Video History Project

People

Shawn Onsgard

Brooklyn is home now, but I was born in Wisconsin (1975) and spent my childhood there. I still identify with its wild and pastoral landscapes, and progressive rural cultures. I learned my first song on the piano, "Boogie Woogie", from my aunt and grandmother at age 7 and started the process of integrating instrumental and composed music into my exploration of sound.

Through composition and performance I seek an epistemology in music practice which might inform new and meaningful life experiences. I'm currently developing an improvisatory solo piano repertoire that explores imbalanced harmonic structures inspired by Alexander Scriabin and Vijay Iyer. When not at the piano, I compose for all sound-producing things from ice cream trucks to hundred meter piano wires to snoring grandparents, and everything in between, exploring politics, metaphor, narrative, and perception of space through sound.

My work has been performed and exhibited internationally, and I have worked with composers such as Anthony Braxton and Alvin Lucier; film makers Pierre Huyghe, and Jane & Louise Wilson; choreographer Mollie O'Brien; and media artists Aaron Davidson & Melissa Dubbin, and Woody Vasulka. I have received grants from Meet the Composer, NYSCA Independent Media Artist award, NYFA Special Opportunity Stipend; and I received my MA in experimental music composition from Wesleyan University, CT, in 2001. https://www.onsgard.net.

Cite this record

"Shawn Onsgard." Video History Project, Experimental Television Center, 2011. https://www.videohistoryproject.org/shawn-onsgard.

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Summary

Shawn Onsgard (born Wisconsin 1975) is a Brooklyn-based pianist and composer. He develops improvisatory solo piano repertoire influenced by Alexander Scriabin and Vijay Iyer and composes for nontraditional sound sources such as ice cream trucks, hundred meter piano wires and snoring grandparents to examine politics, metaphor, narrative and spatial perception. His work has been performed and exhibited internationally; he has worked with Anthony Braxton and Alvin Lucier and received grants from Meet the Composer, NYSCA and a NYFA Special Opportunity Stipend; he earned an MA in experimental music composition from Wesleyan University, CT in 2001.

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Last modified 18 June 2011

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