Jonathan Bepler

Jonathan Bepler is an American composer of experimental music perhaps best known for his collaborative work with artists and choreographers, including many years of work with visual artist Matthew Barney. He is also multi-instrumentalist, singer, installation artist, and teacher.

Early life and education Bepler was born in Media, Pennsylvania. He was self-taught on many instruments by the time he finished high school. His early interests included folk dance music, ancient and world music, jazz, and improvisation. In 1993 he received and M.F.A from Bennington College in Vermont, where he studied composition with Louis Calabro, Joel Chadabe and Vivian Fine, singing with Frank Baker and Theodor Uppman as well as musical performance with Milford Graves, Bill Dixon and Min Tanaka. In the later period of his studies he directed and sang in productions of Baroque opera such as Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice. He currently resides in Berlin.

Career

From 1985 to 1996, Bepler was guitarist with the Glenn Branca Ensemble, touring with them through Europe, the United States and Asia. Starting in 1987, his first operas were composed. From 1993, Bepler also dedicated himself to sound installations, as well as to music for drama and dance. He is the composer for The Cremaster Cycle, a series of films created from 1996 to 2002 by Matthew Barney. In 1997, Bepler was baritone soloist at the world premiere of the opera Der Venusmond by Burkhard Stangl at the Empire State Building. He received a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists award in 1999.

In 2000, Bepler worked as a composer at the Berlin Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz with Sasha Waltz and dancers. In 2003, together with John Jasperse he created the piece California for the Festival International de Danse a Cannes. In 2006, the Ensemble Modern premiered his piece Fascia at the Schauspielhaus Frankfurt. Bepler collaborated again with Matthew Barney on the six-hour film 'River of Fundament, was created over 7 years (2006 to 2014), and premiered at the Bavarian State Opera, and at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

He has taught as professor and artist in residence at such places as the Munich Academy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design, and the University of Arts and Design Offenbach.

Installations Automation of Accidental Gestures, sound and sculpture installation with Sue Rees (with guest performers including Fred Lomberg-Holm, Jennifer Monson, Tom Goralnik, and Dan Froot) in New York and Miami, 1992–95 Source to Sound, sound installation, 1993 On Balance, multi-channel audio installation. MoMA PS1, New York, 2000 The Order, Performance installation for the Cremaster cycle exhibition at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 2003 Double quartet for: together again for the first time, video and sound installation. New York, 2005 Dances for Broken Ensemble, video and sound installation. Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center, 2007 Curtain Callers, video and sound installation with Ann-Sofi Siden. Royal Dramatic Theater, Stockholm 2012

Compositions Innana, dance-opera (with Christina Svane), 1987 The Great Belzoni, cabaret-opera, 1990 Keep Your Hands Off, chamber music for piano, saxophone, cello, bass, guitar and drums, 1997 Primary Orifice for the Glenn Branca Ensemble, 1998 Cremaster 5, Budapest Philharmonic, Adrienne Csengery, soprano in film by Matthew Barney. Budapest, 1993 Ruins, video opera project. Tokyo, 1999 Cremaster 2, Music for film by Matthew Barney. Utah and NY, 1999 S, music for the dance drama by Sasha Waltz. Berlin, 2000 Cremaster 3, Music for film by Matthew Barney. New York, 2002 Transient Symphony: Oratorio for Hillside and Valley, mobile sound track for the Echigo-Tsumari Art Trienniale. Japan, 2003 The Rape of the Sabine Women, video opera project with Eve Sussman. Greece and New York, 2005 Gezeiten, music for the dance drama by Sasha Waltz. Berlin, 2005 Fascia, concert piece for orchestra, children's choir, opera soloists and foley artists. Ensemble Modern. Frankfurt, 2006 Aliens, score for Dance by Luc Dunberry. Grand Theatre Luxembourg, 2008 Les Assistantes, collaboration with choreographer Jennifer Lacey. Paris and Montpellier, 2008 REN Los Angeles, Drum and Bugle Corps, Choir, Mariachi Divas featuring Lila Downs. Site specific performance by Matthew Barney and Jonathan Bepler. Los Angeles, 2008 Jimmy, concert piece for Guitar, Trombone, Viola, Accordion, 2009 Same Unknown, sound score for 9 channel video installation by Ann-Sofi Siden. 2009 Guardian of the Veil, chamber orchestra, marching snares, baglamas, suonas, featuring the Basel Sinfonietta. Theater Basel, 2009 KHU Detroit, operatic multi-site Performance in collaboration with Matthew Barney. Detroit, 2010 Tool is Loot, Trombones, strings, woodwinds, percussion, singer (Bepler). score for Dance with Jennifer Lacey and Wally Cardona. The Kitchen, NYC. 2011 BA New York, 300 voices, Banjo ensemble, String ensemble. performance in collaboration with Matthew Barney. Brooklyn Navy Yard Dry docks, 2013 Divided Chamber Music, for strings, brass, choirs and bodies. Zeche Zollverein, Essen, Germany, 2014 Within Between, live score for dance by John Jasperse. 6 channel sound. NYLA, NYC, 2014 River of Fundament, 6-hour work with many musical ensembles. Operatic film by Matthew Barney and Jonathan Bepler. Munich and NYC, 2014 Ca Va Bien, Mayakovsky, 5 movements for orchestra and vocal soloists. Orchestra and Choir of Radio France, Paris, 2017 Redoubt, score for film by Matthew Barney, 2018

Discography Masterpieces of Fantasy, 1997 Music for Cremaster 5, Original Soundtrack Recording, 1998 Alternative Schubertiade (Anthology), 1999 Music for Cremaster 2, 1999 State of the Union (Anthology), 2001 The Order, 2002 Music for Cremaster 3, 2002 Transient Symphony, 2003