wayne horvitz

composer, pianist, and keyboardist wayne horvitz has performed extensively throughout europe, japan, and north america. he is leader and principal composer for the bands pigpen, zony mash, and co-leader of the n.y. composers orchestra. past ensembles include the president and the horvitz, morris, previte trio. special projects include motel six (featuring skerik, eyvind kang, and soundgarden's matt cameron). his newest ensemble, wayne horvitz's four plus one ensemble features eyvind kang (violin), julian priester (trombone), reggie watts (keyboards), and tucker martine(electronics and live processing). he is also currently working on two acoustic piano projects, a quintet for songlines records and a trio for diw. as a sideman and collaborator he has performed and recorded with marty ehrlich, john zone (naked city, etc.), philip wilson, david moss, curlew, bobby previte, robin holcomb, butch morris, bill frisell, billy bang, kazutoki umezu, fred frith, carla bley, elliott sharp, and michael shrieve among others.
as a composer, he has been commissioned by the kitchen, the kronos quartet, brooklyn academy of music, new world records, 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 fundfor u.s. artists.
commissions for theater have included 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", the liz lerman dance exchange andthe crispin spaeth dance group in seattle.
mr. horvitz has also composed and produced music for a variety of video, film, television and other multimedia projects, including science programs for children, interactive cd-roms and laser discs for pbs, microsoft, scholastic and others. (complete credentials available) he produced the soundtrack for daniele luchetti's film "la scuola", composed by bill frisell along with scores for two 1/2-hour animated tv specials by cartoonist gary larson.
as a record producer, mr. horvitz has produced albums for elektra, new world records, nonesuch, antilles, sound aspects, gramavision, and shanachie. artists include bill frisell, butch morris, robin holcomb, john adams, fontella bass, world saxophone quartet, and peter apfelbaum and the hieroglyphics ensemble. he also works with local artists in seattle including songwriters cathy croce and karen pernick and jazz artists jay clayton, be-bop and destruction and andrew drury. (complete discography available)
in 1988 mr. horvitz's sound aspects release "nine below zero" received the german critics award "preis der deutschen schallplattenkritik". his album "miracle mile" on elektra was named "best of the month" by stereo review and received five stars in down beat magazine. the 1996 down beat critics pollplaced him #1 talent deserving wider recognition in the synthesizer category. the educational cd-rom dinosaurs (microsoft) received an emma award in germany for best sound design in 1993. the 1992 release "robin holcomb" received tremendous critical acclaim including a four star reviewin rolling stone. the 1995 release "no ways tired" by fontella bass was nominated for a grammy in the gospel category.
born in new york city in 1955, wayne horvitz lives in seattle with his wife, composer robin holcomb, and their daughter nica and son lowell.