B i o g r a p h y
“Transformative,” a “captivating mix of busy and sparse,” and “a crowd pleaser” according to the Boston Musical Intelligencer, Ian Wiese is a truly multifaceted award-winning composer. Currently a doctoral student at New England Conservatory of Music in composition under Michael Gandolfi, his works have been heard in places such as New York City, Boston, Charlotte, Denver, Saratoga Springs, The Walt Disney World Resort, and internationally in Oslo, Norway.
Recently, Mr. Wiese has had many performances by prominent Boston-area ensembles and other ensembles across the US. Of note are performances by loadbang as part of Longy's Divergent Studio 2021, Imani Winds as part of the the Mostly Modern Festival in Saratoga Springs, NY, Box Not Found as part of Box Not Found: Stories (which received a City of Boston Arts Grant), Holes in the Floor Cello Quartet as part of their New England tour, guitarist Aaron Larget-Caplan as part of his New Lullaby Project, and WordSong as part of their tenth anniversary "Circus of Tygers" concert, of which he helped develop the concert. Other recent performances include the American Modern Orchestra, New England Conservatory Philharmonia, New England Conservatory Wind Ensemble, New England Conservatory Contemporary Ensemble, Duo Zonda, Beo String Quartet, Some Assembly Required, and the Ithaca New Music Collective. Upcoming performances include harpist Joe Rebman, Essex Piano Trio with tenor Antanas Meilus, Delgani String Quartet, thereminist Thornwald Jorgenson, and many others.
In the past, he has been composer-in-residence for the Ithaca College New Voices Literary Festival, where he founded the collaborative series and composed for three years. Mr. Wiese was also invited to be a guest composer with the Ball State Xenharmonic Music Alliance as part of the 2018 Xenharmonic New Music Showcase, where he held a residency with the organization and presented on 72-EDO microtonal music. Wiese was selected as the third-place winner for the 2020 American Prize in Vocal Chamber Music - Student Division and as a finalist in the 2021 ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards.
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When not composing, Wiese researches the music of Charles Ives, Igor Stravinsky, John Harbison, and Walter Piston. Recently, he completed a transcription of Charles Ives Symphony No. 3 “The Camp Meeting” Mvt. I and Mvt. II for wind ensemble; the other movement will be completed by 2022. This transcription has been selected by NEC Symphonic Winds conductor William Drury for performance during the 2019 NEC Veterans Day concert, where it premiered by the combined Navy and Air Force bands under their respective conductors' batons. When not focusing on music, Mr. Wiese enjoys riding the rails on trains and watching both good and bad science-fiction films.
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Ian Wiese is currently in the doctoral program at New England Conservatory, where he studies for the Doctorate of Musical Arts in Composition with John Heiss He holds a Masters of Music in Composition from New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Kati Agocs and Michael Gandolfi; he also received lessons from composers John Harbison, Bert van Herck, and Scott Wheeler. Wiese also holds a Bachelors of Music in Composition from Ithaca College, where he studied with Dana Wilson, Jorge Grossmann, and Sally Lamb McCune. While at Ithaca College, he received lessons with various distinguished guest composers including the late Steven Stucky, David Rakowski, Fredrick Kaufmann, Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, and Koray Sazli, among others.