Member Since December, 2003
- Composer
Introduction
A veteran composer of concert music, sonic sculptures, soundscapes, new media works and ambient environments for public spaces and gallery installations. He also composes music for television, film and advertising.
Biography
Born in Honolulu in 1954, Van Zandt grew up in California. He became a musician early in life and plays saxes, keyboards and guitar. He has a BA (1976) in Music Composition and Theory from the College of Creative Studies at University of California Santa Barbara, where he studied composition with Peter Racine Fricker and Thea Musgrave and electronic music with Emma Lou Diemer. He completed three years of graduate study at Cambridge University, England, where he studied composition with and was teaching and musical assistant to Professor of Music Alexander Goehr. In 1977 he was awarded a scholarship by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) to attend the Dartington Summer School of Music to work with Sir Peter Maxwell Davies.
Van Zandt spent nearly 20 years living, composing and working in England, Ireland and continental Europe. Throughout the 1980s, he worked in music publishing as an arranger and orchestrator, taught music theory and art history in an Irish high school, and was the music director of a regional arts center in Ireland. During the 1990s, he held the position of editor-in-chief of a trade book publishing company, commissioning, assembling, publishing and editing hundreds of books. He also designed dozens of large-format art and photography books. More recently he has designed and written web content; and written and developed educational products in the subjects of music, art, science and history.
Since returning to California in 1999, Van Zandt has composed more than 75 new acoustic, electroacoustic, electronic and experimental computer-controlled musical and pure sound works. He has dedicated a significant portion of his time in the past five years transitioning from a purely aural to a new media artist. To that end, he has developed new media creation concepts, methods and computer programming derived from the tools and techniques of music composition, as well as mathematics and the natural and physical sciences. He utilizes these concepts and applications to create organic environmental experiences and ambient enhancements that are manifested through interconnected displays of a wide variety of forms of sound and light. He has assembled a team of technical specialists and fellow artists to collaborate in producing new media installations for all types of public spaces and gallery exhibitions. He recently moved to the Los Angeles area where he composes music for television, advertising and film productions. Van Zandt joined the American Composers Forum-Los Angeles Board of Directors in 2012, and is currently president of the chapter.
Additional info
Recent Works:
A Thousand Ships (2014-16)
One Act Multimedia Opera
Soprano, speakers, chamber orchestra, computer processed sounds and synthesizers
Libretto by Jill Freeman
Incorporating spoken texts from Homer, Sappho, Euripides, Aeschylus, and others
60 minutes
The Painted Veil (2016)
Three songs from Percy Shelley
soprano, flute, viola, piano, celeste, harp and percussion (3)
20 Minutes
…my way is in the sand flowing…
Requiem in Memory of my Mother
for Chorus and Orchestra (1995-2016)
Text by Samuel Beckett
28 minutes
8-Part Mixed Chorus and orchestra (3333/4431/percussion, 2 harps, piano, celeste/ strings
Sí an Bhrú (2016)
For solo piano and computer processed electronic sounds
Commissioned by and dedicated to Nadia Shpachenko
12 Minutes
Stirrings Still: In Memory of Peter Maxwell Davies (2016)
Alto Flute, Bass Clarinet, Percussion, Vibraphone, Piano, Violin/Viola, Cello
22 minutes
TRANS (2015)
Violin, Cello and Piano
9 Minutes
Time and Space Etudes for Solo Flute (2015)
21 Minutes
Apples and Time Crack in October (2015)
Four songs for soprano and piano
Poems by Jill Freeman
14 minutes
From th' Ethereal Sky (2004, revised 2015)
Revised version for large orchestra
3333/4331/Harp/Perc/Strings
13 minutes
. . . the rest is silence . . . (2014-15)
for retuned electronic piano
Commissioned by Aron Kallay for his Beyond 12 project
8 Minutes
Stoicheia: Five Etudes for Viola Solo (2013-14)
18 Minutes
The Regular Division of the Plane (2012-13)
6 Pieces after Escher for 2 Pianos
26 Minutes
My Galley (2012)
Tenor or Soprano and Lute
Text by Sir Thomas Wyatt
6 1/2 minutes
Three Nocturnes for Piano (2012)
12 Minutes
Chromantic Preludes for Piano (2012)
12 Minutes
The Blue Rider (2010-12)
Computer processed synthesizers, percussion, voices and digital video projections
Texts by Trakl, George, Kandinsky, Schoenberg, Klee.
