in New Hampshire. He is also teaching ear training at Boston Conservatory.
Lou’s music is the recipient of several awards (SEAMUS Student Commission Competition, finalist, Irving Fine Fellowship for Music Composition, ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composers Award, finalist), and has been performed in dozens of venues, in the US and Europe; CCRMA, SEAMUS, June in Buffalo, The Computer Arts Festival in Padova, Italy, an American Composers series in Trossingen, Germany, and the Zeitgeist Gallery. This fall, “Being and Becoming”, for bass clarinet, will be performed in New York and Boston. Some current projects include a new piece for solo piano, Sound design for the American Repertory Theatre, a dissertation on the music of Morton Feldman, teaching electronic music, and a rock and roll band called Shana's Mango!.
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Monday, July 11, 2005
Composer's Union
Dear Blog, Do composers get time off? I know some who seem to work all the time based on the amount of music they write, and the number of performances they get. I think composers should get more time off. As a matter of fact, we should have a union. A composers union. The union could take care of things like health care for those stuck in part time teaching land (like me), or for those brave enough to venture outside of academia, but not having the stomach for a ‘9 to 5-er’. The union could also help level the playing field between those insane enough to work 80 hour weeks, and those like my self who like to have a life outside of being a composer. It just doesn’t seem fair that a handful of composers get all the good gigs, just because they work harder. They should be limited to 40 hour weeks. Or even better, 35 hours, like in France. I call on all non-go-getter, mediocre and slacker composers to band together and form a union. I don’t know that this will bring better music into the world, but I bet we could have a hell of a yearly conference in warm locales. The other option is for half of all composers to just give up.
posted by Lou Bunk
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