Composers Festival Spotlight: Ian Dicke

Ian Dicke

Resident composer Ian Dicke comes to this year’s Mizzou International Composers Festival from the University of California, Riverside, where he just completed his first year as an assistant professor of digital composition.

A native of New Jersey, Ian earned degrees in music from the University of Texas at Austin (D.M.A), University of Michigan (M.M.), and San Francisco Conservatory of Music (B.M.). In addition to teaching and composing, he also helps run two presenting organizations, founding and curating the Outpost Concert Series in Riverside while also continuing to co-direct the annual music festival Fast Forward Austin.

Drawing inspiration from social-political culture and interactive technology, Ian has written music in a variety of genres integrating acoustic ensembles with cutting edge audio processing techniques. Called “refreshingly well-structured” by Feast of Music and “uncommonly memorable” by Sequenza 21, his music has been performed by ensembles and festivals around the world, including the New World Symphony, Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, ISCM World New Music Days, and the Atlantic Coast Center Band Director’s Association.

Ian has received grants, awards, and recognition from the Fulbright Program, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, New Music USA, New York Youth Symphony, ASCAP, and BMI, among others. He has been an artist in residence at the Atlantic Center for the Arts and at Art342, and spent the 2012-2013 academic year living in Sweden as a Fulbright scholar researching interactive musical interfaces and environments.

In addition to writing “86’d” to be performed at the 2014 MICF by Alarm Will Sound, Ian’s other recent projects include a new work for the Friction Quartet and an interactive electronics and video piece for the Vasa Museum in Stockholm, Sweden.

You can hear some of Ian Dicke’s music on his website and in the embedded videos below.

“Grand Central” (2012), recorded March 2, 2013 by the San Francisco Conservatory of Music New Music Ensemble; Nicole Paiement, conductor. Commissioned by the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and scored for chamber orchestra, live audio processing, and video projections.

“Eight Oh Eight” (2011), performed by Dicke on September 27, 2013 at the Craft in America Study Center in Los Angeles.

“Assembly Lines” (2011), performed by the Boston New Music Initiative; Ray Daniels, conductor, on October 1, 2011

“Song of the Telegraph” (2010), performed by the University of Memphis Wind Ensemble, Albert T. Nguyen, Conductor.
l. Across the Wires; ll. Song of the Clouds; lll. Bluebird’s Halo