San Diego Reader

Christopher Adler: Composer, Piano

Genre: Jazz, Noise | Xprmntl

RIYL: Marcelo Radulovich, Tracy McMullen Quartet,

Upcoming Local Shows

• http://www.christopheradler.com

• Trummerflora Collective
• Gunther's Grass website
• Trummerflora MySpace

Synoposis

Influences: Cosmologic, Gunther's Grass,

Background:

Christopher Adler is a composer, improviser, and performer. As a pianist and conductor, he has performed with many of the West coast's finest improvisers, he performs contemporary solo and ensemble repertoire and is the pianist for the San Diego New Music resident ensemble NOISE. At present, he is the only person in the world with extensive traditional background composing and performing new works for khaen, a free-reed mouth organ from Laos and Northeast Thailand.

He began learning to play the khaen after encountering traditional Thai music at a festival in Washington, D.C., in 1994. He has studied with many khaen players in Northeast Thailand and is now recognized in Thailand among the finest players of traditional styles of improvisation. He has performed his compositions for khaen at the Bang on a Can Marathon, Music at the Anthology, and at universities across the United States and Thailand.

He received Ph.D. and Master's degrees in composition from Duke University and Bachelor's degrees in music composition and in mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and is currently an Associate Professor at the University of San Diego. His compositions for khaen may be heard on Tzadik and on WGBH's Art of the States, and his improvisations may be heard on pfMENTUM, Nine Winds, and Artship Recordings.