35 Minutes
Eight Pieces for Solo Harp (2011)
35 minutes
Canonic Studies on Japanese Haiku (1989, revised 2011)
Soprano and Eb, Bb and Bb Bass Clarinets (3 players)
8 minutes
Five Etudes for Solo Alto Saxophone (2010-11)
I. Bird II. Taking a Line for a Walk III. Snowflakes IV. Dhrupad (with drone) V. Trane
20 Minutes
Kosmos Ekpyrosis (2009)
Computer Processed Digital Sounds
For gallery installation
66 Minutes
Aurora (2009)
Computer Processed Digital Sounds
For gallery installation
180 Minutes
One Small Step (2009)
Commemorating the 40th anniversary of first moonwalk, July 20, 1969
Computer processed speeches, TV broadcasts and Capcom between the Earth and Moon
7 ½ minutes
Somnium (2007-8)
Kepler Series Part 2
Computer Processed Digital Aural Projection
60 Minutes
The Cloud of Unknowing (2006-8)
In Memory of Ligeti
Computer Processed Acoustic and Electronic Instruments
12 Minutes
Harmonice Mundi (2006)
Kepler Series Part 3
Computer Processed Digital Aural Projection
60 Minutes
12-Tone Chaconne (2005)
Flute, Clarinet, Oboe, Bassoon, Horn, Trumpet, Trombone and Double Bass
14 minutes
Dioskouroi (1979, revised 2005)
Versions for 2 Cellos, 2 Violins, 2 Violas,
Viola and Cello, Violin and Viola, Violin and Cello
10 minutes
String Trio (1977, revised 2005)
Violin, Viola, Cello
17 minutes
El Oro de los Tigres (1982, revised 2005)
Six songs for Soprano, Clarinet, Harp and Cello
Text by Jorge Luis Borges
9 minutes
Cinque Canti for Clarinet and Chamber Orchestra (2005)
Solo Clarinet playing Bb, A, Bb Bass and Eb Clarinets
1111/1110/Harp/Perc/Stings
18 minutes
Strange Loops: String Quartet No. 1 (2004-5)
I. Semezen; II. The Hollow Men; III. Chant
28 minutes
Tir Na nOg (2004-5)
Computer Processed Digital Sounds
11 minutes
Mysterium Cosmographicum (2004)
Kepler Series Part 1
Computer Processed Digital Aural Projection
60 minutes
The Floating World (2004)
Flute, Harp and Viola
I. Dance; II. Ritual; III. Meditation; IV. Trance
27 minutes
From the Far to the Far Beyond (2004)
Three Poems for Chorus (SATBarB)
I: Mandakini; II. The Secret Journey; III. The Stream of Life
Text by Tagore
24 minutes
On the Shores of Eternity (2003)
Multimedia Dance Opera, Text by Tagore
for Computer Processed Soprano Soloist, Mixed Chorus,
Synthesizers and Digital Sounds,
Computer Processed Digital Projections;
2 Solo Dancers and Corps de Ballet. ca. 2 hours
On the Shores of Eternity (2003)
Computer Processed Digital Sounds
13 minutes
A Dance Beyond Death (2003)
Soprano with:
Version A: Computer Processed Digital Sounds
Version B: Woodwind Quintet, Piano, Harp, Celeste, Percussion (4 Players: Xylorimba, 2 Vibraphones, 2 Glockenspiels, Crotales), Strings
Text by Tagore
12 minutes
Living the Infinite (2003)
Soprano and Computer Processed Digital Sounds
Text by Tagore
13 Minutes
First Light (2003)
Computer Processed Digital Sounds
17 minutes
Understanding (2003)
Soprano, Electronic Cello and Computer Processed Digital Sounds
Text by Tagore
8 minutes
The Stars Look On (2003)
Aria for Soprano with:
Version A: Computer Processed Sounds. Version B: Chamber Orchestra
Text by Tagore
8 minutes
The Messenger (2003)
Computer Processed Soprano and Digital Sounds
Text by Tagore
13 minutes
Little Prelude and Fugue (2003)
Guitar Duo
3 minutes
La Nuit Etoilee (The Starry Night) (2003)
Nocturne après van Gogh for Piano, Harp and String Orchestra
14 minutes
Time's Ocean (2002-3)
Version A for Wind, Brass and Percussion Orchestra;
Version B for Computer Processed Digital Sounds
Version C for Large Orchestra (4443/4432/6 Perc/Strings)
12 minutes
Ballade for Piano (1982, rev 2002)
8 Minutes
Lessness (2002, revised 2005)
Violin, Viola, Cello, Double Bass, Piano,
Live Electronics and Pre-recorded Digital Sounds
35 minutes
Alien Atmospheres (2002)
Computer Processed Digital Sounds
5 minutes
Heliakos Elleipsis (2002)
In Memory of Xenakis
Computer Processed Synthesizer
5 minutes
Short Electronic Works (2001-2)
Computer Processed Synthesizer
I. The Banshee, II. Starfield, III. Event Horizon, IV. Vortices
18 minutes
Jam Session for Jazz Ensemble (2001)
Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Baritone Saxes, Trumpet in Bb, Tuba, Piano, Glockenspiel, Vibraphone, Marimba, Double Bass (Pizz.)
15 minutes
The Lost Ones (2001)
After the prose work by Samuel Beckett
Stereo Multitrack Computer Processed Synthesizer
17 minutes
The Labyrinth of Solitude: A Chaconne for Solo Cello (2000)
19 minutes
Toccata for Piano (2000)
5 minutes
Artist Statement:
My philosophy of composing is simple: I try an keep an open mind and gratefully accept whatever inspiration I get from whatever source and go with it, trusting in my skills, hard work, and joy of the craft to make the best work that I can.