Judd Greenstein
Encyclopedia
Judd Greenstein is an American composer of beat-driven contemporary classical music, and an avid promoter of new music in New York City. He is also a co-director of New Amsterdam Records
.
, and his masters in music composition from the Yale School of Music
where he studied with Martin Bresnick
, Aaron Jay Kernis
, and Ezra Laderman
. Shortly after Yale, Greenstein began to draw attention in the New York classical scene for his music's pulse-driven quality and "impressive confidence," which was being performed at Carnegie Hall
, Tanglewood Music Center
, and the Tribeca New Music Festival. New Yorker critic Alex Ross
also regularly lauded the exciting freshness of Greenstein's work as early as 2005. Since then he has received dozens of commissions, and has had his music performed at leading classical music festivals including Bang on a Can
, Tanglewood
, the Carlsbad Music Festival, and MATA.
In addition to his work as a composer, Greenstein has tirelessly demonstrated his support for new music and young composers through various forms of curation and community organization. Since 2008, he has served as co-director of the non-profit label New Amsterdam Records
along with William Brittelle
and Sarah Kirkland Snider
. He describes the label as being dedicated to supporting artists "whose work is a reflection of truly integrated music influences," which has subsequently placed it at the forefront of the indie-classical music scene. In 2011, Greenstein curated the Ecstatic Music Festival at Merkin Hall, giving indie-classical and indie-pop artists like Owen Pallett
, Shara Worden
, Julianna Barwick
, and Victoire an "uptown" arena to showcase their sophisticated endeavors. The festival has been compared to the genre-indifferent Bang on a Can, but with less of the latter's highbrow intimidation and intellectualized atmosphere.
He is currently pursuing a Ph.D from Princeton University.
, Missy Mazzoli, and Corey Dargel
, who fuse the accessibility of minimalist classical music with popular vernaculars to create genre-indifferent works, commonly labeled "indie-classical." In a detailed analysis, musicologist Kyle Gann
remarked on Greenstein's typically polymetric
compositional structures, giving his music a "foot-tapping pop surface in front of a background rhythmic complexity," akin to the 1980s advent of totalism
.
, Carnegie Hall
, and the Library of Congress
. Greenstein has also closely collaborated with a number of New York's young solo musicians and ensembles, including violist Nadia Sirota, soprano Anne-Carolyn Bird, percussionist Samuel Solomon, the political chamber ensemble Newspeak, and others.
Greenstein's most recent project is The Yehudim--an ensemble of vintage keyboards, mixed voices, electric guitars, and percussion that "explores characters from the Hebrew Bible, using the strange stories of their lives and the ancient writings around their characters to weave contemporary narratives." The Yehudim made its concert debut in March 2011 at Merkin Concert Hall premiering Greenstein's piece "Sh'lomo", and was called "an epiphany" by the New York Times. He has also recently been commissioned to write works for ETHEL
, Gibbs & Main, and a large-scale work for the Minnesota Orchestra
.
New Amsterdam Records
New Amsterdam Records is a New York City based record label. It was formed in 2008 by Judd Greenstein, Sarah Kirkland Snider, and William Brittelle to promote classically-trained musicians who fall in between traditional genre boundaries. Often abbreviated as NewAm, the organization has been hailed...
.
Life and career
Judd Greenstein was born and raised in Manhattan. He received his undergraduate degree from Williams CollegeWilliams College
Williams College is a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams. Originally a men's college, Williams became co-educational in 1970. Fraternities were also phased out during this...
, and his masters in music composition from the Yale School of Music
Yale School of Music
The Yale School of Music is one of the twelve professional schools at Yale University and one of the premier music conservatories in the world....
where he studied with Martin Bresnick
Martin Bresnick
Martin Bresnick is a composer of contemporary classical music, film scores and experimental music.-Education and early career:Bresnick was born and raised in the Bronx, and is a graduate of New York City's specialized High School of Music and Art. He was educated at the University of Hartford ,...
