George Hurd
{{short description|American composer}}
George Hurd is an American composer whose work focuses primarily on electroacoustic music combining classical instrumentation and electronics. He has also written a substantial amount of music for solo electronics and classical chamber ensemble. He is based in Berlin, Germany and heads [http://www.hurdensemble.com The Hurd Ensemble],Hurd Ensemble - About https://www.georgehurd.com/discography/the-hurd-ensemble/ a chamber group dedicated to performing his pieces. A large portion of his work is concert music for The Hurd Ensemble and other groups/artists such as the Grammy-winning Third Coast Percussion, Elevate Ensemble, and violinist Carla Kihlstedt, and music for dance, most notably with choreographer Loni Landon and LEVYdance on Meet Me Normal (2014) and the murmur of yearning for [http://kinetecharts.org/ Kinetech Arts].
He has collaborated with numerous artists, such as German experimental electronic composer Hainbach, and American composer Danny Clay. He released [https://nightmarelight.bandcamp.com/releases Nightmare Light],{{Cite web|url=https://nightmarelight.bandcamp.com/releases|title = Nightmare Light, by Nightmare Light}} a self-titled EP with composer Joel St. Julien.
He has launched a travel-based composition project called [https://georgehurd.bandcamp.com Echolocation] Echolocation - George Hurd | Bandcamp based on his travels throughout Europe, North America, and New Zealand using location-specific sound-recordings and The Hurd Ensemble to create pieces about each place he visited. He premiered a solo electronic version of the suite at the Mutek festival in 2020.
Electroacoustic Music
His most notable work includes the body of electro-acoustic music written for his group, The Hurd Ensemble, namely the pieces included on his 2016 Innova Recordings album, Navigation Without Numbers, which includes 11 pieces for combinations of violin, viola, cello, bass, piano, vibes, harp, and electronics, as well as a piece - also entitled Navigation Without Numbers - for solo violin and electronics written for and recorded by violinist/composer Carla Kihlstedt.Innova Recordings - Navigation Without Numbers Catalog http://www.innova.mu/albums/george-hurd/navigation-without-numbers In July 2016 The Hurd Ensemble performed at Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., a special request of Kennedy Center composer-in-residence Mason Bates.{{Cite web|url=https://www.kennedy-center.org/video/millennium-stage/contemporary-music/2016/the-hurd-ensemble---millennium-stage-july-25-2016/|title = The Hurd Ensemble performs at The Kennedy Center; Kennedy Center}}
In 2023 he released a piece for flutes, cellos, piano, and electronics entitled Silent Winter on the Berlin-based 7K! Records,{{Cite web|url=https://7klassik.bandcamp.com/track/silent-winter|title = Silent Winter on Ambient Layers Vol. II}} and in 2024 released Nuremberg {{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cvf4omy6P_g|title = Nuremberg on Ambient Layers Vol. II}} a self-performed track for tape-processed solo piano on UK-based Accidental Records.
Additionally, Hurd composed a piece for piano and electronics entitled Vivarium, for pianist Elyse Weakley. It premiered in March 2015 alongside pieces by Mason Bates, Aphex Twin and Anna Clyne.{{Cite web|url=http://centerfornewmusic.com/calendar/switchboard-presents-elyse-weakley-lip-service/|title = Switchboard Presents: Elyse Weakley & Tamalpais Brass – Center for New Music}} It was subsequently performed at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington D.C. and the National Opera Center in New York.
Music for Film
Hurd contributed to the feature-length documentary [http://www.totheedgeofthesky.com/filmmakers.html To the Edge of the Sky] with celebrated composer Mark Orton (who also mixed Navigation Without Numbers, Hurd's debut record with the Hurd Ensemble).
Hurd's most substantial film score is for the feature-length documentary Freeing Bernie Baran,Freeing Bernie Baran IMDB page: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1770682/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast directed by Daniel Alexander. The instrumentation for this score would be the inspiration for his choice in instruments for The Hurd Ensemble.
He also scored the shorts Jessica's Gift Joseph Voves - Jessica's Gift: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aX0I-QOVJ4 and [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6UiObhkH24 An Ordinary Moment] Joseph Voves - An Ordinary Moment (2006) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6UiObhkH24 for filmmaker Joseph Voves. An Ordinary Moment won for Best Original Music at the 2006 Chicago 48-Hour Film Festival.2006 Chicago 48-Hour Film Festival https://www.48hourfilm.com/chicago/2006.php
Music for Dance
- [http://www.levydance.org/levy_repertory/meet-me-normal/ Meet Me Normal] - LEVYdance and choreographer Loni Landon (AMP 2014 - ODC Theater, San Francisco - November 9, 2014)
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zcec2Ouaih4 the murmur of yearning] Kinetech Arts 2nd Anniversary Performance - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zcec2Ouaih4 - Kinetech Arts (2015)
Awards and commissions
- Commission by Grammy-winning Third Coast Percussion, to write What Stories We Tell for percussion quartet and electronics.
- Commission for Undercover Music Series. Morning Bell by Radiohead arranged for violin, viola, cello, bass, bass clarinets, piano, steel pans, vibraphone, singer and electronics.Undercover - Kid A - Morning Bell arr. George Hurd
- Composer's Residency, 2011 - [http://spectrumnyc.com/blog/ New Spectrum Foundation] - New York NY: Awarded a composer's residency at the New Spectrum Foundation in New York, NY from Oct 2011 - Jan 2012. Composed Navigation Without Numbers, a single-movement piece for solo violin and electronics written for violinist/composer Carla Kihlstedt.
- Commission from Musiktheater Im Revier Gelsenkirchen, Germany, 2010. Two pieces for the Internetoper project: Fulcrum and Flux for violin, cello, bass clarinet, piano, vibraphone and electronics.
- Winner of Best Music: 48 Hour Film Competition - Chicago 2006
Discography
- Nuremberg (Antechamber Compilation Vol. 3, Accidental Records, 2024)
- Silent Winter (Ambient Layers Vol. 2, 7K! Records, 2023)
- What Stories We Tell (Currents Vol. I, Third Coast Percussion Records, 2022)
- Chernobyl Remastered (Cloth Map, 2022)
- Navigation Without Numbers: Remixes (Innova Recordings, 2020)
- Chernobyl OST (Cloth Map, 2017)
- Navigation Without Numbers [http://www.innova.mu/albums/george-hurd/navigation-without-numbers (Innova Recordings, 2016)]
- Nightmare Light [http://www.nightmarelight.bandcamp.com (Self-Released, 2016)]
References
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External links
- [http://www.georgehurd.com/ George Hurd Official Website]
- [http://www.innova.mu/albums/george-hurd/navigation-without-numbers Navigation Without Numbers - Innova Recordings]
- [http://www.georgehurd.com/hurdensemble.com Hurd Ensemble webpage]
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Category:American classical composers
Category:Composers from San Francisco
Category:American male composers
Category:21st-century American composers
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)