BIOGRAPHY Bobby Previte "can break your heart with one cymbal crash." Introduction, education, fellowships, and teaching Bobby Previte is a composer/performer who for twenty years has led ensembles throughout the world. He has received two NEA grants for composition, two NYFA grants for composition, a NYSCA and Jerome Foundation/American Composer's Forum grant for composition (for THE SEPARATION), seven fellowships at the MacDowell Colony, and ASCAP composer grants every year since 2000. Mr. Previte studied music at the University of Buffalo, where instructors included Morton Feldman and John Cage, and majored in percussion under Jan Williams. As a student he performed with Williams' percussion ensemble in the “Evenings for New Music” series under the direction of Lucas Foss, and was a guest artist with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Michael Tilson-Thomas, receiving his B.A in 1973, cum laude. Previte has given master classes at The Eastman School of Music, The New School, Cornish University, The School of Jazz, Perth, Australia, The University of Buffalo, Istanbul Conservatory, and the Lucerne School of Music. Selected brief performance and recording history since 1979 Since moving to New York City in 1979, he has played hundreds of concerts all over the world and recorded dozens of records as a performer and leader. In the 1980s and early 1990s he recorded four records of his music for Gramavision, four for Enja, one for Sound Aspects, and one for KOCH. He received commissions from the Moscow Circus, (Broadway première: Gershwin Theater, New York City, 1992), and scored films such as CHAIN LETTERS, directed by Mark Rappaport, (première: New York Film Festival). He has worked with some of the brightest lights both in and beyond the world of music, from helping the composer John Adams to assemble the special ensemble needed for the Lincoln Center debut of Adams' opera I WAS LOOKING AT THE CEILING to appearing with William Shatner in a skit on “Saturday Night Live,” and as “The Drummer” in the Robert Altman film, SHORT CUTS. From 1999-2005 Previte toured a quintet, Bump the Renaissance, with Ray Anderson, Marty Ehrlich, Wayne Horvitz, and the legendary bassist Steve Swallow. Palmetto Records has released two recordings of that band, JUST ADD WATER and COUNTERCLOCKWISE. Other touring included two European and two American tours with Groundtruther, a collaboration with the eight string guitarist Charlie Hunter with Previte on electronic drums, Previte's Circus Band at the Frankfurt Festival in 2004, and three weeks in Europe in 2004 with the multi-instrumentalist and composer Elliott Sharp. In April 2005 Mr. Previte was in residence in Cheltenham, England, and lead a local ensemble at the Cheltenham Festival as well as introducing The Beta Popes, a power trio with Jamie Saft and Skerik. In 2006 THE COALITION OF THE WILLING was released on Ropeadope Records, featuring the band of the same name. The Coalition toured Europe in April 2006 and the USA three times in that year. Mr. Previte has been discussed in many of the world's major newspapers, magazines, radio and television shows, and as well as in numerous books on music. He has presented his work at festivals around the world-Montreux, North Sea, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Rio de Janiero, Sydney, Hong Kong, Berlin, and Paris. Larger works and current activities Completing a commission from The City of Birmingham, UK for their year 2000 millennium celebration, Mr. Previte created THE 23 CONSTELLATIONS OF JOAN MIRÓ. Composed at the MacDowell Colony and scored for the Constellations Ensemble of eight musicians and conductor, this work was released on Tzadik Records' “Composer Series.” Mr. Previte was awarded a United Kingdom Arts Council grant for a two week UK tour for the ensemble in 2004. The work was also presented at the Teatro Nationale in Milan in May 2005. In April, 2006, MY FIRST AND GREATEST LOVE AFFAIR, for children's choir, was commissioned and premièred by the Young People's Chorus of New York City at their “Transient Glory” concert and was featured on John Schaeffer's WNYC radio show, “Soundcheck.” Previte's newest production, in collaboration with writer/director Andrea Kleine and designer Anna Kiraly, is THE SEPARATION, an examination of religion in society, scored for early music choir, pipe organ, and electric band. Based on both a re-arrangement of the 15th century composer Guilliaume Dufay's “Missa Sancti Jacobi” and a re-imagination of Olivier Messiaen's “La Nativité du Seigneur,” this work premièred at the Walker Art Center on February 2, 2007, with subsequent performances there and at Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center in Buffalo NY. In April 2007, with support from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, he curated APRIL IN NEW YORK, a week-long series of duets with harpist Zeena Parkins, Elliott Sharp, and others. In July 2007 he and the video artist Benton-C Bainbridge performed DIALED IN, a solo electronic drum and video show, at the Lincoln Center Scanners Festival. In August 2007 Previte recorded a new sextet version of the Bump the Renaissance band featuring Ellery Eskelin, Steve Bernstein, Bill Ware, Brad Jones, and Jim Pugliese. In September 2007 he released two new recordings: ALTITUDE, featuring John Medeski, the final CD in the Groundtruther trilogy, LATITUDE, LONGITUDE, ALTITUDE, on Thirsty Ear Records, and DOOM JAZZ, music to the futurist drama of the same name, a collaboration with Jamie Saft, on Veal Records. In November 2007, Previte toured Europe with the Pan-Atlantic Band, an acoustic quintet featuring some of the great improvisers of Europe, and Previte and Bainbridge performed DIALED IN at EMPAC in Troy, NY. Also in fall 2007 Previte created music for PATERSON, by the video artists eteam. Previte released two DVD's of his work in 2007: the live performance of THE SEPARATION, and a five DVD set of the APRIL IN NEW YORK concerts. Forthcoming in 2008 are the DIALED IN DVD, a live concert DVD of DOOM JAZZ, and THE SEPARATION studio version CD to be recorded and released late in 2008. He will tour Europe with his new Bump band in May and November of 2008. Previte and Andrea Kleine are at work on their second collaboration, KARAOKE REMIX. Previte, Steve Swallow and the guitarist Nels Cline will record in June for Palmetto. He continues to travel and perform widely. MAIN BIO PAGE         BIO W/ PRESS         PHOTOS