Mark Engebretson, DMA,

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

(born 1964, California) is a saxophonist and composer. His music combines

computer music Computer music is the application of computing technology in music composition, to help human composers create new music or to have computers independently create music, such as with algorithmic composition programs. It includes the theory and ...

and live performance, the latter usually performed on saxophone.

Biography

Engebretson was born in California and raised in

Alexandria, Minnesota Alexandria is a city in and the county seat of Douglas County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 14,335 as of the 2020 census. I-94 passes through Alexandria, along with Minnesota State Highways 27 and 29. It is south of Lake ...

. His family later moved to North St. Paul, Minnesota. His father, a retired doctor, is also a saxophonist as well as a clarinettist. Engbretson attended

St. Olaf College St. Olaf College is a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, United States. It was founded in 1874 by a group of Norwegian-American pastors and farmers led by Pastor Bernt Julius Muus. The college is named after the King and th ...

for a year before transferring to the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

. He is currently Associate Professor of Composition and Electronic Music at the

University of North Carolina at Greensboro The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG or UNC Greensboro) is a public research university in Greensboro, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina, University of North Carolina system. It is accredited by the S ...

and director of the Alice Virginia Poe Williams Electronic Music Studio at that university. He is a member of Red Clay Saxophone Quartet and was formerly a member of the Vienna Saxophone Quartet. Aside from Northwestern University, he also studied at the

and the

Conservatoire de Bordeaux The Conservatoire de Bordeaux is an arts conservatory that offers higher education in music, dance and drama in Bordeaux, France. It is one of the leading schools in France for singers and saxophonists. Founded in 1821, the school is operated by ...

. His teachers have included

Frederick Hemke Frederick L. Hemke ''(né'' Fred LeRoy Hemke Jr.; July 11, 1935 – April 17, 2019) was an American virtuoso classical saxophonist and influential professor of saxophone at Northwestern University. Hemke helped to increase the popularity of cla ...

Jean-Marie Londeix Jean-Marie Londeix (20 September 1932 – 3 March 2025) was a French saxophonist who studied saxophone, piano, harmony and chamber music.Ingham, Richard (ed.)''The Cambridge Companion to the Saxophone'' Cambridge University Press (1998) p. 169. Um ...

, M. William Karlins,

Pauline Oliveros Pauline Oliveros (May 30, 1932 – November 24, 2016) was an American composer, accordionist and a central figure in the development of post-war experimental and electronic music. She was a founding member of the San Francisco Tape Music Center ...

, Marta Ptaszynska,

Michael Pisaro Michael Pisaro (born 1961 in Buffalo, New York) is an American guitarist and composer. A member of the Wandelweiser Composers Ensemble, he has composed over 80 works for a great variety of instrumental combinations, including several pieces for v ...

and

Jay Alan Yim Jay Alan Yim (born April 24, 1958) is an American composer of Chinese descent and recipient of a 1994 Guggenheim Fellowship. Early life and education Yim was born into a Chinese family in St. Louis, Missouri on April 24, 1958. He attended the U ...

Music

As a composer his influences include

Eugène Bozza Eugène Joseph Bozza (4 April 1905 – 28 September 1991)Grove Music Online: "Bozza, Eugène"; accessed 20 September 2014, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/03791. was a French composer and violinist. He was one of t ...

and

Paule Maurice Paule Charlotte Marie Jeanne Maurice (29 September 1910 – 18 August 1967) was a French composer. Life and career Maurice was born in Paris to Raoul Auguste Alexandre Maurice and Marguerite Jeanne Lebrun. Registration lists at the Conservato ...

. Eric Stokes introduced him to

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

and ''found sound'' (i.e.

Found art A found object (a calque from the French ''objet trouvé''), or found art, is art created from undisguised, but often modified, items or products that are not normally considered materials from which art is made, often because they already have ...

using sounds as its material). Engebretson has received commissions from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

's Fromm Music Foundation (2007) and the Thomas S. Kenan Center for the Arts (2008). His compositions have been performed at

Indiana State University Indiana State University (ISU) is a public university in Terre Haute, Indiana, United States. It was founded in 1865 and offers over 100 undergraduate majors and more than 75 graduate and professional programs. Indiana State is classified ...

New Music Festival (Terre Haute, Indiana) and

International Society for Contemporary Music The International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) is a music organization that promotes contemporary classical music. The organization was established in Salzburg in 1922 as Internationale Gesellschaft für Neue Musik (IGNM) following the ...

Festivals (Tirana, Albania and Baku, Azerbaijan) as well as several lesser known contemporary music festivals such as Wien Modern (Vienna), Gaida Festival (Vilnius, Lithuania), Ny Musikk (Bergen, Norway) and the Florida Electroacoustic Music Festival. The world premiere of ''SaxMax'' was given at the 14th

World Saxophone Congress The World Saxophone Congress is a festival gathering approximately 1000 saxophone, saxophonists and other musicians from all over the world. It is held every three years at a different congress centre in a different country and focuses primaril ...

in Ljubljana, Slovenia by James Romain.

References

, School of Music
Profile
on

Hartwick College Hartwick College is a private liberal arts college in Oneonta, New York. The institution's origin is rooted in the founding of Hartwick Seminary in 1797 through the will of John Christopher Hartwick. In 1927, the seminary became a four-year coll ...

Music Festival website
Innova Records listing
for recordings on Innova label'

on World Saxophone Congress website
Red Clay Saxophone Quartet - Mark Engebretson
profile on Steve Stusek personal website
Programme notes with biography and profile
for the North American Saxophone Alliance 2004 biennial conference {{DEFAULTSORT:Engebretson, Mark 21st-century American classical composers American male classical composers University of Minnesota alumni American classical saxophonists American male saxophonists Living people People from Douglas County, Minnesota 1964 births Conservatoire de Bordeaux alumni 21st-century American saxophonists 21st-century American male musicians

Biography

Music

References

External links