Craig R. Harris

718 6th Street SE
Minneapolis MN 55414-1318
Telephone: (612) 272-2220
Fax: (612) 362-0097
Email: craig@kolmon.com

Education

Nautilus Music Theater Composer-Librettist Studio (1997)
Ph.D. Music Composition: Eastman School of Music (1986)
Master of Music Composition: Eastman School of Music (1983)
Bachelor of Music Composition: University of Toronto (1976)

Commissions

• Five Books – First Series, multimedia oratorio commissioned by the Sabes JCC Center for Jewish Arts and Humanities (2008)
• Sleeping Beauty, full length ballet for piano, voices and electronic soundscape commissioned by Ballet of the Dolls (2003)
• The Red Shoes, full length ballet for piano, violin and electronic soundscape commissioned by Ballet of the Dolls (2001, revised 2002)
• Leonardo Live, multimedia performance work for voice, live sampling and electronics, commissioned by the Science Museum of Minnesota and the Walker Art Center (2000)
• The Hill Has Something to Say, for soprano, piano & amphora, commissioned by soprano Renée Fleming and underwritten by the American Composers Forum, with funds provided by the Jerome Foundation, and by the Hanson Institute for American Music (2000)

Selected Performances and Collaborations

Concert and Music Theater Works

• Why We Laugh, adaptation and composition for a play and revived holocaust era cabaret work for performance at two festivals in the Czech Republic: the Nine Gates Festival of Czech-German-Jewish Culture in Prague, and the Rafael Schachter Institute for Arts and Humanities at Terezin (2011)
• Pearl Speaks, performance work for voice and electronic soundscape (1993)
• inDelicate Balance, composition for digital soundtracks and live electronics, performed at the International Symposium on Electronic Arts (1993)
• Cage’s Cages, for digital sampler – John Cage Memorial Festival (1993 & 1994)
• Threshold, for chamber ensemble and electronic soundscape (1983)

Multimedia Projects

• Making Light in Terezin – music for documentary video about the making of "Why We Laugh," and the story about theater in the Terezin holocaust-era ghetto (2012)
• The Playwrights’ Center Video Trailers – music for innovative web and DVD play trailer project, produced by the Playwrights’ Center (2009)
• Elastic Soliton – music for narrative video installation by Joan Truckenbrod for the Sculpture Invasion Exhibition at the Koehnline Museum of Art, Oakton Community College (2007)
• Genomics – music for University of Minnesota DVD documentary, Rick Hauser, Producer (2002)
• From Beyond – music for documentary video about the UFO experience (1996)
• Galileo’s First Glimpse, music video with visual artist Lorren Stafford (1995)
• Threshold, video version with visual artists Beth Gafarian and Pat Byrne (1986)

Sound Design and Installations

• Tzedakah Box II – multimedia installation with sculpture by Candy Kuehn for the Sabes JCC Shapiro Tychman Gallery Uncommon Visions exhibition (2011)
• Sound design for dance-theater company Ballet of the Dolls – approximately 25 performances and special events, including Nutcracker (not so) Suite, Enchanted Night, Cinderella, Night of the Living Dolls, A Night at the Club Confidential and Cameraderie Cabaret (1999-2006)
• Charity Box – multimedia installation with sculpture by Candy Kuehn for the ACM Multimedia Art Exhibition (1994)
• Transgenic Bagel – music for interactive computer installation with visual artist Sonya Rappaport (1994)
• A Sharing Place – an interactive meditation environment for the Gutter Festival in San Francisco (1993)

Selected Papers and Publications

"Art and Innovation - the Xerox PARC Artist-in-Residence Program," The MIT Press, edited by Craig Harris (1999)
"Configurable Space XIII – Creativity and Communication," Proceedings of the 1995 Brazilian Symposium on Computer Graphics and Image Processing (1995)
"Computer Music in Context," Contemporary Music Review, Harwood Academic Press, London, England (Volume 13, Part 2), edited by Craig Harris (1996)
"Configuring Hospitable Space - Fantasy and Fantastic Media," Contemporary Music Review, Harwood Academic Press, London, England (Volume 13, Part 2, edited by Craig Harris) (1992)
"The Leonardo Almanac: International Resources in Art, Science and Technology,” The MIT Press, edited by Craig Harris (1993)
"Artistic Necessity, Context Orientation, Configurable Space,” Companion to Contemporary Musical Thought (London and New York: Routledge), Paynter, Howell, Orton and Seymour, ed., chapter 22 (1992)

Work Experience

Composition

Composer & Music Director – the Playwrights' Center (2010)
Guest Composer – Eastman School of Music Computer Music Center, 25th Anniversary Concert Series (2007); School of Music at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil (1995); Center for Art, Media, and Technology in Utrecht, Holland (1988)
Composer in the Schools – Minneapolis Public Schools: projects at Marcy Open School, Jefferson Public School & Whittier Public School (1996-2001)
Creative Residencies – The Banff Center for the Arts (1986 & 1988)

Non-Profit Arts Administration

Interim Director of The Playwrights’ Center (2010); Managing Director of The Playwrights’ Center (2007 - 2009); Executive Director of The Ritz Theater Foundation (2004 – 2007); Executive Director of Ballet of the Dolls, Inc. (1999 – 2007); Executive Director of Leonardo, the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology (ISAST) (1991-1993); President of the International Computer Music Association (1985-1989)

Current Community Service

Caponi Art Park and Learning Center, Board of Directors President; Open Eye Figure Theatre, Board of Directors