Mark Dancigers
Mark Dancigers
Genres: contemporary classical, USA, us, american, america
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About Mark Dancigers
Composer and electric guitarist Mark Dancigers was born in Virginia Beach, Virginia in 1981. His music moves listeners with a combination of melodic grace and innovative textures. As a performer, he has expanded the scope of the electric guitar’s reach in classical music by premiering over thirty solo and chamber works. In 2005, he wrote “Liquid Song” for the Yale Philharmonia Orchestra while finishing his Masters degree at the Yale School of Music. The piece was subsequently performed at the Cabrillo Festival in Santa Cruz and the Minnesota Orchestra Composers’ Institute. The New York Youth Symphony commissioned him to write “Snow” in 2006, leading to a performance in Carnegie Hall. The Albany Symphony commissioned him in 2007 to write a piece for its chamber orchestra, Dogs of Desire, in 2007. His piece for the Dogs, “Crazy”, was premiered in Saratoga Springs in 2008. In addition to his work for orchestra, Mark Dancigers has vitalized the steel drums as a unique voice in contemporary percussion writing. Working with virtuoso steel drummer Joshua Quillen, Mark wrote “Lion Lying Down” for percussion duo in 2005. The piece has been performed over a dozen times in venues from the Yale Center for British Art to the University of Maryland at Baltimore to the Percussive Arts Society International Conference. Mark continued to work with Quillen and flutist Daniel Alexander on “Rain” for flute and steel drums and in early 2008 wrote “Beach Rain Clearing” for solo steel drums. Similarly, Mark Dancigers has expanded the role of the electric guitar both through his compositions and performances. He opened the 2007 Music At The Anthology (MATA) Festival with three virtuosic electric guitar etudes. In December 2006, he premiered Kathryn Alexander’s electric guitar concerto, “In The Purest Air, Sapphirine” at Yale University and that year performed his music and that of other composers at the Virginia Arts Festival. He recently performed Scott Johnson’s electric guitar duo “Bowery Haunt” at Joe’s Pub along with the composer, and with NOW Ensemble has premiered works at venues such as Merkin Hall, the Festival Internaticional Chihuahua, the Bang On A Can Marathon, the Knitting Factory, MIT, Julliard, the University of Virginia, the Carlsbad Music Festival, the Stone, Cal Arts, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Princeton University, and many others. His chamber music includes “Thaw” for Opus 21 which was premiered at Symphony Space in April 2007, “The King of Snow” for baritone Michael Anthony McGee, flutist Conor Nelson, and marimbist Ayano Kataoka which premiered at Merkin Hall in 2005, and “Canyon” for two pianos and two percussion which was performed by Eight Hands at Stony Brook University in 2007. Mark studied composition at Yale University and the Yale School of Music and is completing his PhD at Princeton University.
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