Eleonor Sandresky

Eleonor Sandresky, Artistic Director EmeritusEleonor Sandresky writes music that The New York Times’ Allan Kozinn describes as “lovely…enigmatic,” that TimeOut NY hails as encompassing “ever-varying qualities of touch, register and intensity,” and The Village Voice calls "witty, liberating."Her work ranges over music for virtuoso soloists and large ensembles, cabaret, art songs, and evening-length collaborations. Her music was featured in the short film, Fault, which opened at Cannes in May 2004 (www.faultthemovie.com.) MTV periodically broadcasts My Goddess, her cabaret song for Sequitur, released on Koch International in 2006. Her solo piano CD, A Sleeper’s Notebook, appeared in the fall of 2005, as did her work for string orchestra, Meditation, which was released as a part of the Masterworks of the New Era series, recorded by the Kiev Philharmonic.Recent premieres include The Fall of America, with texts by Blake, featuring George Steel and the Vox Vocal Ensemble, and On the Lip of Insanity, a virtuoso contrabass solo, which was premiered in Wroclaw, Poland. Upcoming performances include: Voyelles, commissioned by Mary Nessinger and Jeanne Golan, tours and recording as a part of Innocence Lost: The Debussy Berg project; Manifest: and Furthermore, to be premiered at the Flea Theater May 7, 2007 with Ethel and Alexandra Montano.Sandresky’s music has been featured at major venues on three continents, from the Philadelphia Fringe Festival to the Totally Huge New Music Festival in Perth, Australia. She has been awarded grants by New York State Council on the Arts, Meet the Composer, American Music Center, the Jerome Foundation and ASCAP. She has been a resident composer at The MacDowell Colony and at the festival in Hvar, Croatia.She is also a pre-eminent new music pianist, with performances and premieres of new works by composers ranging from Steve Reich, Egberto Gismonti, and Don Byron, to Guy Klucevsek, Eve Beglarian, and David Lang, She has recorded for CRI, Nonesuch, New World Records, Mode Records, and Orange Mountain Music, and has played concerts throughout the world.Working at the forefront of avant-garde concert-as-theater, Sandresky has added a new dimension, as a Choreographic Pianist with her evening-length composition, A Sleeper’s Notebook. In it she explores her deep interest in how motion translates to emotion through sound. According to Steve Smith of TimeOut NY, "A Sleeper's Notebook maps in vivid detail a nocturnal terrain in constant flux."As a music director, she has led ensembles in a variety of theatrical settings, from dance performances with Susan Marshall to conducting to film with the Philip Glass Ensemble, of which she was a member from 1991 - 2004.She holds two master’s degrees: in composition from Yale School of Music, studying with Martin Bresnick, Jacob Druckman, and Anthony Davis; and in piano performance from the Eastman School of Music studying with Rebecca Penneys. She also trained at the Banff Centre for the Arts. For more information please visit www.esandresky.com.