, Aaron Jay Kernis
Aaron Jay Kernis
Aaron Jay Kernis is an American composer and professor at the Yale School of Music.-Biography:Aaron Jay Kernis is Jewish, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and studied at the Manhattan School of Music, the San Francisco Conservatory, and Yale University .,Notable works include the...
, and Ezra Laderman
Ezra Laderman
Ezra Laderman is an American composer of classical music.-Biography:His parents, Isidor and Leah, both emigrated to the United States from Poland. Though poor, the family had a piano. Ezra writes, "At four, I was improvising at the piano; at seven, I began to compose music, writing it down...
. Shortly after Yale, Greenstein began to draw attention in the New York classical scene for his music's pulse-driven quality and "impressive confidence," which was being performed at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
, Tanglewood Music Center
Tanglewood Music Center
The Tanglewood Music Center is an annual summer music academy in Lenox, Massachusetts, United States, in which emerging professional musicians participate in performances, master classes and workshops designed to provide an intense training and networking experience...
, and the Tribeca New Music Festival. New Yorker critic Alex Ross
Alex Ross
Nelson Alexander "Alex" Ross is an American comic book painter, illustrator, and plotter. He is praised for his realistic, human depictions of classic comic book characters. Since the 1990s he has done work for Marvel Comics and DC Comics Nelson Alexander "Alex" Ross (born January 22, 1970) is an...
also regularly lauded the exciting freshness of Greenstein's work as early as 2005. Since then he has received dozens of commissions, and has had his music performed at leading classical music festivals including Bang on a Can
Bang on a Can
Bang on a Can is a multi-faceted classical music organization based in New York City. It was founded in 1987 by three American composers who remain its artistic directors: Julia Wolfe, David Lang, and Michael Gordon...
, Tanglewood
Tanglewood
Tanglewood is an estate and music venue in Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It is the home of the annual summer Tanglewood Music Festival and the Tanglewood Jazz Festival, and has been the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home since 1937. It was the venue of the Berkshire Festival.- History...
, the Carlsbad Music Festival, and MATA.
In addition to his work as a composer, Greenstein has tirelessly demonstrated his support for new music and young composers through various forms of curation and community organization. Since 2008, he has served as co-director of the non-profit label New Amsterdam Records
New Amsterdam Records
New Amsterdam Records is a New York City based record label. It was formed in 2008 by Judd Greenstein, Sarah Kirkland Snider, and William Brittelle to promote classically-trained musicians who fall in between traditional genre boundaries. Often abbreviated as NewAm, the organization has been hailed...
along with William Brittelle
William Brittelle
William Brittelle is a composer and multi-instrumentalist devoted to bridging the gap between pop music and New York's downtown classical scene, and a co-director of New Amsterdam Records. He currently lives in Brooklyn.-Biography:...
and Sarah Kirkland Snider
Sarah Kirkland Snider
Sarah Kirkland Snider is a composer of art songs that straddle the border "between richly orchestrated indie rock and straight chamber music," and a co-director of New Amsterdam Records.-Life and career:...
. He describes the label as being dedicated to supporting artists "whose work is a reflection of truly integrated music influences," which has subsequently placed it at the forefront of the indie-classical music scene. In 2011, Greenstein curated the Ecstatic Music Festival at Merkin Hall, giving indie-classical and indie-pop artists like Owen Pallett
Owen Pallett
Michael James Owen Pallett is a Canadian composer, violinist, keyboardist, and vocalist from Toronto, Ontario. He won the 2006 Polaris Music Prize for the album He Poos Clouds....
, Shara Worden
Shara Worden
Shara Worden is the lead singer and songwriter for My Brightest Diamond. She was previously a backup vocalist for Sufjan Stevens and the frontwoman of Awry.-Life:...
, Julianna Barwick
Julianna Barwick
Julianna Barwick is an American musician who was born in Louisiana and raised in Brooklyn. Her music is built around multiple loops and layers of her voice...
