Hey there —
I’m Alden
I’m interested in what cannot be said by music alone, and with that, using music as an integral part of theatrical experience to enhance the other dramatic elements involved.
I enjoy collaboration and climbing inside other people’s ideas, to help create a greater whole than we could each make individually.
Hey there —
I’m Alden
I’m interested in what cannot be said by music alone, and with that, using music as an integral part of theatrical experience to enhance the other dramatic elements involved.
I enjoy collaboration and climbing inside other people’s ideas, to help create a greater whole than we could each make individually.
As I work, I am always thinking about the specificity of the subject at hand:
• Am I serving the drama? •
• How will my work support that of my collaborators? And how will it influence their choices? •
• What will the audience experience? •
• How will our work shape that experience for the best? •
I love making situations for people to experience while sitting together, and hope that they will discuss their interaction with the work when they leave. What we make should communicate something in such a way as to cause honest and deeply-felt reactions in the audience. Or even to make them laugh from a dark place, perhaps touching something which might be slightly uncomfortable but important.
Inspired by the sound I hear inside me when I experience the world around me, I have always been drawn to music plus the stage, in all of its variants. I work in music-theater to explore the dynamic between various collaborative art forms in coming together to create a living, organic whole which can be experienced communally.
Photo by Alberto Bigoni on Unsplash
I began as a classical cellist and composer, and have journeyed through theater as a pit player, and then as a performance artist, to being a creator of theatrical experiences. I’m continually exploring new tools and presentational tactics, and involving more visual art in my work, in order to build fully-dimensional experiences for my audience.
My work takes many forms. I write to suit the specific artistic purpose of the moment, whether choreography when working with dance or the aesthetic of a play when creating incidental music. It’s all about creating an enhanced theatrical experience for the audience member, setting the tone or creating a psychological headspace for the event.
In everything I write, I try to bring a sense of humor. It’s much easier to talk about heavy things when there are moments of light. My music represents my direct emotional response to the world around me, from nature to art, psychology to science and engineering. I’m especially inspired by the way light interplays with these, how it affects the human condition, whether physical or ephemeral. At the end of the day, when the sausage is made, it is always emotional expression for me, within the boundaries I set for myself or with collaborators.
My joy is in exploring all music I encounter, and each exploration is assimilated into my own view of music, and thus into my work in some way.
I am a product of all music I’ve heard and explored, from Renaissance madrigals and Beethoven string quartets to Sesame Street vignettes, 80’s pop music, and my father’s love of Dave Brubeck. Add to this my own experiences playing cello, bass, and electric bass over numerous genres, as well as my constant exploration of radio. I embrace my broad interests as freedom to see the entire musical world as my playground.
Photo by Ivan Dorofeev on Unsplash
Always at the core I am there.
I write from a very emotional place. I talk of research and parameters, but that’s all just preliminary set-up for myself. I believe in honesty, without pretension. It is my desire to invite you, the audience, into the experience in a way that is accessible, open, and welcoming.
Let’s explore, together.
-Alden
I love learning unfamiliar things, doing the research, and finding myself in new and exciting ways. With each new venture, I get to learn a fresh environment, set and develop the parameters, find the dramatic arc, and express myself in new ways.
Always at the core I am there.
I write from a very emotional place. I talk of research and parameters, but that’s all just preliminary set-up for myself. I believe in honesty, without pretension. It is my desire to invite you, the audience, into the experience in a way that is accessible, open, and welcoming.
Let’s explore, together.
-Alden
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