About
For Build bio and more visit: www.newamsterdamrecords.com/build
Short Bio
Matt McBane (b.1979) has been described as “a natural composer, a fresh voice and, from the evidence of his festival, a first-rate organizer with a broad range of musical interests” by Mark Swed in the Los Angeles Times and as having “a fantastic intuitive sense that is backed up by a serious amount of compositional craft” by Sequenza21. Matt is the violinist and composer for his Brooklyn-based indie-classical band, Build, which Steve Smith described in Time Out New York as “a new quintet that straddles the increasingly permeable line between chamber music and instrumental rock.” Build released its debut album on New Amsterdam Records in the summer of 2008 to widespread critical acclaim and regular play on NPR’s All Things Considered. Matt is the Founder and Director of the Carlsbad Music Festival, an alternative classical music festival praised by the Los Angeles Times as “marvelously enlightening” featuring the next generation of world-class musicians and cutting-edge new music since 2004. Matt has been commissioned by many ensembles including the Calder Quartet, NOW Ensemble, Real Quiet and the California Ear Unit, and has appeared at venues including Carnegie Hall, the Bang on a Can Marathon (NYC), Disney Hall’s REDCAT (LA), the Whitney Museum of Art, Joe’s Pub (NYC), and many others. He has also collaborated extensively with choreographers and video artists and has scored several independent films. Matt and his projects have been the recipients of numerous grants, awards, and prizes from organizations including: the American Music Center; ASCAP, Meet the Composer, and the American Composer’s Forum. Matt studied composition at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music with Donald Crockett. 4/20/2009
Long Bio
Matt McBane (b.1979) is a composer whose music ranges from visceral, hard-driving rhythms and complex grooves to delicate, rich textures, freely and intuitively incorporating a wide array of influences including: minimalism, experimentalism, European classical music, art rock, jazz, film music, and electronic music. He has been described as “a natural composer, a fresh voice and, from the evidence of his festival, a first-rate organizer with a broad range of musical interests” by Mark Swed in the Los Angeles Times and has been included on Alex Ross’ list of “notable younger composers” on The Rest is Noise. Kyle Gann noted his music’s “fanatically detailed sense of slow textural transformation” and Sequenza21 stated: “McBane has a fantastic intuitive sense that is backed up by a serious amount of compositional craft”
Matt is the violinist and composer for his Brooklyn-based indie-classical band, Build, which Steve Smith described in Time Out New York as “a new quintet that straddles the increasingly permeable line between chamber music and instrumental rock.” Build released its debut album on New Amsterdam Records in the summer of 2008 to critical acclaim from both esteemed classical music critics and indie bloggers alike including Bloomberg News’ Alan Rich who praised its “skittery, unpredictable and utterly charming musical inventions”. Tracks from the album are regularly used as musical interludes on NPR’s All Things Considered.
Matt is the Founder and Director of the Carlsbad Music Festival, an acclaimed alternative classical music festival featuring the next generation of world-class musicians and cutting-edge new music since 2004. The Festival has been praised by the Los Angeles Times as “marvelously enlightening” and the 2009 season marks the Festival’s sixth anniversary with concerts in Carlsbad, San Diego and Los Angeles.
Matt has been commissioned by and worked closely with some of the country’s most exciting ensembles including the Calder Quartet, NOW Ensemble, Real Quiet and the California Ear Unit, and has appeared at venues including Carnegie Hall, the Bang on a Can Marathon (NYC), Disney Hall’s REDCAT (LA), Zipper Hall (LA), the Whitney Museum of Art, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, MOMA’s PS-1 (NYC), Joe’s Pub (NYC), and many others. He has also collaborated extensively with choreographers and video artists and has scored several independent films.
Matt has recently been the subject of profiles on the cover of the Los Angeles Times Sunday Calendar section, in the San Diego Union-Tribune, the North County Times (San Diego) on LA’s NPR-affiliate KUSC, and in the LA Weekly where Alan Rich wrote: “his life since graduation is a pretty good paradigm for making it as a serious musician these days.” Matt studied composition at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music with Donald Crockett.
Matt and his projects have been the recipients of numerous grants, awards, and prizes from organizations including: the American Music Center; ASCAP, Meet the Composer, American Composer’s Forum, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, and the City of Carlsbad’s Cultural Arts Office. Check out: www.mattmcbane.com for more info. 3/5/2009