doppler is the first in a series of works that I plan to compose specially for the unique duo, Transient Canvas. Each movement of the set is intended to explore a single, distinct gesture drawing its inspiration from the sounds of our physical world. As the title suggests, ‘doppler’ incorporates the perception of pitch shift as a fast moving object(s) passes by. Avoiding linear narrative, the work displays a somewhat static nature…a roadside landscape and its shoreline of both approaching and fleeting commuters.
- Keith Kusterer
Keith Kusterer (b.1981, Charlotte,NC) is a contemporary composer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, playwright, food, wine and hospitality enthusiast, producer and curator for the arts. He writes music and script for both the concert stage and interdisciplinary performance projects, collaborating with artists in the fields of theater, film, light design and dance. His work continues to be programmed internationally by new music ensembles and artistic organizations including loadbang ensemble, Wax Wings Productions, Equilibrium New Music, Acoustic Uproar, Timepoint Ensemble (Calgary Classical Revolution), Juventas Ensemble, Transient Canvas, Fifth Floor Collective, Royal Conservatory of Antwerp,Tufts University Department of Drama and Dance, Boston Conservatory Wind Ensemble, Chicago Fringe Festival, Chicago Composers Orchestra and ensembles/musicians having been in residence at both Columbia College-Chicago and the Boston Conservatory. As a younger musician, he received an award from the ‘John Lennon Songwriting Competition’ (2000), several years later became a recipient of an ‘Allen-Turner Award in Composition’ (2008) and was selected by the conductor, Eric Hewitt, as a winner of the ‘Boston Conservatory Wind- Ensemble Competition’ (2012). His recent work for wind ensemble, 'Of Patina', has been released and distributed by Albany Records (2013).
Keith received a graduate degree in composition at the Boston Conservatory (M.M ‘13), fulfilling a teaching assistantship with the music history department and private study with composers Marti Epstein and Curtis Hughes. He graduated as valedictorian from Columbia College-Chicago (B.M ’11) as a student of the composer Marcos Balter and pianist Bette Coulson. He has also participated in private study with composers Ilya Levinson, Doug Lofstrom, David Reminick and August Read Thomas, as well as in solo piano performance master-classes led by acclaimed artists such as Seda Röder, David Holzman and Sebastian Huydts. He served as president/vice president of Cadre, Columbia College-Chicago’s official student composer organization (2007-2011), and as student-faculty with the music theory/aural skills department. In collaboration with Columbia College-Chicago and Fujitsu Ten’s ‘Eclipse Master-Class’, Keith served as assistant to Stephen Burns, the artistic director of Fulcrum Point New Music Project (2010-2011) and also conducted an original film score recording with the studio orchestra at Capitol Records in Los Angeles, CA. Keith has served on the advisory council for the adventurous contemporary music group 'Acoustic Uproar' and from 2013-2015 was a curating director for the Boston arts organization 'The Fifth Floor Collective'. He has performed as a member of several Chicago and Boston based musical outfits including the spaghetti-western, country/surf rock sounds of Mar Caribe, the traditional folk/bluegrass styles of The DogPatch Ramblers and his own American-music project, Keith Kusterer and The Goods. In 2015, Keith was hired as opening manager for 'Branch Line' restaurant in Watertown,MA (owned and operated by 2016 James Beard winner Garrett Harker and Eastern Standard's Andrew Holden) where he taught hospitality and integrated a passion for food, wine and bocce ball. He is an avid tennis player, training and competing in a recreational circuit. He currently lives in Fort Worth, Texas with his wife Christina Pecce, a singing actress with a rising career in opera and musical theater)