Jed Distler

If you're familiar with Jed Distler as one of the most engaging music writers and radio hosts in the United States, you might be surprised to learn he is also "an altogether extraordinary pianist" (Newark Star-Ledger) and New York's “Downtown keyboard magus" (The New Yorker). He has premiered works by Frederic Rzewski, Lois V. Vierk, Virko Baley, Wendy Mae Chambers, Andrew Thomas, Simeon ten Holt, Virgil Thomson, David Maslanka, William Schimmel, Kitty Brazelton, Alvin Curran, and Eleanor Hovda -- many which were written especially for him. In addition to recent commissions from Jenny Lin, IonSound, and Song in Music, his works have been recorded by Margaret Leng Tan, Guy Livingston, and Quattro Mani, among other New Music luminaries, And no summer would be complete without WNYC’s ritual broadcast of Jed’s String Quartet No. 1 (the Mister Softee Variations). Jed is a Yamaha artist, regular reviewer for Gramophone and Classicstoday.com, Artistic Director of ComposersCollaborative Inc., and host of Serial Underground at The Cornelia Street Cafe. He's received grants from ASCAP, Meet the Composer, American Composers Forum, and a coveted McDowell Colony residency in the fall of 2001. Jed taught for many years at Sarah Lawrence College, and has participated in guest composer/teacher residencies across the United States

To learn more about Distler and his latest CD, Meditate with the Masters (Musical Concepts, 2011) visit his websites at http://www.composerscollab.org/ and http://www.meditatewiththemasters.com.

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