Marco Oppedisano
Encyclopedia
Marco Oppedisano is an American guitarist and composer whose compositions focus on the innovative use of electric guitar
in the genre of electroacoustic music
. Since 1999, his musique concrète
/acousmatic music
compositions have utilized multitrack recording
and extended performance techniques for electric guitar and bass. In addition to musique concrète
, recent compositions by Oppedisano also consist of "live" electric guitar in combination with a fixed playback of various electronic, acoustic (specifically female voice
courtesy of Kimberly Fiedelman) and sampled sounds.
His electroacoustic music has been described as “...mindbending music for guitar and electronics... hear Oppedisano’s intricate roar.” (Time Out New York) and "....in-your-face and almost confrontational music, which however never sees salvation in total mayhem, but in creating an immediate emotional and endorphinal experience..." (Tokafi)
Conservatory of Music. After two years of classical guitar
study with Michael Cedric Smith at Brooklyn College, he completed composition studies there with Tania Leon
, Charles Dodge
, Noah Creshevsky
(Hyperrealism (music)
) and George Brunner.
Oppedisano completed graduate studies at the Aaron Copland
School of Music at Queens College obtaining his Masters Degree in Music Composition. There he studied with Henry Weinberg and Thea Musgrave
.
From 1999-2003, as a member of the Brooklyn College
Electroacoustic Ensemble, Oppedisano used the facility at the Center for Computer Music at Brooklyn College to create his electroacoustic
works focusing on sounds derived only from electric guitar
and electric bass
. From 2003–present, Oppedisano has exclusively worked out of his home recording studio in Queens, NY.
Since 2002, he has also had ensemble works performed by the Fireworks Ensemble, Glass Farm Ensemble, Brooklyn College
Percussion Ensemble (directed by Morris Lang), Zyryab Guitar Quartet and solo guitar compositions performed by Kevin R. Gallagher
and Oren Fader. As a guitarist he has performed in compositions by notable composers/guitarists, Nick Didkovsky
and Glenn Branca
.
In 2008, Oppedisano was included in a book of guitarists called State of The Axe: Guitar Masters in Photographs and Words (Museum Fine Arts Houston, October 2008 - ISBN: 978-0300142112) by renowned photographer Ralph Gibson
.
Oppedisano presently lives in Sunnyside, Queens
with his wife Kimberly Fiedelman and daughter, Jillian Maisie Oppedisano (b.2010).
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
in the genre of electroacoustic music
Electroacoustic music
Electroacoustic music originated in Western art music during its modern era following the incorporation of electric sound production into compositional practice. The initial developments in electroacoustic music composition during the mid-20th century are associated with the activities of composers...
. Since 1999, his musique concrète
Musique concrète
Musique concrète is a form of electroacoustic music that utilises acousmatic sound as a compositional resource. The compositional material is not restricted to the inclusion of sounds derived from musical instruments or voices, nor to elements traditionally thought of as "musical"...
/acousmatic music
Acousmatic music
Acousmatic music is a form of electroacoustic music that deals specifically with acousmatic sound as a compositional resource. The practice has a historical basis in musique concrète. It can be created using non-acoustic technology, exists only in a recorded format , and is composed for reception...
compositions have utilized multitrack recording
Multitrack recording
Multitrack recording is a method of sound recording that allows for the separate recording of multiple sound sources to create a cohesive whole...
and extended performance techniques for electric guitar and bass. In addition to musique concrète
Musique concrète
Musique concrète is a form of electroacoustic music that utilises acousmatic sound as a compositional resource. The compositional material is not restricted to the inclusion of sounds derived from musical instruments or voices, nor to elements traditionally thought of as "musical"...
, recent compositions by Oppedisano also consist of "live" electric guitar in combination with a fixed playback of various electronic, acoustic (specifically female voice
Voice
Voice may refer to:* Human voice* Voice control or voice activation* Writer's voice* Voice acting* Voice vote* Voice message-In film:* Voice , a 2005 South Korean film* The Voice , a 2010 Turkish horror film directed by Ümit Ünal...
courtesy of Kimberly Fiedelman) and sampled sounds.
His electroacoustic music has been described as “...mindbending music for guitar and electronics... hear Oppedisano’s intricate roar.” (Time Out New York) and "....in-your-face and almost confrontational music, which however never sees salvation in total mayhem, but in creating an immediate emotional and endorphinal experience..." (Tokafi)
Biography
Oppedisano started playing guitar at the age of 12 and was primarily a rock guitarist before entering studies at the Brooklyn CollegeBrooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York, United States.Established in 1930 by the New York City Board of Higher Education, the College had its beginnings as the Downtown Brooklyn branches of Hunter College and the City College of New...
Conservatory of Music. After two years of classical guitar
Classical guitar
The classical guitar is a 6-stringed plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones...
study with Michael Cedric Smith at Brooklyn College, he completed composition studies there with Tania Leon
Tania Leon
Tania León is a Cuban composer and conductor who has been recognized as an educator and advisor to arts organizations.-León's Music:...
