BIOGRAPHY: David Mahler (b. 1944) is a composer,
performer, and writer.
PERFORMANCE, Saturday, July 22, 1999, 7pm,
Tacoma Art Museum.
BIOGRAPHY: David Mahler (b. 1944) is a composer,
performer, and writer.
His special musical interests include turn of the century popular music, t wentieth century American concert music from the exploratory tradition, vernacular vocal music, tape music, and the general subject of how music relates to its societal context. As a composer, Mahler has received numerous commissions, ranging from a 197 4 setting of the Mass Texts for chorus, piano, organ, and percussion, commissioned by Trinity Episcopal Church, Portland, to One Banned Man, for solo flute, commissioned by Paul Taub in 1999. Recent compositions include After Richard Hugo, a 1998 piece for string quartet, commissioned by Richard Hugo House; Cornet Bouquet, a 1997 work for solo cornet, commissioned by Seattle Symphony trumpeter Richard Pressley; Three Pieces After Charles Ives, composed for the Olympia Chamber Orchestra, and also performed by the S eattle Creative Orchestra; Handy, for percussion, piano, and voice, commissioned by Music in Motion and Zeitgeist; Scenes of Sacred Peace and Pleasure, a chamber work written for Relache; Day Creek Piano Works and The Teams Are Waiting in the Fields, for piano solo with voice, commissioned by Steven Mitchell; and numerous solo and small ensemble works, as well as music for electronic and tape media. Mahler has also written several site specific compositions, including Powerhouse for the Georgetown Steamplant. David Mahler's permanent public art installation, The Washington State Centennial Bell Garden, (1989) at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in downtown Seattle, was the first public work using sound to be commissioned by the Art in Public Places Committee of the Washington State Arts Commission. Mahler was co-founder and pianist for New Songs, (1988-1993) a project for the commissioning and presentation of new pieces or voice and piano. He was founder and music director of the Volunteer Park Conservatory Orchestra (1990 - 1997), an ensemble dedicated to the preservation and dissemination of popular orchestral music from the first three decades of this century. David Mahler has served composer residencies at Mills College, Oakland, CA, and California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA. He has also served as listener-in-residence at the University of California at Santa Barbara, and at the La Mott Community Center, La Mott, PA. Mahler's extensive teaching activities include singing classes for small children and their parents, held in private homes. He has also taught high school students music composition through the Experiences in Creativity Program of Centrum, Port Townsend, Washington. Combining his interest in writing with his work as a composer, Mahler has taught a class titled "Words About Sound and Music" in the Inquiry Through Writing series at Richard Hugo House, a Seattle literary arts center. Mahler's scores, recordings, and writings are published and distributed by Frog Peak Music, Lebanon, NH. His compositions are licensed through BMI. David holds a BA from Concordia College (1967) and a MFA from the California Institue of the Arts (1972). David Mahler * PO Box 2421 * Seattle, WA 98111 * 206-728-2048 * mahler@nwlink.com