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Wayne Horvitz

Composer, pianist, and keyboardist Wayne Horvitz performs extensively throughout Europe, Japan, and North America. He is leader and principal composer for the quartet Sweeter Than the Day and performs regularly as an improviser on both piano and electronics throughout the world. Past ensembles include The President and the Horvitz, Morris, Previte Trio, Pigpen, Zony Mash, The New York Composers' Orchestra, Ponga and The Four Plus One Ensemble. His newest ensemble, The Gravitas Quartet, is a chamber group featuring cellist Peggy Lee, trumpeter Ron Miles and bassoonist Sara Schoenbeck.

As a composer, Horvitz has been commissioned by The Kitchen, The Kronos Quartet, Brooklyn Academy of Music, New World Records, The Seattle Chamber Players and Earshot Jazz. He has received commissioning grants from Meet the Composer, The National Endowment for the Arts, The N.Y. State Arts Council, The Mary Flagler Carey Trust, The Seattle Arts Commission, The Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund and The Fund for U.S. Artists. Recent premieres include the V Series for chamber orchestra and Mountain Language for string quartet, Vienna 2001 and 2002. In 2002 he was awarded a Rockefeller MAP grant for the creation of a new piece, Joe Hill, for chamber orchestra and voice, which premiered in October of 2004 in Seattle. His 2003 composition, Whispers, Hymns and a Murmur for String Quartet and soloist, funded in part by a Seattle City Artist grant, premiered in March of 2004. This composition and his earlier string quartet, Mountain Language are released on the Tzadik label. His newest string quartet, These Hills of Glory, was commissioned with support from 4Culture and the Mayors Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs. His recent collaboration with Tucker Martine, Mylab, was on the top 10 CD list for 2004 in jazz in both the New Yorker and Amazon.com. In February 2005 he received the Golden Ear award from Earshot Jazz for "Concert of the Year."

Works for theater and dance include music for the 1998 production of Death of A Salesman for Seattle's ACT theater (directed by Gordon Edelstein); productions of Ezra Pounds' Elektra and the American premiere of Harold Pinter's Mountain Language, both directed by Carey Perloff. In 1992 choreographer Paul Taylor created a new work OZ, to eleven compositions by Wayne Horvitz in collaboration with the White Oak Dance Company. Other theater and dance works include music for Bill Irwin's Broadway show, Strictly NY, and productions by the Liz Lerman Dance Exchage, Ammi Legendre, Nikki Apino and House of Dames and the Crispin Spaeth Dance Company.

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Album Review

Sara Schoenbeck: Sara Schoenbeck

Read "Sara Schoenbeck" reviewed by Karl Ackermann


Sara Schoenbeck is cast against type in the world of bassoonists. The versatile double reed, broad-ranged instrument dates to the Renaissance and is commonly found in wind ensembles and chamber orchestras. But Schoenbeck has brought her classical-leaning instrument to creative music in an electrifying body of work. Her self-titled leader debut is the first such project of her career. A series of nine duets allows Schoenbeck to fully explore the scope of the bassoon in close settings. Not ...

Album Review

Wayne Horvitz: Live Forever Vol. 1: The President - New York in the '80s

Read "Live Forever Vol. 1: The President - New York in the '80s" reviewed by Vic Albani


«Numero 1 della Live Forever Series: una collezione di spettacoli dal vivo curata da Wayne Horvitz e Toby Dodds. Il volume 1 contiene un imperversante set dal vivo al CBGBs nel 1987, con un “who's who" della scena downtown NY degli anni '80. Altre tracce includono quattro demo, materiale mai pubblicato dalle sessioni al Power Station per l'album Bring Yr Camera, precedenti demo in studio del 1984, e materiale da due spettacoli dal vivo, sempre al CBGBs, nel ...

8
Album Review

Sara Schoenbeck/Wayne Horvitz: Cell Walk

Read "Cell Walk" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


The relationship between Sara Schoenbeck, one of the only bassoon practitioners to truly and successfully fold the instrument's sound into the realm of chamber jazz, and pianist Wayne Horvitz, a touchstone in creative music, has been documented in the past. The work of Horvitz's Gravitas Quartet, formed in 2004 and featuring Schoenbeck alongside trumpeter Ron Miles and cellist Peggy Lee, is but one indicator of the way those two have managed to meld the roaming and refined into a single ...

Album Review

Wayne Horvitz: Those Who Remain

Read "Those Who Remain" reviewed by Neri Pollastri


L'imprevedibile Wayne Horvitz è qui nelle vesti esclusivamente di autore di due composizioni di stampo schiettamente classico, entrambe impreziosite dalla presenza di un solista improvvisatore. Il primo dei due lavori è un concerto per orchestra in due parti, per complessivi diciassette minuti, interpretato dalla Northest Sinfonia con Bill Frisell in veste di solista. Dopo una prima a Seattle nell'Ottobre del 2015, il disco è stato realizzato registrando separatamente orchestra e solista, per essere poi prodotto e missato dallo ...

