Role

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Composer

Birth

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1979 in Louisville, KY

 

Sarah Hennies is a contemporary American composer and percussionist known for her experimental and minimalist compositions. Born on September 28, 1979, in Louisville, Kentucky, Hennies grew up in a musical family and began playing the piano at a young age. She later took up percussion and studied music at the University of Louisville, where she earned a Bachelor of Music degree in 2002. After completing her undergraduate studies, Hennies moved to Austin, Texas, where she became involved in the city's vibrant experimental music scene. She performed with various ensembles and began composing her own works, which often featured unconventional instrumentation and extended techniques. In 2005, she co-founded the Austin New Music Co-op, a collective of musicians dedicated to performing and promoting contemporary classical music. Hennies' early compositions were heavily influenced by the minimalist music of composers like Steve Reich and Philip Glass. Her works often featured repetitive patterns and gradual changes in texture and dynamics. One of her earliest pieces, "Settle," was written for a percussion quartet and featured a series of interlocking rhythms that gradually shifted out of phase with each other. In 2008, Hennies moved to Ithaca, New York, to pursue a Master of Fine Arts degree in percussion performance at the State University of New York at Purchase. While there, she continued to compose and perform her own works, as well as collaborate with other musicians and artists. She also began to incorporate elements of improvisation and indeterminacy into her compositions, allowing for greater spontaneity and unpredictability in the performance. One of Hennies' most notable works from this period is "Psalm 1," a piece for solo percussion that explores the relationship between sound and silence. The piece consists of a series of short, repetitive phrases played on a snare drum, interspersed with periods of silence. As the piece progresses, the phrases become more complex and the silences more pronounced, creating a sense of tension and release. In 2010, Hennies co-founded the record label Weighter Recordings, which specializes in experimental and avant-garde music. The label has released several of Hennies' own works, as well as recordings by other artists in the experimental music community. Hennies' compositions have been performed by a wide range of ensembles and musicians, including the International Contemporary Ensemble, the Wet Ink Ensemble, and percussionist Tim Feeney. Her works have been featured at numerous festivals and venues, including the Tectonics Festival in Glasgow, Scotland, and the Issue Project Room in Brooklyn, New York. In recent years, Hennies has become increasingly interested in exploring issues of gender and identity in her work. Many of her compositions incorporate elements of queer and trans experience, and she has spoken openly about her own experiences as a transgender woman. In 2019, she released the album "Spectral Malsconcities," which features a series of compositions inspired by the experiences of transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals. One of the standout tracks on the album is "Contralto," a piece for video and sound that explores the voices of transgender women. The piece features a series of interviews with transgender women, which are then processed and manipulated to create a haunting, otherworldly soundscape.

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