Henry Gwiazda
Henry Gwiazda was born in 1952 in New Britain, Connecticut. He received degrees from the Eastman School of Music, The Hartt School, and the College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati. He has received performances by the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the New Britain Symphony, the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony, and the American Dance Festival. Since 1986, he has worked with sampling and sound effects to create a unique musical language that is derived from the interior musical characteristics of noise itself. His recent work is concerned with creating immersive musical works and computer multimedia. Performing live with sampler, guitar, and tape, he has given concerts, workshops, and lectures throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. He has performed at New Music America (New York), Bang On A Can Festival, The Kitchen, Performance Space 122, the Knitting Factory, Roulette, iEar Studios (Troy), New Langton Arts (San Francisco), The Music Gallery (Toronto), Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), Stedelijte Museum (Amsterdam), Het Apollohuis (Eindhoven), De Unie (Rotterdam), Democrazy (Ghent), Cirque Diver (Liege), Monty (Antwerp), New Music Across America (Utah), and many more including colleges and universities. His recent new media work has been shown by Lumen Eclipse, FONLAD Digital Arts and the Logos Foundation .
In 1992 he turned his attention to virtual audio and created two works; buzzingreynold'sdreamland and thefluteintheworldthefluteistheworld which are installations for one listener alone, utilizing immersive technologies. In 1995, he extended his interest of sampling natural sounds to include a sampling of all phenomenon that has movement-a comprehensive artistic approach that has resulted in work that is multimedia in nature. These new works; she's walking......, i'm sitting, watching......, and living is...... make use of new media to create a virtual realism that is focussed on movement. He has received prizes and grants from the SUC Student Composers Competition (First Prize), the Jerome Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, the Barlow Foundation, the Bush Foundation, a Diverse Visions Grant (along with lighting designer Jeff Bartlett), 20 ASCAP Standard Award Panel Grants, as well as many Meet the Composer grants. He has also been guest composer at numerous festivals and universities. He was featured in EAR Magazine and had a special program on his music on John Schaeffer's "New Sounds" on WNYC in New York. His articles concerning his work have been published in Guitar Player magazine and the Contemporary Music Review (U.K.) His work is featured in AMERICAN MUSIC by Kyle Gann and A HISTORY OF AMERICAN MUSIC by H. Wiley Hitchcock and Kyle Gann. He has received much critical acclaim including the Village Voice and The New York Times. "...That's why I find the work so powerful-because no art goes into our soul and grips it until all it's techniques, it's philosophical strategies, it's finally detailed structures, have been boiled down and distilled and made simple. And Gwiazda has gotten to the essence.." Kyle Gann, liner notes, "...she's walking..." "magical...I was drawn ineluctably, ever more fascinated by the amount of unexpectedly beautiful detail and the relationships between them..."She's Walking......" is a profound, acute observation on "those empty spots, those times in between". Highly recommended " Brian Olewnick, review Squid's Ear "she's walking......" "... his real genius, which is as a poet of natural sound..." Kyle Gann, liner notes, noTnoTesnoTrhyThms "Gwiazda is a musical poet in the truest sense...Gwiazda triggers with near-tactile sensation invisible environments of remarkable beauty...Gwiazda's work is groundbreaking..." Daniel Buckley, Stereophile Magazine "Gwiazda makes the most elegant collage work I know. The quality of sounds used are stunning, the choices of when and where to place sounds, both spatially and structurally, are immaculate, and the works are both immediately engaging, and continually fascinating on repeated hearings" Warren Burt, Chroma "...the compostions on this disk are like nothing else this reviewer has ever heard." David Cleary, New Music Connoisseur "Henry Gwiazda represents the cutting edge of today's experimental music..." James Wierzbiecki, St. Louis Dispatch "... I am excited about this distributed mode of attention; it is an expansion of perception into the truly audiovisual, a medium I haven't experience before..." Tildy Bayar, Open Space Journal He has recorded on CRI, CCG, and Innova and is currently Professor of Music at Minnesota State University Moorhead, MN.
List of Works MANEATINGCHIPSLISTENINGTOAVIOLIN whErEyoulivE wM afterfloW themythofAcceptAnce thefLuteintheworldthefLuteistheworLd buzzingreynold'sdreamland All of the above are available on Innova Recordings CD 505 noTnoTesnoTrhyTms The following three works are available on Innova Recordings DVD 639 She's Walking...... living is...... i'm sitting, watching...... she's walking......

- the new voice in contemporary music -

Home

|

Members

|

Music

|

Concerts

|

Resources

|

Site Map

|

Contact