Album Review

The Wayne Horvitz European Orchestra: Live at the Bimhuis

Read "Live at the Bimhuis" reviewed by Vincenzo Roggero


Risale al 2014 Live at the Bimhuis, registrazione della European Orchestra di Wayne Horvitz presso la leggendaria venue olandese che festeggiava allora i quarant'anni di attività. Siamo circa un anno dopo la scomparsa di Lawrence “Butch" Morris, figura imprescindibile negli sviluppi della musica afroamericana, e non solo, dell'ultimo mezzo secolo. Oltre che nume tutelare di questa incisione, vuoi perché principale fonte di ispirazione per Horvitz fin dal suo arrivo in NYC nel lontano 1979, vuoi perché in Live at the ...

Album Review

Wayne Horvitz, Geoff Harper, Eric Eagle: The Snowghost Sessions

Read "The Snowghost Sessions" reviewed by Vincenzo Roggero


Era dall'anno di grazia 1986 che Wayne Horvitz non incideva in trio--Nine Below Zero lo vedeva insieme a Butch Morris e Bobby Previte--e mai comunque nella formazione piano-tastiere/basso/batteria. Un ulteriore motivo di curiosità e di interesse riguardo la pubblicazione di The Snowghost Sessions, seduta di registrazione per certi versi anomala, a ruota libera, senza l'obiettivo specifico di incidere un disco. Piuttosto la messa in atto di un processo creativo libero da preconcetti, svincolato da obbligati riferimenti storici, ...

1
Album Review

Wayne Horvitz: Those Who Remain

Read "Those Who Remain" reviewed by Mario Calvitti


Conosciuto principalmente per le sue partecipazioni a vari progetti di John Zorn (in particolare nel gruppo Naked City), le collaborazioni con Bill Frisell, Bobby Previte e altri, e i gruppi da lui guidati come Zony Mash (e la versione acustica Sweeter Than the Day), Pigpen e Presidents, il tastierista Wayne Horvitz può vantare anche una intensa, per quanto meno documentata, attività di compositore orchestrale. Proprio a questa si riferisce il CD appena pubblicato, che riunisce due composizioni di Horvitz risalenti ...

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1

Recording

Bassonist Sara Schoenbeck And Pianist Wayne Horvitz Will Release 'Cell Walk' On May 22

Bassonist Sara Schoenbeck And Pianist Wayne Horvitz Will Release 'Cell Walk' On May 22

Source: GoMedia PR

New Album is Frequent Collaborators' Debut as a Duo Sara Schoenbeck and Wayne Horvitzhave been musical partners for 20 years, notably in Horvitz’s chamber jazz group The Gravitas Quartet (formed 2004) and his Some Days are Forever Afternoon project (2015, both on Songlines). They formed this duo in 2018 to play a program of their own music—composed, improvised, and everywhere in between, a study of the crossroads where texture and extended technique meet with and support the expression of melody ...

3

Recording

Composer/Musician Wayne Horvitz Releases Two New Albums: The Snowghost Sessions (songlines) And Those Who Remain (national Sawdust Tracks) Featuring Guitarist Bill Frisell

Composer/Musician Wayne Horvitz Releases Two New Albums: The Snowghost Sessions (songlines) And Those Who Remain (national Sawdust Tracks) Featuring Guitarist Bill Frisell

Source: AMT Public Relations

Known for his multifaceted musical personality, composer/musician Wayne Horvitz displays his remarkably singular and distinguishable sound in two new recordings: his debut pianos/keys-bass-drums trio album The Snowghost Sessions (Songlines, October 5, 18) and his debut orchestral CD Those Who Remain (National Sawdust Tracks, October, 12 2018). Both are complemented by a nationwide tour culminating in a jny: New York City CD release concert at Brooklyn’s Roulette, December 5, 2018. (Please scroll below for complete tour schedule.) The Snowghost Sessions ( ...

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Music Industry

On CDs, LPs, Henderson And Horvitz

On CDs, LPs, Henderson And Horvitz

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey

In the 1950s when UCLA football coach Red Sanders (pictured right) said, “Winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing,” he could not have known that his sports philosophy would be adapted to virtually every human endeavor. Being number one is the overriding aim not only in sports, but also in politics and international relations—as we keep hearing from the White House—and in business and the arts. Hence, there is consternation at this week’s news trumpeted in Billboard magazine that sales ...