, Charles Dodge
Charles Dodge
Charles Dodge may refer to:* Charles Cleveland Dodge, Brigadier General during the American Civil War at the age of twenty-one* Charles Dodge , composer of electronic music...
, Noah Creshevsky
Noah Creshevsky
-Biography:Trained in composition by Nadia Boulanger in Paris and Luciano Berio at the Juilliard School, Creshevsky has lived and worked in New York since 1966. He taught at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York for thirty-one years, serving as Director of the Brooklyn College Center...
(Hyperrealism (music)
Hyperrealism (music)
Hyperrealism is a term coined by the composer Noah Creshevsky to describe a musical language for his and his colleagues' compositional aesthetic...
) and George Brunner.
Oppedisano completed graduate studies at the Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...
School of Music at Queens College obtaining his Masters Degree in Music Composition. There he studied with Henry Weinberg and Thea Musgrave
Thea Musgrave
Thea Musgrave CBE is a Scottish composer of opera and classical music.-Biography:Born in Barnton, Edinburgh, Thea Musgrave studied at the University of Edinburgh and in Paris as a pupil of Nadia Boulanger...
.
From 1999-2003, as a member of the Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York, United States.Established in 1930 by the New York City Board of Higher Education, the College had its beginnings as the Downtown Brooklyn branches of Hunter College and the City College of New...
Electroacoustic Ensemble, Oppedisano used the facility at the Center for Computer Music at Brooklyn College to create his electroacoustic
Electroacoustic music
Electroacoustic music originated in Western art music during its modern era following the incorporation of electric sound production into compositional practice. The initial developments in electroacoustic music composition during the mid-20th century are associated with the activities of composers...
works focusing on sounds derived only from electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
and electric bass
Electric Bass
Electric bass can mean:*Electric upright bass, the electric version of a double bass*Electric bass guitar*Bass synthesizer*Big Mouth Billy Bass, a battery-powered singing fish...
. From 2003–present, Oppedisano has exclusively worked out of his home recording studio in Queens, NY.
Since 2002, he has also had ensemble works performed by the Fireworks Ensemble, Glass Farm Ensemble, Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York, United States.Established in 1930 by the New York City Board of Higher Education, the College had its beginnings as the Downtown Brooklyn branches of Hunter College and the City College of New...
Percussion Ensemble (directed by Morris Lang), Zyryab Guitar Quartet and solo guitar compositions performed by Kevin R. Gallagher
Kevin R. Gallagher
Kevin R. Gallagher is a guitarist who has achieved success with both the electric guitar and the classical guitar. As a classical guitarist, has received top honors at some of the most prestigious guitar competitions in the world, including the 1993 Guitar Foundation of America, the 1994 American...
and Oren Fader. As a guitarist he has performed in compositions by notable composers/guitarists, Nick Didkovsky
Nick Didkovsky
Nick Didkovsky is a composer, guitarist, computer music programmer, and leader of the band Doctor Nerve. He is a former student of Christian Wolff, Pauline Oliveros and Gerald Shapiro....
and Glenn Branca
Glenn Branca
Glenn Branca is an American avant-garde composer and guitarist known for his use of volume, alternative guitar tunings, repetition, droning, and the harmonic series. In 2008 he was awarded an unrestricted grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts.-Beginnings: 1960s and early 1970s:Branca...
.
In 2008, Oppedisano was included in a book of guitarists called State of The Axe: Guitar Masters in Photographs and Words (Museum Fine Arts Houston, October 2008 - ISBN: 978-0300142112) by renowned photographer Ralph Gibson
Ralph Gibson
Ralph Gibson is an American art photographer best known for his photographic books. His images often incorporate fragments with erotic and mysterious undertones, building narrative meaning through contextualization and surreal juxtaposition.Ralph Gibson studied photography while in the US Navy and...
.
Oppedisano presently lives in Sunnyside, Queens
Sunnyside, Queens
Sunnyside is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City borough of Queens, in New York state, in the United States. It shares borders with Hunters Point and Long Island City to the west, Astoria to the north, Woodside to the east and Maspeth to the south...
with his wife Kimberly Fiedelman and daughter, Jillian Maisie Oppedisano (b.2010).
Discography
- Mechanical Uprising - OKS Recordings of North AmericaOKS Recordings of North AmericaOKS Recordings of North America is an experimental music label specializing in small releases of noise, electronic, improvised and musique concrète. The label began in 2006 by co-owners multimedia artist Bill Byrne and filmmaker Jonah Goldstein...
- (2010: OKSRNA - 019) - The Ominous Corner - OKS Recordings of North AmericaOKS Recordings of North AmericaOKS Recordings of North America is an experimental music label specializing in small releases of noise, electronic, improvised and musique concrète. The label began in 2006 by co-owners multimedia artist Bill Byrne and filmmaker Jonah Goldstein...
