Bio

Zachary Crockett is a prolific composer, computer programmer, and interdisciplinary collaborator living in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, where he takes joy in all of life, but especially in music, nature, and scholarship.

Crockett's artistic fascinations lie especially in the perception of music performance as ritual. This philosophy presents itself most forcefully to date in his work Fire: Their Voices Cracked for saxophones, percussion, and didgeridoo. His music has been described most often as primal and reverent.

A frequent collaborator, Mr. Crockett has a particular interest in dance, having formally studied modern dance and choreography himself. Current collaborative projects include works with San Francisco percussionist Jay Bordeleau and Minneapolis choreographer Heather Parker. In October 2004, Zachary worked with Ms. Parker as well as sculptor Bonnie Brabson on the Arts Quarter Collective's ArtsMosis festival, which Crockett now leads along with dancer Annie Hanauer, performance artist Fluffy Singler, and visual artist Julia Kouneski. Parker and Crockett collaborated for the 2005 ArtsMosis festival on Intoxication and the Plastic Energy Complex, a work involving the use of sensors and wireless data transmission to allow the dancer interactive control over the music to which she moves.

Mr. Crockett is currently pursuing his PhD as an Instructional Technology Fellow at the University of Minnesota under the tutelage of Douglas Geers, Alex Lubet, David Gompper, and Judith Lang Zaimont. Mr. Crockett also holds degrees from the Peabody Conservatory of The Johns Hopkins University and the Blair School of Music of Vanderbilt University.

In addition to his current teachers, Crockett's compositional studies have been guided by Robert Sirota, Michael Kurek, and Michael Rose. While attending the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, France, Zachary took lessons from Isabelle Duha, André Bon, and Marco Stroppa.

Zachary also loves to explore those not-so-oft-reached places in nature. In June and July of 2004, he and his wife, pianist Solange Guillaume, hiked the John Muir Trail, over 200 miles from Mount Whitney, the highest point in California, north, to Yosemite National Park. They also enjoy all varieties of rock climbing together, having scaled stone in the Shawangunks, Red River Gorge, Hueco Tanks, the Berkeley Rocks (Goat, Castle, etc.), Annapolis Rock, and most recently at Bear Lodge a.k.a. Devil's Tower.

Mr. Crockett finds sublime beauty in mathematics, especially fractals, wavelets, and superstring theory. He is currently pursing a PhD minor in computer science.

Crockett currently serves as director of 3-1-3-6, and his future plans include founding a music festival in New Hampshire with Solange Guillaume, and moving thereafter to retrieve his heart, which he left in San Francisco.

Curriculum Vitae

pieces written

recent performances

grants & fellowships

software

publications

cracked red surface