Untitled Document

Thomas Buckner biography (short)

For over three decades Thomas Buckner championed music of the avant-garde in America and throughout the world as a performer, producer, and promoter. A former student of the legendary Metropolitan Opera baritone, Martial Singher, he was trained in the classical tradition and has continued throughout his distinguished career to broaden the scope of his vocal styles, specializing in a wide range of experimental music. Buckner has collaborated with a host of “new music” composers including Robert Ashley, Roscoe Mitchell, Wadada Leo Smith, Noah Creshevsky, Annea Lockwood, Bun-Ching Lam, David Wessel, Tom Hamilton, Leroy Jenkins, Phill Niblock, Matthias Kaul and many others. He has made solo appearances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Harvard University, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Edinburgh Festival, the Prague Spring Festival, and the Biennale Festival in Venice, presenting a repertoire that includes more than 100 compositions, written for, or dedicated to him.

Thomas Buckner has participated in over 40 recordings, including five solo albums: Full Spectrum Voice [1991], Sign of the Times [1994], Inner Journey [1998], and His Tone of Voice [2001], and Contexts [2006], which features solo improvisations as well as improvised duets including the distinguished artists Borah Bergman (piano), and David Darling (cello). This disc also includes the work Ilex by Earl Howard, who provides an electronic accompaniment in conjunction with Gustavo Aguilar (percussion), and Wu Man, (pipa). The entire discography features newly commissioned works by an impressive array of composers including Annea Lockwood, Somei Satoh, Alvin Lucier, Muhal Richard Abrams, Blue Gene Tyranny, Brian Smith, David Behrman and many others, who utilize Buckner’s wide range of musical styles. The baritone works as an energetic concert producer as well, presenting many facets of new music deserving recognition. For the past eighteen seasons, Buckner has curated the Interpretations series with the World Music Institute in New York City. He also has created the Mutable Music record label to produce new recordings and reissue some important historic recordings, previously unavailable in CD format. The impressive catalog includes recordings by Randy Weston, Roscoe Mitchell, Borah Bergman, Jerome Cooper, Earl Howard, Noah Creshevsky, and Tom Hamilton.

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