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Kyle Saulnier
Musical polymath Kyle Saulnier fuses the American musical vocabulary with modern orchestral techniques and industrial rock muscle. WNYC has called his music "lush and inventive," and Downbeat Magazine referred to it as “a Great American Songbook of another order." His compositions and arrangements have been performed nationally and internationally by the Awakening Orchestra, the Metropole Orkest, Jon Irabagon, the Westerlies, WeatherVest, Osso String Quartet, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Saturn People’s Sound Collective, TURNmusic, and the Champlain Philharmonic Orchestra. Kyle has also scored for National Geographic Television and orchestrated for the independent film Nude Tuesday.
Kyle leads and conducts the Awakening Orchestra, and performs on acoustic and electric basses and baritone saxophone, specializing in creative, composer-driven projects that blur the lines of traditional genre. He is the Artistic Director of the Vermont Jazz Ensemble, and the founding director of the Vermont Youth Orchestra’s Jazz program. Kyle has premiered new works by Eve Beglarian and Erik Nielsen, and appeared with artists including Moppa Elliott’s Acceleration Due to Gravity, Brian Boyes’ Saturn People’s Sound Collective, Myra Flynn, Kat Wright, Francesca Blanchard, Andy Gagnon’s LOVECRAFT, TURNmusic, and Cricket Blue. He has collaborated with dance ensembles soft rocks and ERGO movement, and is a sought-after clinician and guest conductor across New England.
Kyle teaches in the music departments of the University of Vermont and Middlebury College, and has also taught at Quinnipiac University and as a teaching fellow at New England Conservatory. He is active with the visionary Music-COMP mentoring program, and lives in Monkton with his wife, violinist Brooke Quiggins.
Gear
shiny horns. sweet basses. cheap pencils.
Tags
Acceleration Due To Gravity: Jonesville
by Pierre Giroux
Bassist, composer and arranger Moppa Elliott's uniquely-titled nonet Acceleration Due To Gravity presents Jonesville a gravity- defying jazz odyssey. It pays a captivating homage to influential bassist Sam Jones by weaving a sonic tapestry which transcends the boundaries of conventional jazz. In this brief seven-track, twenty-one-minute outing, four compositions are by Elliott, with the remainder being Sam Jones' originals. The members of the octet who participated in this unusual musical excursion are trumpeter Bobby Spellman, trombonist Dave Taylor, alto saxophonist ...
Continue ReadingMoppa Elliott's Acceleration Due To Gravity: Jonesville
by Mike Jurkovic
Whatever 'script renegade bassist/composer Moppa Elliot takes on a daily basis, he should be made to share with the rest of the world. Whatever that tonic, whatever that pill, whatever that gumbo scented elixir is, let us have it now. Elliot may not want to open up his private stash to the public, but he sure knows how to let it fly in the music he and his nonet--Acceleration Due to Gravity--put forth on the rightly raucous and ...
Continue ReadingThe Awakening Orchestra: Volume II: To Call Her to a Higher Plan
by Angelo Leonardi
Tra gli orchestratori e bandleader emersi di recente Kyle Saulnier è uno dei più interessanti. Il suo esordio con l'Awakening Orchestra nel doppio This Is Not the Answer (Innova 2014) ha rappresentato una sorprendente rivelazione per padronanza di scrittura e spregiudicata sintesi di elementi diversi, inclusi il free e il rock. Con un taglio espressivo un po' diverso, il successivo Atticus Live! (Biophilia 2016) ha confermato la versatilità del leader nel coniugare altri mondi musicali (ovvero le musiche ...
Continue Reading“In effect, this is a Great American Songbook of another order... the ensemble captures an epic, sweeping sound in a quest to reach a higher realm.” - Herb Boyd, Downbeat
"Saulnier is a composer and arranger certainly deserving of considerable attention... Astounding movements release the potential power of the orchestra to claim the listener’s attention through dynamic contrasts, engaging themes and superlative individual contributions... each of them is the successful result of Saulnier’s painstaking attention, passionate commitment and talent deserving of much more attention... While it’s tempting to compare Saulnier’s style of flowing long lines and broad sonic spectrums to Gil Evans’s—certainly not a four-beats-to-the-measure percussive big band feel—Saulnier has developed his own orchestral approach. And certainly Saulnier’s works are more message-driven than Evans’s..." - Bill Donaldson, Cadence Magazine, Vol.41 No.3
Primary Instrument
Bass, acoustic
Location
Burlington
Credentials/Background
TEACHING POSITIONS: Middlebury College (2021 - pres.) Northern Vermont University (2020-pres.) | Quinnipiac University (2011-pres.) | New England Conservatory (2016-2017) | Bergen Community College (2009-2011)... Available for private composition/theory study at all levels, in-person (post-pandemic) or remote.
Clinic/Workshop Information
Active and available for clinics and masterclasses, specializing in contemporary composition and ensemble direction, with an emphasis in large, cross-genre ensemble work
Photos
Music
Kyle Saulnier
Location: Burlington
Instrument: Bass, acoustic
