About Frank J. Oteri
Frank J. Oteri is the composer advocate at New Music USA and the founding editor of its web magazine NewMusicBox, which has been online since May of 1999. An outspoken crusader for new music and the breaking down of barriers between genres, Frank has written for publications including BBC Music, Chamber Music, Ear Magazine, Stagebill/Playbill, Symphony, Time Out New York and the Revised New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, has been a frequent radio and pre-concert speaker, and has served as the host for ASCAP’s Thru The Walls showcase, Meet The Composer’s The Works in Minneapolis, and his own 21st Century Schizoid Music series at the Cornelia Street Cafè. As part of his work as Composer Advocate, Oteri is also a member of the Cultural Exchange Working Group coordinated by the Performing Arts Alliance and co-chairs the Communication Committee of the International Association of Music Information Centers (IAMIC). Frank holds a B.A. and a M.A. (in Ethnomusicology) from Columbia University where he served as Classical Music Director and World Music Director for WKCR-FM.
Frank’s own musical compositions, which reconcile structural concepts from minimalism and serialism and frequently explore microtonality, span operas and chamber music, solo keyboard works and original bluegrass/old-timey songs for his band The String Messengers. His music has been programmed in venues ranging from Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, the Los Angeles Contemporary Museum of Art and the Theatre Royal in Bath, England to Galapagos, the Knitting Factory, the Sidewalk Cafè and the Bethlehem Musikfest (PA) to PONCHO Concert Hall in Seattle where John Cage first prepared a piano. Interpreters of his music include sopranos Gilda Lyons and Cybele Paschke, male soprano/baritone Phillip Cheah, tenors Rob Frankenberry and Harlan DeBell, keyboardists Sarah Cahill, Trudy Chan, Elaine Funaro, Robert Heath, Jenny Lin, Rebecca Pechefsky, and Marvin Rosen, guitarists Dominic Frasca and David Starobin, saxophonist Brian Sacawa, the Magellan String Quartet, Sylvan Winds, Pentasonic Winds, the rock band Capital M, and the Locrian Chamber Players, among others. Oteri’s Last Minute Tango appears on Guy Livingston’s DVD, One Minute More, his 1/4-tone saxophone quartet Fair and Balanced? has been released on the PRISM Quartet’s latest CD, Dedication, and his 36-tone rock suite is the title track for the Los Angeles Electric 8’s most recent disc Imagined Overtures. Additionally, his Just Salsa, performed by a Latin band in 11-limit just intonation, has been recorded on the American Festival of Microtonal Music’s PITCH series. MACHUNAS, Oteri’s performance oratorio in four colors, based on the life of Fluxus-founder George Maciunas created in collaboration with painter/performance artist Lucio Pozzi, was staged at the Contemporary Arts Centre in Vilnius, Lithuania as part of the International Christopher Summer Festival in a production conducted by Donatas Katkus (August 20-21, 2005). In 2007, Oteri was the recipient of ASCAP’s Victor Herbert Award for his “distinguished service to American music as composer, journalist, editor, broadcaster, impresario, and advocate.” For more information, visit fjoteri.com.