Brad Balliett

Composer Brad Balliett's music explores many corners of the musical landscape, ranging from bassoon etudes to avant-garde hip-hop operas; electronic music to interactive pieces for children. Recent months have seen his music performed in New York and Chicago on an International Contemporary Ensemble series, at the Fourth International Metapoetry Congress in New York City, and in a gallery exhibition of the artwork of Jesus Betances.His works have been played by orchestras and ensembles throughout the country and abroad, including performances by the Brattle Street Chamber Players, the International Contemporary Ensemble, symphony orchestras at Harvard University and Masschusetts Institute of Technology, and the Callithumpian Consort. His music has been presented at the Aspen Music Festival, on NPR's From the Top, on Alex Ross's The Rest is Noise, and at colleges and universities including New England Conservatory, Hartt School of Music, Skidmore College, MIT, and Harvard, Rice and Northwestern Universities.An avid bassoonist, Balliett has premiered dozens of solos and chamber works with bassoon, including many original pieces. He has been a member of Ensemble ACJW and the Houston Symphony Orchestra, and has performed in the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra under James Levine and the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra under Pierre Boulez. Born and raised in New England, Balliett's teachers include Elliott Gyger, Robert Levin, John Harbison, Richard Lavenda, and Michel Merlet. He graduated summa cum laude from Harvard University in 2005, has a M.M. in bassoon performance from Rice University's Shepherd School of Music (where he was a student of Benjamin Kamins), and studied counterpoint and harmony at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris during summer of 2008. Active as a teaching artist, Brad is currently fulfilling a two-year residency at P.S. 315 in Brooklyn through The Academy, a fellowship at Carnegie Hall. He resides in Manhattan and likes to run in Riverside Park.