Steven Schick (born May or June 1954) is a

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

ist and conductor from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

, specializing in

contemporary classical music Contemporary classical music is classical music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included se ...

. He teaches at the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

and is currently the Music Director and Conductor of the La Jolla Symphony Orchestra. Schick was born in

Iowa Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...

and raised in a farming family. For the past 40 years, he has championed contemporary percussion music as a performer and teacher, by commissioning and premiering more than 150 new works for percussion. Schick is Distinguished Professor of Music at UCSD and was previously a Consulting Artist in Percussion at the

Manhattan School of Music The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory in New York City. The school offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition, as well as a bachelor's in mu ...

. He was the percussionist of the Bang on a Can All-Stars of New York City from 1992 to 2002, and from 2000 to 2004 served as Artistic Director of the Centre International de Percussion de Genève in Geneva, Switzerland. Schick is founder and Artistic Director of the percussion group

red fish blue fish Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a seconda ...

, and in 2007 assumed the post of music director and conductor of the La Jolla Symphony and Chorus. Schick's book on solo percussion music, ''The Percussionist's Art: Same Bed, Different Dreams'', was published by the University of Rochester Press. His recording of ''The Mathematics of Resonant Bodies'' by

John Luther Adams John Luther Adams (born January 23, 1953) is an American composer whose music is inspired by nature, especially the landscapes of Alaska, where he lived from 1978 to 2014. His orchestral work '' Become Ocean'' was awarded the 2014 Pulitzer Prize ...

was released by Cantaloupe Music. A 3-CD set of the complete percussion music of

Iannis Xenakis Giannis Klearchou Xenakis (also spelled for professional purposes as Yannis or Iannis Xenakis; el, Γιάννης "Ιωάννης" Κλέαρχου Ξενάκης, ; 29 May 1922 – 4 February 2001) was a Romanian-born Greek-French avant-garde ...

, made in collaboration with red fish blue fish, was issued by Mode Records. In February 2011, Schick was named director of the

San Francisco Contemporary Music Players The San Francisco Contemporary Music Players (SFCMP) is a performing arts organization and unionized chamber orchestra that commissions, performs, and records innovative new music from across cultures and stylistic traditions. SFCMP incorporated in ...

. He replaces Maestro David Milnes who stepped down in 2009. In 2012, he became the first Artist-in-Residence with the

International Contemporary Ensemble The International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) is a contemporary classical music ensemble, based in New York City and Chicago. ICE performs a diverse and extensive array of chamber, electro-acoustic, improvisatory, and multimedia works. History T ...

(ICE).

References

General

''The Percussionist's Art - Same Bed, Different Dreams''
(May 2006; University of Rochester Press; )

External links

Info at UCSDInfo at Manhattan School of Music
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Video: What creativity means
Living people American male conductors (music) University of California, San Diego faculty American percussionists 1954 births 21st-century American conductors (music) 21st-century American male musicians {{percussionist-stub