Ari Benjamin Meyers
Ari Benjamin Meyers | |
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Birth name | Ari Benjamin Meyers |
Born | June 20, 1972 |
Origin | Long Island, New York, U.S. |
Genres | classical, minimal, rock, experimental, conceptual |
Occupation(s) | Artist, Composer, Conductor |
Instruments | piano, keyboards |
Years active | 1996–present |
Labels | Potomak, Exile on Mainstream |
Associated acts |
Redux Orchestra Einstürzende Neubauten celan |
Website | AriBenjaminMeyers.com |
Ari Benjamin Meyers (born June 20, 1972 in New York) is an American trained composer and conductor working in the field of contemporary art. He is also active in the experimental / electronic / new music scene in Germany.
While primarily known for his work with the ground breaking dance club-orchestral mash-up, Redux Orchestra, he has also worked with many other artists including the band Einstürzende Neubauten. Other collaborators include Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Anri Sala, Tino Sehgal, La Fura dels Baus, The Residents, raumlabor.berlin, Ricardo Villalobos, Staatsoper Dresden, Staatskapelle Berlin, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum New York, Morton Subotnick and The Orb.
Meyers' catalog as a composer includes operas, music for plays, dance, and film as well as music for diverse chamber ensembles. As evidenced by his arrangements for the live performances Redux Orchestra versus Einstürzende Neubauten, Meyers’ work often takes the form of productive sabotages: he constructs and deconstructs musical situations and deliberately plays on the expectations of a given audience. Although personally distancing himself from the term “Crossover”, his work is often discussed within that context.
He is represented by the gallery Esther Schipper in Berlin.
Biography
Born 1972 in New York, he began his musical training at the age of five on the piano. Between the ages of fifteen and eighteen, he studied piano and composing at The Juilliard School Pre-College Division. During this time, he spent two summers at the Tanglewood Institute as a composer. It was here that he met Leonard Bernstein, who encouraged him to pursue conducting. He then attended Yale University where he majored in composition and studied under Jacob Druckman, Anthony Davis, and Martin Bresnick. At the same time, he was pursuing his conducting studies privately in New York with Laszlo Halasz. In his last two years at Yale, he was music director of the Yale Undergraduate Opera Company and conductor of the Yale Bach Society Orchestra and Chorus; here he presented programs of mostly new music, including the commissioning of composer Michael Gordon’s first orchestral work. In the summer of 1993 he had a conducting internship at the Bavarian State Opera, where he had the opportunity to work with Wolfgang Sawallisch. After graduating with a B.A. (cum laude) from Yale University, he went on to receive his M.M. in conducting from Peabody Conservatory, where he studied under Frederik Prausnitz. He was the recipient there of a conducting fellowship and was named assistant in the conducting department. Throughout his classical training, Meyers was a member of various East-Coast rock bands.
In 1996 he came to Berlin on a Fulbright scholarship. After getting involved in the German avant-garde music scene, he remained, currently residing in Kreuzberg.
