SHAUN DAVID CROWDUS

Biography

Shaun David Crowdus (b.1979) is an active composer currently living in Hannover, Germany. He has written over thirty works ranging from solo unaccompanied to full orchestral pieces, including an operetta based on the short-story, The Finder, by the Hugo and Nebula award winning author, Ursula K. LeGuin. He received his Bachelor of Music in Music Composition/Theory at East Carolina University in 2005, and studied primarily under Dr. Ed Jacobs, but also with composers Dr. Mark Taggart, Dr. Martha Horst, and trumpet performance professor/composer, Dr. Britton Theurer. Crowdus attained his Master of Music in Composition/Theory at the University of Louisville under the tutelage of Dr. Marc Satterwhite in 2007, and completed his PhD in Music Composition at Bangor University, Wales in 2012 under Dr. Guto Pryderi Puw.

Crowdus has had his works performed and read by diverse international artists such as: Iwan Llewelyn-Jones, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales (NOW) String Quartet, the BBC NOW Wind Quintet, the Arsenal Trio, the Meridian Arts Ensemble, the Prism Saxophone Quartet, Michael Lowenstern, Amy Briggs (Dissanayake), Brad Baumgardner, Korin Kormick, and the East Carolina University Orchestra. His works have been performed at venues such as King’s College, University of Cambridge and the Bangor New Music Festival, Bangor University. He is the founder of several university contemporary music societies.

Although his current works focus on contemporary acoustic western 'art' music, Crowdus is now exploring acousmatic, electroacoustic, 'world' music, and multi-media works. His current portfolio ranges in styles from tonality, modality, serialism, indeterminacy, and through-composed to his own personal 'free-style' which often meshes several genres into a new unified whole.

Currently, Crowdus is working on several projects. His long-term projects include an opera for children and also establishing a new composition competition, aimed at merging cultural genres in music.

Crowdus lives with his wife, two sons, and daughter.

Compositional philosophy: One must always try to 'push the envelope' of music, and also their own personal skill and musical idiom in which (s)he writes, whilst allowing their passion and voice to shape the work.