Jacob David Sudol(b. Des Moines, Iowa 1980) writes intimate compositions that explore enigmatic phenomena and the inner nature of how we perceive sound. He recently finished his M.Mus. at McGill University and currently resides in La Jolla, CA where he is working towards a Ph.D. in composition at the University of California at San Diego with Roger Reynolds, Chinary Ung, Philippe Manoury, and Rand Steiger.
Over the last five years some of Jacob's mentors in composition have included John Rea, Denys Bouliane, Philippe Leroux, Sean Ferguson, Dan Asia, and Craig Walsh. He has also participated in master classes with Danish composer Bent Sørensen and German composer Manfred Stahnke.
During 2005-2006, Jacob was the first-ever composer-in-residence for the McGill Contemporary Music Ensemble under the direction of Denys Bouliane, in collaboration with the McGill Digital Composition Studio. He has also written music for the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, the Contemporary Keyboard Society, percussionist Fernando Rocha, saxophonist Elizabeth Bunt, and clarinetist Krista Martynes. As an undergraduate at the University of Arizona, he composed the music for a collaborative dance project with choreographer Hillary Peterson, and he was the principal composer and pianist for El Proyecto de Santa Barbara, a chamber Latin jazz ensemble.
During the 2005 and 2007 Montréal/Nouvelles Musiques and 2006 MusiMars festivals Jacob was an electronic assistant for performances with Court-Circuit, Matt Haimovitz, Sara Laimon, Martin Matalon, Moritz Eggert, Manfred Stahnke, the Caput Ensemble, and the McGill Contemporary Music Ensemble. These concerts were broadcast by the CBC and the European Broadcasting Union in over fifty countries throughout the world. He is currently a studio research assistant for Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Roger Reynolds.
During his free time Jacob takes an active interest in religious phenomenology, cinema, acoustics, literature, poetry, and visual art. As a composer and performer, he always attempts to bring insights from these other fields into his work.
Disclaimer:
All music posted on this blog is posted out of love and the idea that for the truly great music of our time(s) to be known it must first and foremost be heard. If you like what you hear please support the artist by buying the recordings, scores, and/or encouraging the performances of the music in every way possible.
If you are the composer, performer, performing organization, artist or directly represent the composer, performer, performing organization, or artist of anything posted on this website and would like your material removed please contact me and I will happily oblige.
Since the two performances of “Inner Music” I have been discovering a lot of new music and, although I now have a much larger collection of music that I want to post, I almost feel at a loss of words to accompany them.
That aside, one of the more exciting composers that I’ve recently discovered is the Italian composer Fausto Romitelli. I haven’t been able to find too much about him (besides the link I've included over his name) but mostly the music speaks for itself. Most of Romitelli's works are infused with a high level of energy and an almost psychedelic absorption in sound that at times resembles some of the more visceral moments in Grisey’s compositions. Although I’m not as fond of some of his explorations with literally infusing elements of electronic popular music in pieces like “Professor Bad Trip” and his video opera “An Index of Metals” I do think that in most of his compositions he captures a visceral timbral energy usually only found in popular music, but in a way which is very original and personal. It is really a shame that he recently died in 2004 at the very young age of 41. Hopefully we’ll soon see many more recordings and releases from his remarkable oeuvre.
thanks jacob - i've just started listening to him as well and like you find his work really compelling. i'm going to have to splurge on those ictus recordings pretty soon....
Good call on giving some exposure to Romitelli. He is indeed an interesting composer. I disagree with your opinion regarding his 'infusuion' of electronic pop music into "Preofessor Bad Trip" . I think the infusion is just that - not a mere juxtaposition or borrowing, as many lesser compositions have done. My question is this; if one wanted to 'insert' pop elements into their music, how could one be more sophisticated than Romitelli? I believe Romitelli has fully constituted his materials in PBD, to the point that I can just barely hear them, as if one note in the further direction would completely destroy the origin of their sound. If I were able to push my material to as brilliantly Romitelli does, I would be ecstatic.
