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Christopher Cerrone (b. 1984, Huntington, NY) is a Brooklyn-based composer of dramatic, orchestral, chamber, and electronic music. Hailed as “a rising star” (The New Yorker) and “dangerously talented” (The New Haven Advocate), Cerrone's intricate and evocative work has been described as “skillful and
economical,” and “the program’s highlight” by the New York Times. Cerrone is a founding member and co-artistic director of Red Light New Music, and one-sixth of the Sleeping Giant composers collective. His opera, Invisible Cities, was premiered in May 2011 to sold-out audiences in a joint production of the Italian Academy of Columbia University and Red Light New Music. The opera was first performed in May 2009 by New York City Opera as part of its annual VOX Contemporary American Opera Lab (Cerrone is the youngest composer to be featured). That same season, Invisible Cities was performed at the Virginia Arts Festival under the direction of Rhoda Levine, where Cerrone was a fellow at the John Duffy Composers Institute. In June 2009, Invisible Cities was also performed in the premiere season of the Yale Institute for Music Theatre, directed by Robin Guarino. Invisible Cities receives its Boston premiere in a concert production by Boston Metro Opera in June 2012 season. Other recent projects include a new one-act opera, All Wounds Bleed for American Lyric Theatre (where Cerrone is now a second-year fellow of the Composer-Librettist Development Program) which was premiered in June 2011 at New York City’s Symphony Space; a New York Youth Symphony-commissioned violin concerto, Still Life, led by Ryan McAdams and performed by Hahn-Bin with the NYYS at Carnegie Hall; and a Carnegie Hall commission for Ensemble ACJW to be premired in February 2012. He is currently hard at work on a new piece for percussion and electronics for a consortium of 10 percussionists throughout the world that was commissioned by the American Composers Forum's JFund. Beyond this, Cerrone’s concert works have been heard across the US and Europe, most recently with Bang on a Can Summer Festival, the American Composers' Orchestra's SONiC Festival, the Orchestre National de Lorraine, the Deviant Septet, the USINESONORE Festival, and the Loadbang Ensemble, among others. Cerrone has won awards and grants including the Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a residency at the Civitella Ranieri Foundation in Umbria, a 2011 Jerome Fund commission, 2011 and 2010 ASCAP/Morton Gould Young Composer Awards; as well as three CAP Grants (2009, 2010, 2011) and a CAP Recording Grant (2010) from the American Music Center. He was recently named to NPR’s 2011 crowd-sourced selection of young composers “100 Composers Under 40.” Cerrone is currently pursuing his doctorate at the Yale School of Music, where his mentors are David Lang, Christopher Theofanidis, Martin Bresnick, Ezra Laderman, and Ingram Marshall. He has worked with composers including Pierre Boulez, Salvatore Sciarrino, Charles Wuorinen, Mark Adamo, Richard Danielpour, and Julia Wolfe, and received his undergraduate degree in 2007 from the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Nils Vigeland and Reiko Fueting. An active performer and lecturer, Christopher Cerrone has appeared as a guest musician with Alarm Will Sound, TACTUS, the String Orchestra of Brooklyn, and the Manhattan School Percussion Ensemble. He has taught music theory at the Manhattan School of Music, lectured on contemporary music at Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Berlin University of the Arts, and has taught electronic music and composition at Yale College. His works are published by Outburst-Inburst Musics and Project Schott New York. » Short Biography: Christopher Cerrone (b. 1984, Huntington, NY) is a Brooklyn-based composer of dramatic, orchestral, chamber, and electronic music. Hailed as “a rising star” (The New Yorker) and “dangerously talented” (The New Haven Advocate), Cerrone's intricate and evocative work has been described as “skillful and economical,” and “the program’s highlight” by the New York Times. Cerrone is a founding member and co-artistic director of Red Light New Music and one-sixth of the Sleeping Giant composers collective. His music has been heard across the US and Europe, with performances and commissions from New York City Opera, the New York Youth Symphony, Carnegie Hall/Ensemble ACJW, the Bang on a Can Summer Festival, the American Composers' Orchestra's SONiC Festival, violinist Hahn-Bin, the Deviant Septet, American Lyric Theatre, the Virginia Arts Festival, the Yale Institute for Music Theatre, and the Loadbang Ensemble, among others. He recently received the Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a 2011 Jerome Fund commission, a residency at the Civitella Ranieri Foundation in Umbria, 2011 and 2010 ASCAP/Morton Gould Young Composer Awards; as well as two CAP Grants (2009 and 2010) and a CAP Recording Grant (2010) from the American Music Center. He was recently named to NPR’s 2011 crowd-sourced selection of young composers “100 Composers Under 40.” Upcoming projects include a new work for Ensemble ACJW commissioned by Carnegie Hall and new piece for percussion and electronics for a consortium of 10 percussionists throughout the world that was commissioned by the American Composers Forum's JFund. He is currently pursuing his doctorate at Yale University, where he also taught music composition and electronic music. His works are published by Outburst-Inburst Musics and Project Schott New York. www.christophercerrone.com |