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Christopher Cerrone (b. 1984, Huntington, NY) is a Brooklyn-based composer. He has been hailed as “a rising star” by The New Yorker, “dangerously talented” by The New Haven Advocate and “most original” by the The Albany Times-Union. Cerrone's dramatic and evocative music—ranging from fully staged operas to ambient electronic works—was recently praised for its “skillful and economical orchestration” and was called “the program’s highlight” by The New York Times.
His first opera, Invisible Cities, was heard at New York City Opera’s VOX Contemporary American Opera Lab, the Yale Institute for Music Theatre, the Virginia Arts Festival, and in a sold out joint production of Red Light New Music and Columbia University’s Italian Academy. Invisible Cities receives its Los Angeles premiere in a fully staged production by the The Industry directed by Yuval Sharon in Fall 2013. Recent projects include a violin concerto, Still Life, performed by Amadeus Leopold and the New York Youth Symphony at Carnegie Hall; Recovering, a Carnegie Hall commission for Ensemble ACJW; and Memory Palace, for custom-built percussion instruments and live electronics commissioned by the American Composers Forum's JFund. Current projects are with the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the LA Philharmonic, Tulsa Opera, Present Music with members of the Milwaukee Ballet, eighth blackbird, and a joint commission from the Toomai String Quintet and the String Orchestra of Brooklyn. Cerrone’s concert works have been heard across the US and Europe, most recently featured at the Bang on a Can, MATA, SONiC, Fast Forward Austin, Usinesonore, Color Field, and Hartford New Music Festivals, and with the Orchestre National de Lorraine, the Deviant Septet, and the Loadbang, among others. For seven years, he was co-artistic director of Red Light New Music and he is currently one-sixth of the Sleeping Giant composer collective. Cerrone has received awards and grants from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Chamber Music America, the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, OPERA America, the Jerome Foundation, ASCAP, and New Music USA. He was recently named to NPR’s 2011 crowd-sourced selection of young composers “100 Composers Under 40.” Cerrone holds degrees from the Yale School of Music (M.M. and M.M.A.) and the Manhattan School of Music (B.M.). His works are published by Schott NY and Project Schott New York.  all photos by Fabio Bracarda and used with permission of the Civitella Ranieri Foundation » Short Biography (183 words): 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), “dangerously talented” (The New Haven Advocate) and "most original” (The Albany Times-Union), Cerrone's intricate and evocative work has been praised for its “skillful and economical” orchestration and was called “the program’s highlight” by The New York Times. His music has been heard across the US and Europe, with performances and commissions from the LA Philharmonic, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall, New York City Opera, Opera America, Eighth Blackbird, and the New York Youth Symphony. Cerrone has won awards and grants from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Chamber Music America, the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, Opera America, the Jerome Foundation, ASCAP, and New Music USA. He was recently named to NPR’s 2011 crowd-sourced selection of young composers “100 Composers Under 40.” He is currently pursuing his doctorate at Yale University, where he also taught music composition and electronic music. His works are published by Schott NY, Project Schott New York, and Outburst-Inburst Musics. www.christophercerrone.com |