, and Victoire an "uptown" arena to showcase their sophisticated endeavors. The festival has been compared to the genre-indifferent Bang on a Can, but with less of the latter's highbrow intimidation and intellectualized atmosphere.
He is currently pursuing a Ph.D from Princeton University.
Musical style
Critics have frequently commented on Greenstein's idiosyncratic style, which maintains a pulse-driven poppish sensibility while employing a sophisticated harmonic language. He is often identified with a group of young New York-based composers like Nico MuhlyNico Muhly
Nico Muhly is a contemporary classical music composer, who has worked and recorded with classical and pop/rock musicians. He currently lives in the Lower East Side section of Manhattan in New York City.-Early years:...
, Missy Mazzoli, and Corey Dargel
Corey Dargel
Corey Dargel is a composer, lyricist, and singer of electronic art songs that "smartly and impishly blur the boundaries between contemporary classical idioms and pop" . Dargel has also sung music by other living composers, including Eve Beglarian, k. terumi shorb, Phil Kline, Nick Brooke, and...
, who fuse the accessibility of minimalist classical music with popular vernaculars to create genre-indifferent works, commonly labeled "indie-classical." In a detailed analysis, musicologist Kyle Gann
Kyle Gann
Kyle Eugene Gann is an American professor of music, critic and composer born in Dallas, Texas. As a critic for The Village Voice and other publications he has been a supporter of progressive music including such Downtown movements as postminimalism and totalism.- As composer :As a composer his...
remarked on Greenstein's typically polymetric
Polyrhythm
Polyrhythm is the simultaneous sounding of two or more independent rhythms.Polyrhythm in general is a nonspecific term for the simultaneous occurrence of two or more conflicting rhythms, of which cross-rhythm is a specific and definable subset.—Novotney Polyrhythms can be distinguished from...
compositional structures, giving his music a "foot-tapping pop surface in front of a background rhythmic complexity," akin to the 1980s advent of totalism
Totalism
In music, totalism is a term for a style of art music that arose in the 1980s and 1990s as a developing response to minimalism—parallel to postminimalism, but generally among a slightly younger generation, born in the 1950s....
.
Works
Central to Greenstein's compositional career has been his work with the NOW Ensemble, for which he is the co-artistic director and has composed six pieces. The ensemble has performed his music along with the chamber music of other young, emerging composers in a wide range of settings, including (Le) Poisson Rouge(Le) Poisson Rouge
Poisson Rouge is a music venue and multimedia art cabaret in New York City founded in 2008 by Justin Kantor and David Handler on the former site of The Village Gate. The performance space was designed and engineered by John Storyk/WSDG...
, Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
, and the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
. Greenstein has also closely collaborated with a number of New York's young solo musicians and ensembles, including violist Nadia Sirota, soprano Anne-Carolyn Bird, percussionist Samuel Solomon, the political chamber ensemble Newspeak, and others.
Greenstein's most recent project is The Yehudim--an ensemble of vintage keyboards, mixed voices, electric guitars, and percussion that "explores characters from the Hebrew Bible, using the strange stories of their lives and the ancient writings around their characters to weave contemporary narratives." The Yehudim made its concert debut in March 2011 at Merkin Concert Hall premiering Greenstein's piece "Sh'lomo", and was called "an epiphany" by the New York Times. He has also recently been commissioned to write works for ETHEL
Ethel (string quartet)
ETHEL is a New York based string quartet that was co-founded in 1998 by Ralph Farris, viola; Dorothy Lawson, cello; Todd Reynolds, violin; and Mary Rowell, violin. Unlike most string quartets, ETHEL plays with amplification and integrates improvisation into its performances...
, Gibbs & Main, and a large-scale work for the Minnesota Orchestra
Minnesota Orchestra
The Minnesota Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.Emil Oberhoffer founded the orchestra as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903, and it gave its first performance on November 5 of that year. In 1968 the orchestra changed to its name to the Minnesota Orchestra...
.