The music of Vincent Calianno (b. 1979, Buffalo, NY) is inspired by the renegade eloquence and radical temperament of the American vernacular.  His works often combine a unique confluence of disparate musical colors, muscular rhythms and complex, virtuosic textures. Calianno's diverse musical corpus includes opera, musicals, large and small ensemble works, electro-acoustica and music for film.

Calianno’s chamber music has been presented across the globe by the International Contemporary Ensemble, Alarm Will Sound, the JACK Quartet, Ensemble Mise-En, the Nouveau Classical Project, Ensemble 39, Tactus, Ossia, Artifact and The New York Miniaturist Ensemble.  His orchestral music has been performed by the NYU Symphony, Illinois Symphony Orchestra, and the Greater Buffalo Youth Orchestra.

Recent commissions include new works for the International Contemporary Ensemble (Notes on The Deliverance Machine) scored for cello trio and electronics, and a new work for ensemble and video for Ensemble Mise-En (How I Fell In Love with W)—an encomium on George W. Bush. Other recent projects include Sororatorio—a setting of the rather infamous 2013 ‘deranged sorority girl’ email/meme. Also in 2016, his orchestra piece The Facts and Dreams of the World According to Michael Jackson was selected as the winner of the 2016 ASCAP Rudolf Nissim Prize.

In 2017, Calianno looks forward to a new commissions by the Iowa State Symphony Orchestra (missed connections despite), a new work for string quartet, electronics and video for the San-Francisco based Thalea String Quartet (A History of the String Quartet in its Natural Habitat), and a new work for flute and electronics for Yamaha artist Jenny Shin. 

In addition to concert music, Calianno is an active composer for short and feature length films, commercials and multimedia projects.  His interest in silent cinema has led him to compose scores for both classic and recent silent films. His score for Carl Dreyer’s 1927 film La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc for viola and electronics has been performed live with the film throughout the U.S. and Canada including a portrait concert in 2009 at Le Poisson Rouge in New York.

Calianno holds degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the Eastman School of Music, the University of Illinois and New York University. His principal teachers have included John Luther Adams, Lewis Nielson, Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, Zack Browning, Mark Suozzo and Livingston Gearhart. 

More Information is available at www.droplid.com

[current as of October 2017]

I believe that my music should find an aesthetic that balances my conservatory upbringings with my American ‘maverick’ sensibilities;

I believe in creating art that is at once rich with musical metaphor and allusion but also accesses fresh and truly current trends in the visual and all other aural arts; 

In creating art that is vernacular, polystylistic, self-referential and ironic which can be accessible to the listener and performer without feeling that the music is plastic or an iconic bastard;

In creating art that has a luminous, attractive and comprehensible surface but also has a stable, rich and compositional core;

EDUCATION

MASTER OF ARTS in Composition, 2006
Eastman School of Music. Rochester, New York

 M.A. Thesis: The Path to Resonance: Heterophonic Diffusion
in Boulez’s Memoriale and  Ligeti’s Requiem 

HONORS and AWARDS

• Chamber Music America Commission (2017)
• ASCAP Rudolf Nissim Prize (2016)
• Alan Menken Scholar, New York University (2014-15)
• Honorable Mention, American Composers Forum’s
  National Composition Contest (2015)
• Society of Composers and Lyricists Mentee (2014)
• Honorable Mention, Minnesota Orchestra
  Composer Institute (2011)
• UIUC Orchestra Commission, University of Illinois (2010)

WORKSHOPS

• BMI-NYU Television Workshop (2017)
• BMI-NYU Advertising Workshop (2017)
• ASCAP-NYU Film Scoring Workshop (2017)
• Columbia University Film Scoring Workshop (2015)
• SCL Mentorship Program NYC (2015)

LECTURES, RECITALS AND SYMPOSIA

• "On Michael Jackson", Iowa State University (2016)
• "Rebel Without a Cause: An Examination of Dissonance in the Time of Consonance", Music & the Moving Image, New York (2015)
• “The Light Elusive” on my compositional style and my work, Mt. Holyoke College  (2012)
• les étoiles secrètes, Midwest Graduate Music Consortium, Northwestern University (2012)
• “On the future of American Music” a look at current trends in the new music scene, University of Illinois (2011)
• “The Path to Resonance” Creating resonance through heterophonic diffusion, University of Illinois (2011)
• “Gradus ad Urbanensis” on my compositional style and eating filumena lionheart, University of Illinois (2009)

RESIDENCIES

• Composer-in-Residence, Artifact Dance Project. Tuscon,AZ (2009—2010)
• Artist in Residence, The Banff Centre. Banff, AB (2003)
• Roundtable Composer, International Contemporary Ensemble. Chicago,IL and NewYork,NY (2001-03)

PRINCIPAL TEACHERS

• Mark Suozzo (2013-2015)
• Zack Browning (2007-09)
• Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon (2003-05)
• David Liptak (2002-03)
• Richard Hoffman (2002)

MASTERCLASSES, ET CETERA

• Mac Quayle, Mark Snow (2017)
• Meredith Monk, Toby Twining (2010)
• Steven Stucky (2009)
• David Lang, Julia Wolfe, Helmut Lachenmann (2008)
• Charles Wuorinen (2005)
• Krzysztof Penderecki, James Dillon (2004)

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

CONDUCTING and PERFORMING        
EXPERIENCE

• Founder, Music Director, Conductor and Performer for The Sons of Berio, Ensemble Rocket:X, 1998 - present
• Freelance Performer: Piano, Violoncello, Contrabass, Percussion, Accordion and Theremin, 2001 - present
• Guest conductor, UIUC New Music Ensemble, 2009
• Stage Director, Musical Director, Choreographer and Set Design for The Toilet and Beckett, 2000, 2004
• Guest conductor, Cellist and Board Member, Ossia New Music, 2003 - 2004 

PUBLICATIONS

• A Collection of Miniatures for Solo Violin, Myne Press, 2006