Short Bio:
Room tone. Radio static. Sampled ephemera, field recordings, and no input mixers. Chris Cresswell is a composer and sound artist who builds his musical worlds out of sonic artifacts and cultural refuse. With a practice equally rooted in his classical compositional training, his experience as a singer/songwriter, and his use of the recording studio as a creative sandbox, Cresswell’s music has been described by PopMatters as, alternately, “truly immersive, dreamlike” and an “eloquent, barely controlled nightmare.” It has been praised for its “unworldly atmosphere” (Vital Weekly) and “textural variety” (Gramophone) that “...blurs the boundaries between industrial and organic, soothing and suspenseful, and introspective and anxious.” (International Clarinet Association)
Having picked up his first guitar at the age of 13, Cresswell continues to perform as a singer/songwriter, guitarist, singer, and narrator. He currently works as an adjunct lecturer at Onondaga Community College and as a teaching artist with his One Mic Project, a songwriting and recording program. Cresswell is the host of A Curious Ear, a monthly radio program on WCNY-FM, that explores the unlikely connections between disparate musical worlds. He is a contributing writer to Syracuse.com, where he reviews local and national music acts.
A graduate of Syracuse University and the Birmingham Conservatoire, Cresswell is currently pursuing a PhD in Music Composition at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. When not doing musical things, he can be found running the streets and trails of Central New York, watching St. Louis Cardinals baseball or Syracuse basketball, and spending time with his wife Amber and their adorable kitty, Eloise.
Long Bio:
Room tone. Radio static. Sampled ephemera, field recordings, and no input mixers. Chris Cresswell is a composer and sound artist who builds his musical worlds out of sonic artifacts and cultural refuse. With a practice equally rooted in his classical compositional training, his experience as a singer/songwriter, and his use of the recording studio as a creative sandbox, Cresswell’s music has been described by Pop Matters as, alternately, “truly immersive, dreamlike” and an “eloquent, barely controlled nightmare.” It has been praised for its “unworldly atmosphere” (Vital Weekly) and “textural variety” (Gramophone) that “...blurs the boundaries between industrial and organic, soothing and suspenseful, and introspective and anxious.” (International Clarinet Association)
His music has been performed, recorded, and championed by some of the leading performers and ensembles from around the world, including Andy Kozar, Jamie Jordan, Arda Cabaoglu, Megan Ihnen, Rachel Blaustein, Decibel Ensemble, Project Instrumental, Tammy Evans, Holly Roadfeldt, Decho Ensemble, Byrne:Kozar:Duo, Anne H. Goldberg-Baldwin, Ben Ellis, and more. It has been presented by the International Music Council, Rostrum+, Time:Spans Festival, Kathleen Suppose’s Music with a View, the SPLICE Institute, Contemporary Art Music Project, SCI Conference, New Music Chicago, BFE/RMA Research Students Conference, National Student Electronic Music (N_SEME), the Hot Air Music Festival, Society for New Music, and more. He has received support and recognition from the American Composers Forum, Jerome Foundation, National Band Association, CNY Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts. Cresswell has participated in Artist Residencies at Estalagem da Mona do Sol Residency for Contemporary Music and Electronics, and the Stone Quarry Hill Art Park. His music has been released commercially by PARMA Records and New Focus Recordings. The Byrne:Kozar:Duo’s recording of all that’s left is dirt and sky was included on AnEarful’s Best of 2023: Classical.
Having picked up his first guitar at the age of 13, Cresswell continues to perform as a singer/songwriter, guitarist, singer, and narrator. He has performed at Andrea Clearfield’s Salon in Philadelphia, sung with British composer, Errollyn Wallen CBE, and as the narrator in Tchaikovsky’s Peter and the Wolf. As a solo artist, and with his chamber group, 315 Ensemble, Cresswell has performed, championed, and commissioned works by composers including Eve Beglarian, Emily Levy, Andrew Rodriguez, Patrick Ellis, and many more.
An active educator, Cresswell’s educational philosophy is to meet students where they are at and elevate them from there. He currently works as an adjunct lecturer at Onondaga Community College, where he teaches several courses and maintains a composition studio. An exceptional teaching artist, Cresswell has worked in Syracuse City Schools, with Red House Arts Center, CNY Jazz Central, and a variety of other settings. In 2014 he co-founded and built the recording studio at Lake of the Woods and Greenwoods Summer Camp. This work led him to start the One Mic Project, a songwriting and recording project that believes that “one mic can amplify a voice, a voice can tell a story, and a story can change the world.” Through Great Lakes Guitar Society, One Mic Project has received support from Arts in Corrections NYS, a regrant program of NYSCA, facilitated by Wave Farm with the support of NYS DOCCS. Previously Cresswell taught composition at the Birmingham Junior Conservatoire, ran the Young Composers Project (UK), Young Composers Corner (US), and has occasionally served an adjunct professor at Le Moyne College and Syracuse University. His passion for youth development led him to work for Fiver Children’s Foundation, a non profit that provides experiences that challenge and builds relationships that nurture so that youth from systemically under-resourced communities in New York can create their own positive futures.
Cited for his expertise in arts administration, Cresswell has previously worked at Boosey & Hawkes and Black Tea Music. He currently serves on the board of Syracuse Friends of Chamber Music and has previously served on the board of Society for New Music and Full of Noises (UK).
A graduate of Syracuse University and the Birmingham Conservatoire, Cresswell is currently pursuing a PhD in Music Composition at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. He is the host of A Curious Ear, a monthly radio program on WCNY-FM, that explores the unlikely connections between disparate musical worlds and is a contributing writer to Syracuse.com,, where he reviews local and national music acts. When not doing musical things, he can be found running the streets and trails of Central New York, watching St. Louis Cardinals baseball or Syracuse basketball, and spending time with his wife Amber and their adorable kitty, Eloise.