Matt Malsky is a composer whose music has been performed and acclaimed internationally. His compositional style is characterized by its rhythmic vitality and dramatically crafted gestures, and has been described as economical, eloquent, intellectually rigorous, and emotional compelling. His virtuosic works for acoustic instruments with live computer processing have attracted the interest of outstanding soloists including John Bruce Yeh (Chicago Symphony Orchestra), Esther Lamneck (NYU), Frank Cox (c-squared), Seth Josel and Isabel Ettenauer. The Penderecki String Quartet commissioned his second string quartet, Lacan. His third quartet, Berlin, Symphony of a Great City is an accompaniment to that classic silent film. Together with his first string quartet, these have been released on compact disc through the Centaur label. His recent chamber music, an aural map of varied emotions, is available on Ravello Records as GEOGRAPHIES & GEOMETRIES with the Radius Ensemble and the Worcester Chamber Music Society. His music for silent film may be heard here. His first chamber opera, “A Dill Pickle,” was based on a short story by Katherine Mansfield. It was premiered by the Worcester Chamber Music Society at the JMAC/Brickbox Theater in Worcester, MA and featured performances by Caitlin Felsman (mezzo-soprano) and Cailin Marcel Manson (baritone). A commercial recording was released on Neuma Records, and a livestream of the premiere can be viewed here. Two current chamber opera projects – both based on historical figures – are “Language of Origin,” a staged dialogue between jazz musician Ornette Coleman and philosopher Jacque Derrida; and “Leave Your Dignity At The Door,” set in the Chicago bohemian “Dil Pickle Club” in 1919 with Ben Reitman (the “hobo doctor”), poets Lola Ridge and Emanuel Caraveli, and composer/pianist Henry Cowell.
Malsky studied composition with Conrad Pope and Harold Shapero as an undergraduate at Brandeis University. He holds the Ph.D. in music composition from The University of Chicago where he studied with Ralph Shapey, Shulamit Ran and Howard Sandroff. His work has been recognized with awards and grants from ASCAP, Brandeis University, Kurt Weill Gesellschaft, the Hillery Family Charitable Trust, NSF/Chicago Materials Research Center, Hultgren Solo Cello Works Biennial, American Composer’s Forum, and others.
As a scholar, his research examines from a psychoanalytic perspective the intersections of music, technology and culture in the post-World War II period. His articles are published in the areas of ethnomusicology, cultural and film studies by the Illinois and Wesleyan University Presses, Palgrave Macmillan, Bloomsbury Publishing, and journals Search, Reconstructions and World Picture Journal.
Malsky has been at Clark University since 1994. He has served as Associate Provost and Dean of the College, and chair of the Department of Visual & Performing Arts, director of the Music Program as well as the interdisciplinary Communication & Culture program, and two terms as the George N. & Selma U. Jeppson Professor of Music. Since 2014, he has organized the Geller Jazz series on campus, which has featured outstanding performances by Ron Carter with Billy Cobham, Ravi Coltrane with Joe Lovano, Tom Harrell, Trio da Paz, Christian MacBride, Joe Liebman, Bill Charlap with Jon Faddis, Donald Harrison, and many others. He is currently the director of the Higgins Institute for Arts and Humanities, director of the interdisciplinary Media Culture, & the Arts program, and Tina Sweeney, M.A. ’49, Endowed Chair in Music.
Courses Offered:
HS 100: Symposium Seminar
MCA 101: Introduction to the Theory, History & Analysis of Media
MCA 119: Soundscapes & Acoustic Ecology
MCA 180: Podcasting – technique & story
MCA 290: MediaNOW!
MUSC 103: Post-Music
MUSC 125: Musical Acoustics
MUSC 201: Music, Media & Public Spheres
MUSC 235: Community Music and Social Action
MUSC 242: Soundtracks
MUSC 270: Senior Tutorial in Computer Music