Discography
Production:
- 2009 SYMPHONY X (Redux Orchestra)
- 2006 Redux Orchestra Versus Einstürzende Neubauten
Appears On:
- 2009 SYMPHONY X (Redux Orchestra)
- 2009 Halo (celan)
- 2008 The Demolition Series (Jasmine Maschine)
- 2007 Alles Wieder Offen (Einstürzende Neubauten)
- 2006 Redux Orchestra versus Einstürzende Neubauten
- 2006 Klaviermusik
- 2002 Kammermusik der Moderne
Opera/Music Theater
- 2009 Musikmaschine (with La Fura Dels Baus)
- 2009 Eichbaumoper (with Bernadette Lahengst)
- 2005 Nico. Sphinx aus Eis (commissioned by the Semper Opera Dresden)
- 2004 Epidemic (Music Theater after Lars von Trier) (with Sebastian Baumgarten)
- 2003 Hure – damit keine Stille entsteht (Whore) (with Isabelle McEwen)
- 1999 Defendants Rosenberg (State Theater of Magdeburg)
Music for Stage Works
- 2008 Berlin Alexanderplatz (Döblin), Theater Freiburg
- 2006 Der gute Mensch von Sezuan (Brecht), Theater Freiburg
- 2004 Der Kirschgarten (Checkov), Schauspielhaus Dortmund
- 2004 Bach (Werner Fritsch), Straatstheater Darmstadt
- 2003 Nachtasyl (Gorki), Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin
- 2003 Macbeth (Shakespeare), Straatstheater Darmstadt
- 2002 Die drei Schwestern (Checkov), Straatstheater Darmstadt
Concert Works
- 2005 String Quartet Nr. 2 (Die Drei Schwestern) for string quartet
- 2004 Three Days in September for trombone choir
- 2003 Beckmann in New York – A Tryptich for saxophone quartet
- 2003 Six Shakespeare Songs for children's voices and harpsichord
- 2001 A Brief History of Dance for chamber ensemble
- 2001 Beckmann in New York – A Tryptich for alto saxophone and piano
- 2000 Millennium Daze for trumpet and chamber orchestra
- 1999 Gift Fish/Dead Sea for solo violin
- 1999 König, König (drei kleine Rilke Lieder) for mezzo soprano and piano
- 1999 L.T.I. (Lingua Temporum Imperii) for double brass marching band
Film Scores
- 2009 La Meute; Franck Richard, Performed by: Ari Benjamin Meyers and Chris Spencer
- 2009 Pink Taxi; Director Uli Gaulke, Performed by: Ari Benjamin Meyers and the Pink Taxi Band
- 2008 Forgetting Dad; Director: Rick Minnich, Performed by: Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg
- 2006 Die Unzerbrechlichen; Director: Dominik Weseley, Performed by: Redux Orchestra
Conductor Credits
- 2008 Forgetting Dad; Director: Rick Minnich, Performed by: Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg
- 2007 Il Tempo del Postino, Manchester Opera House; Co-curated by: Hans Ulrich Obrist and Philippe Parreno
- 2005 Nico. Sphinx aus Eis, Kleine Szene Semper Opera Dresden
- 2005 Einstein on the Beach (Wilson/Glass) Parochialkirche, Berlin, performed by Redux Orchestra
- 2004 Die Dreigroschenoper (Brecht/Weill), Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin
- 2002 Thoratorium (Klit/Nielson), Den Anden Opera, Copenhagen,performed by Athelas Sinfonietta
- 2002 Die Flut + Four Quartets (Blacher /Cage), Theater am Halleschen Ufer, Berlin
- 2001 Einstein on the Beach 2001 (Wilson/Glass), Staatsbank, Berlin
- .ensemble weil...Focal point of the ensemble was the performance of works by Kurt Weill.
- 2001 DSCH (Fleischman/Schostakowitsch), Staatsbank Berlin, a production of .ensemble weil…
- 2000 Die Dreigroschenoper (Brecht/Weill), Kesselhaus, Kulturbrauerei Berlin, a production of .ensemble weil...
- 1999 Mahagonny Songspiel, Songs aus Happy End (Brecht/Weill)
Art-Related Projects
- 2009 K.62/K.85 (Performa '09 commission with Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster)
- 2009 SOUNDFAIR (curatorial project with Clara Meister)
- 2009 Il Tempo del Postino (Art Basel)
- 2009 Performances for Nobody (ongoing series)
- 2008 NY.2022 (with Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster)
- 2008 SOUNDFAIR, founder (Platform for Music Art)
- 2007 MODEM-Space for Contemporary Music and Art, artistic director
- 2007 Il Tempo del Postino (Manchester International Festival)
- 2007 Black Room Project (Theater Freiburg/raumlabor.berlin)
- 2006 Diameter 761 (Skanu Mezs Festival Riga)
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