Musicians - Ben Neill

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	Musicians - Ben Neill

BEN NEILL is a composer, performer, and inventor of the mutantrumpet, a hybrid electro-acoustic instrument. Through his use of interactive computer technologies, Neill creates a unique musical and visual experience, melding the worlds of electronic music, jazz, pop culture and visual media.

Neill has recorded seven CDs of his music on the Six Degrees, Universal/Verve, Astralwerks, New Tone and Ear-Rational labels. He has performed his music extensively in a wide variety of international settings including the Cite de la Musique France, Berlin Love Parade Germany, Spoleto Festival Italy, Umbria Jazz Italy, NIME Conference 2005 Vancouver, Bang On A Can Festivals 1993 and 1997 New York, ICA London, Istanbul Jazz Festival Turkey and the Edinburgh Festival UK to name a few. The Sci-Fi Lounge, his collaboration with DJ Spooky and Emergency Broadcast Network, toured America and Europe in 1997.

In 2005 Neill presented his collaboration with visual artist Bill Jones titled Palladio, an interactive movie based on Jonathan Dee’s 1998 novel of the same name. Palladio was premiered at the New Territories Festival in Glasgow, Scotland, and at the Thalia Theater/Symphony Space in New York City.

In Neill’s live performance, laptop computers merge his three-belled, computer interfaced mutantrumpet with live MIDI controlled digital audio and video. In addition to controlling digital audio in real time, Neill literally plays the moving pictures, making the images an extension of his electrified horn.

Neill is also active as a sound and installation artist. His collaborative works with Bill Jones have been exhibited in museums and galleries including Sandra Gering Gallery New York, Exit Art New York, Wellcome Gallery London and the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Neill’s installation/performance Green Machine was shown at Paula Cooper Gallery New York in 1994. ITSOFOMO, his major collaborative piece with the late artist David Wojnarowicz, has been exhibited widely in venues such as The New Museum New York and PPOW Gallery New York, and was featured in the recent PBS documentary Imagining America.

In 2002, Ben Neill “made music industry history” (MSNBC News) by releasing Automotive, an album entirely comprised of extended versions of music he originally wrote for Volkswagen TV and Internet commercials. He supported the release of the album by performing on an 18 city tour of the House of Blues and other major music venues in the US and Canada. Television appearances have included CNBC Power Lunch, Tech TV Screen Savers, Wall Street Journal Report, and Media Television Canada. Neill and Jones’ video remixes were presented at Sundance 2004 and have been aired on Fox TV network. Nite Nite, a video remix of a track from Automotive , was exhibited in 2003 Sandra Gering Gallery, New York.

A native of North Carolina, Neill is a graduate of Manhattan School of Music. He studied composition with minimalist composer La Monte Young, and has collaborated with numerous other composers and musicians including rock band Helmet’s Page Hamilton, Nicolas Collins, David Behrman, John Cale, Coil, and DJ Spooky. He has received grants from the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, Harvestworks, Meet the Composer, and the Steim Foundation Amsterdam. Neill was the Music Curator of The Kitchen in New York City from 1992-1998.

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