- (2008: OKSRNA - 016) - Tesla at Coney Island with David Lee MyersArcane DeviceArcane Device was the recording name of musician David Lee Myers from 1987 to 1993. He has collaborated with musicians such as Asmus Tietchens, Tod Dockstader, Marco Oppedisano, and Kim Cascone.-Discography:* Devices 1987-2007 double CD...
- OKS Recordings of North AmericaOKS Recordings of North AmericaOKS Recordings of North America is an experimental music label specializing in small releases of noise, electronic, improvised and musique concrète. The label began in 2006 by co-owners multimedia artist Bill Byrne and filmmaker Jonah Goldstein...
- (2008: OKSRNA - 017) - Electroacoustic Compositions for Electric Guitar - OKS Recordings of North AmericaOKS Recordings of North AmericaOKS Recordings of North America is an experimental music label specializing in small releases of noise, electronic, improvised and musique concrète. The label began in 2006 by co-owners multimedia artist Bill Byrne and filmmaker Jonah Goldstein...
- (2007: OKSRNA - 007)
Contributions
- [{ }], Berger Rond (Vincent Bergeron) (2011: VVSBR09)
- Retiring to Palermo to Make Apple Whine (CD) and Forever Dividing and Evolving (live DVD), BIOS - OKS Recordings of North AmericaOKS Recordings of North AmericaOKS Recordings of North America is an experimental music label specializing in small releases of noise, electronic, improvised and musique concrète. The label began in 2006 by co-owners multimedia artist Bill Byrne and filmmaker Jonah Goldstein...
- (2009: OKSRNA - 012) - Le savant devait arriver avant songeur, Berger Rond (Vincent Bergeron) (2008: VVSBR04)
- Philosophie Fantasmagorique, Berger Rond (Vincent Bergeron) (2007: VVSBR03)
- The Unraveling Begins, "From Here to Obliquity," Various Artists (2008: GtrOblq) Psychopompos
- Post-Minimalism: 4 Countries/19 Composers, "Steel Sky," (2007,Trace Label (France): Trace 024 / 2CD)
- First Flight, "Primo Volo," Oren Fader (2005) (also Producer, Editor and Mastering Engineer)
- Vox NovusVox NovusVox Novus is an organization promoting contemporary composers. Founded by Robert Voisey in 2000 This organization was created for the purposes of expanding the presence of contemporary music in the public's vision, empowering composers and contemporary musicians to create, produce, and promote...
2003 60x6060x6060x60 is a collection of 60 electroacoustic or acousmatic works from 60 different composers/artists, each work 60 seconds or less in duration. 60x60 project showcases sixty new works, each sixty seconds or less, by sixty composers in a continuous sixty minute concert, for a one-hour cross-section...
, "The End is Near," (2004, Capstone Records: CPS-8744) - Hyperrealism, "Hoodlum Priest (with Thomas BucknerThomas BucknerThomas Buckner is an American baritone vocalist specializing in the performance of contemporary classical music and improvised music...
)," Noah CreshevskyNoah Creshevsky-Biography:Trained in composition by Nadia Boulanger in Paris and Luciano Berio at the Juilliard School, Creshevsky has lived and worked in New York since 1966. He taught at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York for thirty-one years, serving as Director of the Brooklyn College Center...
(2003, Mutable Music: 17516-2)
Selected Interviews and Reviews
- "Interview with Marco Oppedisano," Contemporary Guitars Blog, September 2, 2011
- Review of Mechanical Uprising by Massimo Ricci, Touching Extremes, April 11, 2011
- "The Highs and Lows with Marco Oppedisano," Psychopompos, March 28, 2011
- "Interview with Marco Oppedisano," Tokafi, January 11, 2011
- Reviews of Electroacoustic Compositions for Electric Guitar, The Ominous Corner, Mechanical Uprising and Tesla at Coney Island by Mark S. Tucker, FAME, December 2010, FAME, March 2011
- Review of Mechanical Uprising by Tobias Fischer, Tokafi, September 15, 2010
- Reviews of Electroacoustic Compositions for Electric Guitar and The Ominous Corner by Massimo Ricci, Temporary Fault, February 2010
- CD Feature: The Ominous Corner & Tesla at Coney Island (with David Lee Myers) by Tobias Fischer, Tokafi, March 2009
- Review of Electroacoustic Compositions for Electric Guitar by Tobias Fischer Tokafi, October 2007,
- "A Slice of Bengazegath," Archived radio interview with Kalvos & Damian New Music BazaarKalvos & Damian New Music BazaarKalvos & Damian New Music Bazaar is a contemporary new music program hosted by Kalvos and Damian, the alter egos of the composers Dennis Bathory-Kitsz and David Gunn...
, December 6, 2003 - Review of Electroacoustic Compositions for Electric Guitar by Startling Moniker, July 26, 2007