Musicatlas
Music
Annie Gosfield is a composer based in downtown New York. The sounds of machines, destroyed pianos, warped 78 records, driving rhythms, sliding microtones, shifting industrial environments, twangy guitars, and junk percussion all play a part in her music. Her varied musical experiences as a composer, improviser, and performer have left a unique imprint on her work, which straddles the fence between strictly notated scores and improvised pieces. She divides her time between performing on piano and sampling keyboards with her own group and composing for chamber ensembles, creating work that ranges from solo sampler pieces to large-scale compositions for chamber orchestra. Much of Gosfield’s work explores the inherent beauty of non-musical sounds, and uses both acoustic and electronic instruments to create a sound world that strives to eliminate the boundaries between music and noise.
Life
Annie’s music has been performed worldwide by her own ensemble and by the Bang on a Can Allstars, Newband/The Harry Partch instruments, Agon Orchestra, The West Australian Symphony Orchestra New Music Group, FLUX Quartet, Raw Fish Quartet, Silesian String Quartet, Rova, Present Music, Zeitgeist, cellists Joan Jeanrenaud and Felix Fan, and many others, at festivals including Warsaw Autumn, ISCM World Music Days, The Bang on a Can Marathon, The Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Festival Musique Actuelle in Victoriaville, Wien Modern, OtherMinds, Company Week, and three "Radical New Jewish Culture" festivals curated by John Zorn. Her discography includes two solo releases on the Tzadik label, and CD’s on Sony Classical, CRI, Harmonia Mundi, Wergo, Caprice, Cantaloupe, Rift, EMF, Innova, Atavistic, ORF, and Starkland.