Allan Schindler, professor of composition at the Eastman School of Music, has been awarded one of the most prestigious awards in composition, a $10,000 commission from the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University.
The Fromm Music Foundation, administered by the music department of Harvard University, was founded by businessman Paul Fromm, founder of the Great Lakes Wine Company and a lifelong patron of contemporary music. The foundation’s mission is to support the creation of contemporary concert music and to bring this music closer to the public by awarding 12 to 14 commissions each year and supporting premieres of these works.
Over the course of spring 2008, Schindler will be writing a work for marimba and eight-channel live computer processing. This piece will be premiered, performed on international tours, and recorded on an Albany Records SACD disc, playable both on stereo and multichannel audio systems, by marimbist Nathaniel Bartlett, who received his Bachelor of Music degree at Eastman in 2000. Bartlett recently recorded Schindler’s 2004 composition “Precipice,” a work that he has performed in more than 80 concerts.
Schindler’s Fromm commission work, tentatively titled “Take Flight” in celebration of 100 years of aeronautical navigation, uses eight loudspeakers arranged around the performance hall to project sounds played live by the marimbist, sound fragments recorded and transformed during the performance, and electroacoustic sound streams synthesized on a laptop computer. Bartlett will use an eight-channel system in touring performances of the piece. Schindler also will prepare quadraphonic and stereo versions of the work for performers without access to eight-channel systems.
Schindler’s other compositions range from purely acoustic works to multimedia compositions that include video, film, dance, or computer music resources. His music has been performed by soloists and ensembles in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, and is available on the Innova, Centaur, CDCM, New Albany, and Capstone labels.
Schindler, who joined the faculty of the Eastman School in 1978, also serves as director of the Eastman Computer Music Center, which provides computer and digital audio facilities for composing and performance projects. He is a founder and director of the annual ImageMovementSoundFestival, which showcases collaborative multimedia projects by groups from Rochester area universities. Before coming to Eastman, Schindler taught at Ball State University and at Boston University, where he also ran the electronic music program.
In addition to his compositional work, Schindler has served on the governing, editorial, and selection committees of numerous computer music, new music, and composition awards organizations and competitions. His articles and reviews have been published in the Academic American Encyclopedia and other professional journals and festival publications, and he has served as the music editor for Alfred A. Knopf, McGraw-Hill, Random House, and other publishing companies.
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