7

Recording

Composer/Musician Wayne Horvitz Releases New Album Inspired By Poet Richard Hugo

Composer/Musician Wayne Horvitz Releases New Album Inspired By Poet Richard Hugo

Source: AMT Public Relations

Composer/Musician Wayne Horvitz Releases Some Places Are Forever Afternoon (Songlines), Paying Tribute to Poet Richard Hugo SEATTLE, WA — Known for his multifaceted musical personality, composer/musician Wayne Horvitz ventures into progressively-inclined acoustic jazz and ultra-modern classicism in his latest album, Some Places Are Forever Afternoon. Written in honor of the iconic Northwest poet Richard Hugo (1923-82), Some Places Are Forever Afternoon is a full-length suite of 12 compositions influenced by different poems of Hugo’s. A colorful 28-page booklet featuring the ...

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Performance / Tour

Wayne Horvitz at Rainier Vally Cultural Center

Wayne Horvitz at Rainier Vally Cultural Center

Source: Seattle Jazz Scene

Friday, July 8, 7pm—Valley Vibes Jazz Series Wayne Horvitz's Sweeter Than the Day + Jazz Night School Performance Big Band

Rainier Valley Cultural Center 3515 S. Alaska Street, Columbia City

Admission is FREE, or by donation.

Wayne Horvitz's acoustic quartet Sweeter than the Day and the Jazz Night School Performance Big Band will perform, followed by a reception and conversation with musicians in the lower level.

Sweeter than the Day features pianist and composer ...

115

Performance / Tour

Wayne Horvitz Curates first month of New Concert Series at University of the Streets

Wayne Horvitz Curates first month of New Concert Series at University of the Streets

Source: Saadia Salahuddeen

FALL 2010 ANNOUNCEMENT OF UOTS CURATORS' SERIES University of the Streets is proud to announce the commencement of its Curators Series at their 75 seat Muhammad Salahuddeen Memorial Theatre on October 2nd. University of the Streets is a not-for-profit community organization established in 1969 which advocates for established and developing artists & musicians in the metropolitan area by assisting them to grow and succeed. The organization located at 130 East 7th Street, in the heart of the East VIllage provides ...

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Performance / Tour

Amorphous Improv That Ends Screeching to a Halt

Amorphous Improv That Ends Screeching to a Halt

Source: Michael Ricci

he keyboardist Wayne Horvitz, the alto saxophonist Briggan Krauss and the percussionist Le Quan Ninh gave it to us straight at the Stone in the East Village on Wednesday night. It was tabula-rasa free improvisation: about an hour long, aggressive but not signifying any particular school, loud and soft but mostly loud, way more gestural than narrative, instinctive, abstract, efficacious. Billed as the HNK Trio, these three had never played together before this year. Currently theyre touring five American cities, ...

148

Performance / Tour

Wayne Horvitz - These Hills of Glory

Wayne Horvitz - These Hills of Glory

Source: Seattle Jazz Scene

Email from Wayne Horvitz about this performance this Wednesday, November 4: Dear Seattle Friends, If you come to one concert of mine this year, or even the next, or the one after that, please come on Wednesday November 4th to the Nordstrom Recital Hall for a very special performance of my chamber music. (1) The center piece of the evening will be my piece for string quartet plus improvising soloist entitled These Hills of Glory. The quartet will be performed ...

76

Performance / Tour

Wayne Horvitz & Sweeter Than the Day Announce Ten Date West Coast Tour in March 2007

Wayne Horvitz & Sweeter Than the Day  Announce Ten Date West Coast Tour in March 2007

Source: All About Jazz

"On piano, Horvitz is economical yet lyrical, never venturing far from the strong melodic hooks which characterize his compositions, but constantly working small surprises." - THE WIRE UK Brooklyn, NY -- In March 2007, Wayne Horvitz and Sweeter Than The Day launch their first West Coast tour in more than a year. The ten date run will hit nine cities, launching in Santa Cruz and concluding in Wayne's hometown Seattle. For Wayne Horvitz, a musically dynamic composer, pianist and electronic ...

123

Recording

Wayne Horvitz Displays Both Compositional and Improvisational Virtuosity on Two New Releases

Wayne Horvitz Displays Both Compositional and Improvisational Virtuosity on Two New Releases

Source: All About Jazz

Songlines' Way Out East Highlights Horvitz's Gravitas Quartet While Tzadik's Whispers, Hymn and a Murmur Features His Compositions Performed By Koehne Quartet

Between February and June of 2006, pianist and composer Wayne Horvitz will release two highly distinctive recordings that demonstrate the breadth and depth of his musical vision. On June 13, Songlines Recordings will release Way Out East, featuring the Gravitas Quartet, Horvitz' new improvising chamber ensemble. On Way Out East the group, comprised of four uniquely distinctive players ...

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Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Kosen Rufu

Wide Hive Records
2023

buy

Sara Schoenbeck

Pyroclastic Records
2021

buy

Cell Walk

Songlines Recordings
2020

buy

Those Who Remain

National Sawdust
2019

buy

Live at the Bimhuis

Novara Jazz Series
2019

buy

One For Mganga

From: Kosen Rufu
By Wayne Horvitz

Apart From You #1

From: The Snowghost Sessions
By Wayne Horvitz

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