Biography
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Born In
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
Duane Pitre is an American avant-garde composer and performer. His work often focuses on the tensions between electronic sound and acoustic instrumentation, chaos and discipline, as well as site-specificity and performativity. The composer frequently works with long-tones and utilizes alternate tuning schemes that focus on microtonality, enabling him to explore unaccustomed harmonic intervallic relationships. In recent works Pitre has focused on the liberation within a sound's decay and the space it provides. He has scored works for string/wind ensembles, string quintet, his own bowed harmonic-guitar ensemble, string orchestra and solo performers, among other instrumental configurations.
Pitre has presented his works in New York City at such spaces as Roulette, The Stone, MoMA's P.S.1, Phillips de Pury & Co., St. Mark's Chuch, and ISSUE Project Room (where the Jerome Foundation provided funding for his spring 2009 Artist in Residency). He has also performed across the U.S., as well as in Europe. The composer has been commissioned to write works for those such as The String Orchestra of Brooklyn, who performed Pitre's work, along w/ commissions by Tony Conrad & Katherine Young, at St. Ann's Cathedral in March 2011. Pitre has also shared bills with artists such as Marc Ribot, Audrey Chen, Sean Meehan, Ilya Monosov, Tristen Perich, Master Musicians of Bukkake, Bhob Rainey, Expo '70 and James Blackshaw. And he has been featured in many online publications such as Foxy Digitalis, Pitchfork, and the American Music Center's NewMusicBox webzine.
Pitre's work has been released on labels such as Important Records, Root Strata, NNA, Quiet Design, and Trome Records. He's appeared on compilations with artists such as Keith Rowe, Sir Richard Bishop, Tetuzi Akiyama, and Jandek; he has also appeared on soundtracks with Dinosaur Jr., Battles, and Animal Collective. In 2009 he curated and contributed a track to a Just Intonation compilation (released on Important Records), alongside Pauline Oliveros, Ellen Fullman, Michael Harrison, Greg Davis, Charles Curtis, and others. He has had over 80 different musicians from France, England, Spain, Italy, Israel, Brazil and the U.S. take part in the performances of his works.
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