Dan Siegler is an American composer and sound artist from New York City. During his career, Siegler has ventured into a number of mediums, including dance, live theater, and television. Siegler is a recipient of the Bessie Awards for his work with Pam Tanowitz.

Early life and education

Siegler was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and began playing piano at the age of four. Siegler has stated that he developed a love for

rock music Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdo ...

in high school, where he was also involved in friends' theater and dance performances. He attended

Bennington College Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont, United States. Founded as a women’s college in 1932,

Bennington, Vermont Bennington is a New England town, town in Bennington County, Vermont, United States. It is one of two shire towns (county seats) of the county, the other being Manchester (town), Vermont, Manchester. As of the 2020 United States Census, US Cens ...

, where he received his bachelor's degree (B.A.) 1984.

Career

In 1997, Siegler was a recipient of the Abe Olman Scholarship, whose recipients have included artists such as

John Legend John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He began his musical career working behind the scenes for other artists, playing piano on Lauryn Hill's " Every ...

. Siegler is a recipient of the New York Dance and Performance Awards, more commonly known as the Bessie Awards, having received the award for his work with Pam Tanowitz. During his collaborative efforts with Tanowitz, Siegler notably employed unconventional sounds such as that of running water and "staticky buzzes" to compliment instruments such as the piano and bass. According to ''The New York Times'', Siegler produced the original score to the second half of Tanowitz's "the story progresses as if in a dream of glittering surfaces". Siegler was a 2019 resident at Art Omi and a composer-resident at Exploring the Metropolis. (EtM) Siegler also received a virtual commission from the Guggenheim Museum in New York, and was formerly an artist-in-residence at the UCLA Center for the Art of Performance (CAP UCLA). As a lecturer, Siegler has taught at the

Mason Gross School of the Arts Mason Gross School of the Arts ("Mason Gross" or "MGSA") is the arts conservatory at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Mason Gross offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in art, design, dance, filmmaking, music, and theater. Ma ...

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

. Additionally, Siegler has written for publications such as the New York-based ''

Gothamist ''Gothamist'' is a New York City–centric blog operated by New York Public Radio. From 2003 to 2018, Gothamist LLC was the operator, or in some cases franchisor, of eight city-centric websites that focused on news, events, food, culture, an ...

''.

Concrète Jungle

Siegler is noted for his work of sound art ''Concrète Jungle,'' which debuted in 2019. Citing inspiration from the ''

musique concrète Musique concrète (; ): " problem for any translator of an academic work in French is that the language is relatively abstract and theoretical compared to English; one might even say that the mode of thinking itself tends to be more schematic ...

'' method of electroacoustic music, ''Concrète Jungle'' was described by ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' as a piece of art that "employs urban sounds, sampled and reorganized, to evoke a bygone New York City". ''Concrète Jungle'' was composed through the assemblage of recorded conversations with hundreds of New York residents, with ambient sounds complimented by improvised dancing.

Musical style

According to ''The New Yorker'', Siegler's work has been influenced by the avant-garde

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

genre, hip-hop group

Public Enemy Public Enemy is an American Hip-hop, hip hop group formed in Roosevelt, New York, in 1985 by Chuck D and Flavor Flav. The group rose to prominence for their political messages including subjects such as Racism in the United States, American r ...

, as well as

No Wave No wave was an avant-garde music genre and visual art scene that emerged in the late 1970s in Downtown New York City. The term was a pun based on the rejection of commercial new wave music. Reacting against punk rock's recycling of rock and r ...

. In 2013,''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' described Siegler's work as one that "teases and goads with brass cadences, drums and the murmur of surf". Siegler has cited composers Hildegard Westerkamp and

Pierre Schaeffer Pierre Henri Marie Schaeffer (English pronunciation: , ; 14 August 1910 – 19 August 1995) was a French composer, writer, broadcaster, engineer, musicologist, acoustician and founder of Groupe de Recherche de Musique Concrète (GRMC). His inno ...

as a major influence on his work.

Personal life

Siegler married Pam Tanowitz in 1998. As of 2016, Siegler is a resident of

Chelsea, Manhattan Chelsea is a neighborhood on the West Side (Manhattan), West Side of the Boroughs of New York City, borough of Manhattan in New York City. The area's boundaries are roughly 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the south, the Hudson River an ...

Selected works

* ''Concrète Jungle'' (2018-2021) * ''Ghost Sentence'' (2016) * ''Read the Following Before Playing'' (2015) * ''Untitled 4, Pour Hommes'' (2014) * ''The Spectators'' (2013) * ''St Newey Blues'' (2012) * ''The Party I Didn't Go To'' (2010) * ''Unnatural Sounds'' (2010) * ''Be In The Gray With Me'' (2009); Bessie Award winner * ''The Other Side of the Street'' (2008) * ''Errors'' (2007)

References

External links

Dan Siegler's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Siegler, Dan 21st-century American composers American sound artists American experimental composers Bennington College alumni 20th-century American pianists 21st-century American pianists Bessie Award winners Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American male composers 21st-century American male musicians Composers from New York City 20th-century American male musicians American male pianists People from Chelsea, Manhattan