Biography
Barrier-smashing composer. Electrifying pianist. Spellbinding music from an award-winning composer/performer. NU-CLASSICAL
“Music like that is worthwhile to the listeners on the fringe of music because it challenges definitions and breaks down barriers between the music they are familiar with and that which they have never heard (most music)… is undeniably evident that Kris Becker is a uniquely talented musician.”
-Garrett Schumann, Sequenza21.com
Out of the imagination of award-winning American composer and pianist Kris Becker (Kris with a K) come barrier-smashing concepts and a deeply meaningful performance experience that electrify the audience with inspirational appeal and trailblazing excitement.
This artistic vision has earned Kris major recent recognition: winner of the 2012 National Federation of Music Clubs Beyer Composition Award, Texas Music Teachers Association Commissioned Composer Prize 2013, and ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards finalist.
Revered authority on piano music Maurice Hinson, who calls Mr. Becker’s sonorities “spellbinding”, offers that “Becker is a musician who has something important to say and knows how to say it.” In Kris’ creativity and communication, technical craft is matched by a genre-bending vibe that has far-reaching popular appeal, flowing with the undercurrents of classical, jazz, and rock. This talent has been further recognized in the International Songwriting Competition and the ASCAP Lotte Lehmann Art Song Composition Competition, while Kris has performed his original works in venues and cities around the globe, including New York’s Carnegie Hall, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Amalfi Coast Music Festival in Italy, and on Houston’s Impulse Artist Series.
Igniting enthusiasm in both musicians and music listeners, Kris’ creations continually lead other artists to play and record his works while he is commissioned regularly to create yet more. His new work for saxophone was premiered at the 2012 World Saxophone Congress and his new music for 2 Pianos 8 Hands, commissioned by the Stella Royce Piano Camp, was premiered in summer 2012.
A powerful pianist and performer, he has amassed many honors including winner Lee Biennial Int’l, Int’l Chopin of Texas, Artist Presentation Society, Shepherd School of Music Concerto, and Yamaha Young Performing Artist competitions while concerto credits include SAR Philharmonic & Valley Symphony Orchestra. A formidable rock musician, the cross-genre Becker creates the music for and fronts the fusion rock band Kris Becker & The Frozen Heat while he has also appeared with members of The Temptations.
Rooted in tradition and innovating all at once, the self-described “nu-classical” music of Kris Becker is winning instantaneous fans everywhere it’s heard. Scorching kinetic energy, unrelenting passion, blazing virtuosity, and a powerfully expressive beauty–this is the Kris Becker experience.
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