Musicians - Alan Theisen

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	Musicians - Alan Theisen

Alan Theisen (b. 4 October 1981; Port Huron, Michigan) is an American composer and conductor. He received a bachelors degree in music history from the University of Southern Mississippi where he is currently a graduate assistant in the Department of Music Theory. Composing since the age of sixteen, he has produced a steadily growing body of work distinguished by its musical energy and concentration of expression. His style may be described as American Expressionism, tying together influences of Berg, Bartok, Ligeti, Carter, music of the Mediterranean / Near East, and American jazz.

Theisen is very active in the creation and promotion of new music, he founded the Intégrales New Music Festival in an effort to showcase both his own original compositions and pieces by other contemporary composers. Integrales NMF features world-premiere performances by nationally recognized musicians and is expanding to include musical collaborations with artists, authors, and dancers.

Style

Early efforts at composition show Theisen exploring the Neo-Classicism of Stravinsky and Prokofiev. Pieces written in this style include the Incidental Music for A Midsummer Night's Dream (manuscript now lost). Although he would occasionally return to traditional forms and diatonic harmonies, Theisen would find his most convincing voice in the chromatic pantonal language exemplified in the Concerto for Saxophone and Strings which was premiered in Poland by the renowned American saxophonist, Lawrence Gwozdz. While most of his works are pantonal, Theisen does not avoid triads or more traditional melodic gestures; however, these gestures and sonorites are often juxtaposed in such a way that their stability and historically referential qualities are diminished or lost.

His increasing preference for a pantonal language has led Theisen away from direct repetition of themes and distinct formal blocks. Motivic snippets and recurring pitches anchor the composition, as in the Saxophone Sonata, but distinct melodies rarely come back without undergoing a severe metamorphosis. The recent Triple Concerto may actually be dubbed "athematic."

Selected works

Concerto for Three Instruments and Wind Ensemble (2006)
Immer Fließend for solo flute (2005)
Fragment - After Longfellow (2003)
Song Without Words for piano (2003)
Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano (2003)
Concerto for Alto Saxophone and String Orchestra (2002)
Sardonic Suite for piano (2001)
Variations on a Theme of Gretchaninov (2001; revised 2005)
Sic Mea Fata for a cappella choir (2001)
Eclogue for solo Alto Saxophone (2000)

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