Duncan Neilson

Duncan Neilson

DUNCAN NEILSON is the Composer-in-Residence for the Portland Chamber Orchestra in Portland, Oregon, and recently premiered a new multi-arts project for the orchestra entitled The Monster, a retelling of Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein, from the Monster's point of view.In 2013, Duncan is a professor at Lewis and Clark College and Concordia University Portland. He works as a freelance composer, and has taught on the music faculty at Columbia University, the College of William and Mary, and at the Hoff-Barthelson School of Music in New York. Together with his wife Liz Gill Neilson and pianist Deborah Bradley-Kramer, Duncan co-founded the White Buffalo Music and Arts Salon in New York City, a concert series dedicated to exploring the links between music, art, literature and ecology.His recent performances have been with the Relache Ensemble, the Daedalus String Quartet, Moebius Ensemble, the Blaeu String Quartet Amsterdam, the Middle Eastern Music Ensemble of the College of William and Mary, the Walla Walla Symphony Orchestra, the Portland Chamber Orchestra, Speculum Musicae, Blend Engine, Ensemble Ergo of Toronto, Quattro Mani, and Arc Duo, at venues including the Aspen Music Festival, Caramoor Music Festival, Tanglewood, Colorado College New Music Symposium, the Music Salon Philadelphia, the Warped Tour, CBGBs, the Knitting Factory, the Children's Museum of Manhattan, Miller Theatre NYC, and Carnegie Hall.Duncan received a D.M.A. in Composition from ?Columbia University, studying with Sebastian Currier, Jonathan Kramer, Fred Lerdahl, and Tristan Murail; an M.M. in Composition from the University of Michigan, studying with William Albright, William Bolcom, Michael Daugherty, and Bright Sheng; and a B.A. in Piano Performance from Lewis and Clark College. Awards include a Mellon Fellowship and Jacob K. Javits Fellowship at Columbia University, scholarships to the Aspen Music Festival, and an ASCAP award for his Mad Love Songs.Bio courtesy of his website.

Dissertation
Sweet Nothing: Centering in an age of comparisons
Columbia Degrees: 
DMA, Composition
2005