Mark Engebretson
Education
Doctor of Music in Music Composition, Northwestern University, 2000
Master of Music in Music Composition and in Saxophone, Northwestern University, 1999
Prizes in Composition, Saxophone, Chamber Music, Conservatoire National de Région de Bordeaux, France, Fulbright Scholar, 1986-88
Bachelor of Music, summa cum laude, in Saxophone, University of Minnesota, 1986.
Biography
Composer Mark Engebretson is Professor of Composition and Music Technology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He is the recipient of a Barlow Commission (for Bent Frequency), North Carolina Artist Fellowship in Composition (for the Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Orchestra), a Fulbright Fellowship for studies in France, and has received commissions from Harvard University’s Fromm Music Foundation (Acrylic Waves), the University of Wisconsin-Madison (They Said: sinister resonance), the Thomas S. Kenan Center for the Arts (Deliriade), and the Chicago College for the Performing Arts (Crossfade). He is the founder of New Music Greensboro.
Engebretson’s creative work is driven by melody, timbre, virtuosity, clear and balanced formal structure, the integration of new media, multiple levels of associations, and a desire for fresh, engaging musical expression. Recent work has included strong overtones of pop music, creative intersections with written texts and using audience members’ smartphones as a form of interactivity.
Mark Engebretson taught composition at the University of Florida, music theory at the SUNY Fredonia and 20th-century music history at the Eastman School of Music. He studied at the University of Minnesota (graduating Summa cum Laude), the Conservatoire de Bordeaux (as a Fulbright Scholar), and Northwestern University, where he received the Doctor of Music degree. At Northwestern he studied composition with M. William Karlins, Pauline Oliveros, Marta Ptaszynska, Michael Pisaro, Stephen Syverud and Jay Alan Yim and saxophone with Frederick Hemke. His teachers in France were Michel Fuste-Lambezat and Jean-Marie Londeix.
Subjects Taught
Subjects taught at UNCG include Music Composition, Digital Music Composition, Music Technology in Performance, Capstone. Engebretson is Head of the Music Composition area, and the founder of the program in Popular Music and Technology.
Personal Website(s)
www.markengebretson.com
https://soundcloud.com/markengebretson
http://www.youtube.com/user/mysterE512