Through a combination of original music, improvisation and collaboration with leading composers of his generation, percussion soloist Owen Weaver’s “intensely focused” (Gramophone) performances combine the forces of rhythm, noise, beauty and stasis while seeking the musical potential in everyday life. He uses recycled objects, home made instruments and electronic sounds to construct a kaleidoscopic sound world ranging from the visceral to sublime, clangorous to hypnotic. To that end he has appeared twice in the NYC-based Wordless Music Series as well as the MATA Interval Series, Fast Forward Austin, Hartford New Music Festival, two Nonclassical Records SXSW official showcases and National Public Radio’s All Songs Considered.
A nimble collaborator dedicated to diversity in venue and audience, he has shared concert bills with indie rockers WHY?, internationally renowned turntablist DJ/rupture, Calder Quartet, and Percussion Group Cincinnati in addition to performing in Europe, South America and throughout the U.S. with Mantra Percussion, Glenn Branca Ensemble, NEWSPEAK, Concert Black and Conspirare: A Company of Voices for a PBS television special and Grammy-nominated recording released on the Harmonia Mundi label.
Owen loves teaching and has served as percussion instructor at Texas Lutheran University, director of the University of Texas at Austin Steel Pan Ensemble, assistant director of the Hartt Percussion Ensemble and music instructor at Rikers Island Correctional Facility in partnership with Make Music New York. He is a teaching artist at both the West Side YMCA and 92nd Street YMCA, and has conducted master classes on improvisation, electroacoustic performance practices, and world music at Yale University, Cornell, CalArts, the Hartt School and the universities of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Central Florida and Connecticut, California Riverside, and California Berkeley. He is currently finishing a doctorate in percussion performance at the Hartt School as a student of Benjamin Toth.
Shorter
Through a combination of original music, improvisation, and collaboration with leading composers of his generation, percussionist Owen Weaver’s “intensely focused” (Gramophone) performances combine the forces of rhythm, noise, beauty and stasis while seeking the musical potential in everyday life. He uses recycled objects, homemade instruments and electronic sounds to construct a kaleidoscopic sound world ranging from the visceral to the sublime, clangorous to hypnotic.
Owen has been featured in the NYC-based Wordless Music Series, MATA Interval Series, Fast Forward Austin, two Nonclassical Records SXSW official showcases, and National Public Radio’s All Songs Considered. A diverse collaborator, he has performed in Europe, South America and throughout the U.S. with Mantra Percussion, Glenn Branca Ensemble, NEWSPEAK, Concert Black, and others including performances with Conspirare: A Company of Voices for a PBS television special and Grammy-nominated album. A passionate educator, Owen is a teaching artist for both the West Side YMCA and the 92nd Street YMCA, and has taught at Yale, Cornell, CalArts, Texas Lutheran University, the University of Texas at Austin, the Hartt School, and Rikers Island Correctional Facility.
