Philadelphia Camerata :: Community Portal for the Creation and Promotion of Contemporary Music and Art

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

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About Me

General Info

General Location: Philadelphia
Company/Institution: Soundfield
Occupation: Composer and Director
Community Role: Composer
Performer
Presenter
Gender: Male
Forum Signature: ---G---

Musical Info

Instrument(s): Bass Clarinet
Interests: Contemporary and Experimental music, non-western forms of music (such as Gagaku), visual arts, architecture, film and video, dance and media art.

Additional Info

Web site: www.soundfield.org
About me: Gene Coleman is a composer, musician and director. He has created over 50 works for various instrumentation and media. Innovative use of sound, image, space and time allows Coleman to create work that expands our understanding of the world. Since 2001 his work has focused on the global transformation of culture and music's relationship with other media, such as architecture, video and dance. He studied painting, music and film making at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where his principle teachers included legendary experimental film artists Stan Brakhage and Ernie Gehr, as well as Robert Snyder (music) and Barbara Rossi (painting). Coleman was composer in residence at the Kunst Raum Sylt Quelle, Westwerk in Hamburg, the Taipei Artists Village, Irtijal Festival in Beirut, Takefu, Japan, Tokyo (Japan-US Friendship Commission Fellowship) and others. In 2003 -- 2004 he was guest composer and artistic director of "Transonic" an innovative music festival at the House of World Cultures in Berlin. In 1987 he founded Ensemble Noamnesia, a group that plays new and experimental music and has worked with many famous composers including Helmut Lachenmann and George Crumb. In 2000 he founded Soundfield, a producing and presenting organization for new and experimental music with programs in Philadelphia, Chicago, New York and internationally. In 2001 he created "Ensemble N_JP", a group of Japanese and American musicians who play his music and other composers. Many groups and organizations have commissioned his compositions, including Klangforum Wien, The Japan Society, The Culture Foundation of North Rhine Westphalia, The Renaissance Society, the Ernst von Siemens Foundation, Chamber Music Now, Het Spectra Ensemble, Network for New Music and others. These projects have brought Coleman and his work to diverse audiences in Europe, Asia and North America.
Hometown: Chicago (in PHL for 6 years now)