Austin Wintory is quite certain that the 21st Century is the greatest to have ever lived and worked as a composer. His career has thus far spanned concert music, film and television, video games, commercials, a wide array of so-called “digital media,” albums (both his own and in collaboration with others), installation art, modern dance and theater, and all manner of esoteric others.
His concert music has been performed by orchestras and chamber ensembles throughout the United States and Europe. Recent performances include “Woven Variations” (a miniature cello concerto fashioned from the score to an upcoming PlayStation3 game called JOURNEY), performed by Tina Guo (cello soloist) and the Golden State Pops Orchestra (conducted by Wintory); “Concatenation” for wind ensemble, by the Cherry Creek Wind Ensemble in May 2011; and “Shakes,” for chamber orchestra, by the American Studio Orchestra that same month in Baltimore, Maryland. Shortly thereafter recordings began of a chamber music album in collaboration with the LA-based group “Symbiosis.”
Austin’s first major effort at a video game, 2006′s FLOW on PlayStation3, earned him a British Academy Award nomination, a Game Audio Network Guild award for “Rookie of the Year,” and a handful of other industry awards. In 2011 another Playstation3 title, JOURNEY, will be released featuring a score that Austin has worked on for over 2 years. The score will feature acclaimed cello soloist Tina Guo, singer Lisbeth Scott, as well as the Skopje Radio Orchestra conducted by Wintory.
In the film world, Austin recently completed JUNCTION, his 30th feature film score. Other recent scores include LEAVE (starring Rick Gomez and Frank John Hughes) and A LITTLE HELP (starring Jenna Fischer and Chris O’Donnell) both due out in 2011. For his score to CAPTAIN ABU RAED, completed in 2007, Austin was shortlisted as a contender for the 2008 Academy Award for ‘Best Original Score,’ and won several other awards (such as the Hollywood Music Award for “Best New Composer”) and nominations (such as the International Film Music Critic Association’s “Breakout Composer of the Year”). His strange score (utilizing sampled recordings of horse flies and babies crying in addition to a large choir of contrabass clarinets recorded in London’s famed Abbey Road Studios) for the horror/drama GRACE also received attention; the notorious Fangoria Chainsaw Awards nominated it for “Best Original Score” in 2010 and Visions in Sound radio named it in the Top 10 Scores that year.
Beyond these activities Austin keeps busy with various odd pet projects. In 2010 he launched a blog called “Allogamy” which features one (short) piece of music for every day of the calendar year; the project ended up producing nearly 9 hours of music and featuring dozens of Hollywood’s top musicians. 2010 also marked the release of a solo meditation album called “Sounds of Darkness,” featuring ancient chants and poetry by the world’s last surviving Aztec Tetzkatlipoka medicine man, Miktlan Ehekateotl Kuauhtlinxan.
Learn more at Austin’s website!
Learn More
Conrad Kehn is a composer, improviser, performer, educator, writer and artist. He is the founding Director of The Playground; a chamber ensemble dedicated to modern music.
An award winning composer, Conrad’s style spans many genres from traditional chamber pieces to aleatory, graphic scores, multimedia works and experimental rock. His music has been performed across the U.S. including Issue Project Room (NY), Audio Inversions (Austin, TX), Pendulum New Music Series (CU-Boulder), and the Summer New Music Symposium at Colorado College.
Conrad has two beautiful daughters, Brianna and Eris. They have a considerable influence on his creative output. Their artwork is featured on the covers of his scores. They often appear visually and aurally in his multimedia works. In 2008 he used their texts in his very successful song cycle for cello and soprano Bedtime Stories.
Conrad also works in digital formats and visual arts. His graphic scores have also been displayed in art galleries. He has numerous electronics compositions- many accompanied by his own video creations. He collaborates regularly with film-makers Nicole Esquibel (Flying Dragon Films) and Chad Smith (Monkey Angel Studios). These collaborations have appeared at festivals world-wide.
As a vocalist, Conrad specializes in improvisation, contemporary music, and the use of electronics. Improvisatory collaborations include Wu Fei, Tatsuya Nakatani, James Ilgenfritz, Brandon Vaccaro, and Nate Wooley. Recent concert hall performances include Bolcom’s Satires, Ligeti’s Nonsense Madrigals, Morton Feldman’s O’Hara Songs, and George Crumb’s Songs, Drones, and Refrains of Death.
Conrad has performed with a variety of acts including the improv ensembles Mystery Children and Rhythmic Void, multimedia ensemble itchy-O and the itchy-O Marching Band, defunct rock bands Kallisti and Skull Flux, and of course The Playground.
Conrad is an advocate for arts education. He currently serves on the Denver Public Schools Arts Resource Council, an organization that advocates for funding and support from the Denver Board of Education to deliver a comprehensive arts education for every student.
In the summer of 2010 Conrad attended the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival as a teaching artist in the Young Composers Project. Here he worked directly with New York Philharmonic bassist Jon Deak, to learn the composition program Deak developed for young children.
Conrad believes that it is essential for young people to see classical music is a vibrant, living art form and not a museum piece. This is done through composition and new music!!
Conrad holds a Master of Business Administration Degree (2010) from the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business. He also holds a Master’s degree in Composition (2000) and Bachelor’s degree in Commercial Music/Recording Technology (1996) from the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music. His composition instructors include Donald Keats, M. Lynn Baker, and Bill Hill. Conrad is currently a lecturer of Music Theory and Music Technology at Lamont.
Learn More
A collaboration with the Cherry Creek Chorale
Brian Patrick Leatherman, Music Director & Conductor
The Longmont Youth Symphony
Keynes Chen, Music Director
October 14 (Fri), 7:00PM, First Presbyterian Church, Boulder
October 15 (Sat), 7:30PM, Bethany Lutheran Church, Denver
Music of Brahms, Vaughan Williams, Poulenc and a world premiere by Austin Wintory
Nov. 18 7:00 PM (Friday)
First Presbyterian Church, Boulder (15th & Canyon)
Devin Patrick Hughes, Music Director & Conductor
featuring Patrick Sutton, Guitar
Concert Prelude, a preconcert talk is scheduled for 6:15 PM in the Chapel.
Johannes Brahms – Serenade no. 1
Aaron Copland – Appalachian Spring Suite for 13 players
Mark O’Connor – Appalachia Waltz
Ricardo Iznaola – Vocalise
A collaboration with the First Presbyterian Church Choirs
Jim Keller, Director of Music
Friday, December 9 7:00 PM
Saturday, December 10 3:00 PM & 7:00 PM
Holiday Favorites & Sing-alongs!
Devin Patrick Hughes, Music Director & Conductor
A collaboration with the Playground: Conrad Kehn, Artistic Director & Founder
Saturday, March 31 7:00 PM
First Presbyterian Church, Boulder
Arvo Part: Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten (Boulder Premiere)
Conrad Kehn: Playgrosso, Concerto for Playground and Orchestra (World Premiere)
Charles Ives: The Unanswered Question
Johannes Brahms: Symphony no. 4 in E minor
Learn More
Devin Patrick Hughes, Music Director & Conductor
A collaboration with Cherry Creek Chorale
Brian Patrick Leatherman, Music Director
-Friday, May 18 7:00PM, First Presbyterian Church, Boulder
-Saturday, May 19 7:30?PM, Bethany Lutheran Church, Denver
Johannes Brahms: Ein deutsches Requiem (German Requiem)
Austin Wintory: Inter (world premiere)
Learn More
