Dennis Bathory-Kitsz
From NetNewMusic Wiki
Dennis Bathory-Kitsz was born in 1949 and lived in New Jersey (US) until 1978, when he moved to Vermont. His wife is midwife/artist Stevie Balch (http://argentumfugit.com/).
The homepage is http://maltedmedia.com/bathory/
Official biography (June 2006):
Dennis Báthory-Kitsz is one of America's most diverse composers. He has made work for sound sculptures, soloists, tape & electronics, stage shows, orchestras, dancers, interactive multimedia, acoustic installations, and performance events. He directs Il Gruppo Nuke Jitters, and has been commissioned more than 80 times.
His music ranges widely: He helped initiate the chamber opera resurgence with Plasm over ocean at the World Trade Center in 1977 (http://maltedmedia.com/bathory/plasm/), using instruments of his own design; he presented the solo interactive performance work Echo (http://maltedmedia.com/bathory/echo/) with handmade instruments and sound sculptures (http://maltedmedia.com/bathory/instruments.html) and computers in Vermont in 1985; In Bocca al Lupo (http://maltedmedia.com/bathory/bocca/), an early artistic creation for quasi-intelligent systems, opened in Montana's Yellowstone Art Center in 1986; the Vermont outdoor installation Traveler's Rest (http://maltedmedia.com/bathory/wolf5/) was a 1991 collaboration with sculptor Fernanda D'Agostino; in 1999, he was the first American composer commissioned for Prague's legendary Mánes Museum, conducting Zonule Glaes II for string quartet & electronic playback; a full concert exploring his music was held at Amsterdam's Zaal 100 in 2003; his techno-overture Icecut was premiered by the Vermont Symphony Orchestra in 2004; and in 2005, he was honored by a concert of premieres at De Rode Pomp in Ghent.
Dennis is working on the vampire opera Erzsébet (http://bathory.org/), to appear at Cséjthe Castle in Slovakia, and on commissions for Su Lian Tan, Martin Cikánek, Ed Epstein, James Pellerite and others.
Recent commissions are Yer Attention, Please for organ (Carson Cooman); Cíglerania for solo horn (Petr Cígler); Shahmat for solo flute (Su Lian Tan); LiquidBirds for three Theremins and video (FlynnSpace); NorthSea Balletic Spicebush for solo contrabass (P. Kellach Waddle); Bales, Barrels & Cones for drumkit and playback (Michael Manion); Phylum Euphoria for euphonium and playback (Jiri van der Kaay); and Sing to Me, an opera scene (Discovery Channel). Among his recordings are Csárdás (Ursa Minor), Detritus of Mating (Sistrum), zéyu, quânh & sweeh (Frog Peak), iskajtbrz (UnLimit), The Warbler’s Garden (Capstone), and Snare:Wilding (PressTheButton). His music is published by The Westleaf Edition (http://westleaf.org/).
He has advocated for contemporary nonpop music for 30 years, from his co-founding of the Trans/Media arts cooperative (http://transmedia-arts.com/) in 1973 through his 10 years as co-host of the radio/cyber show Kalvos & Damian’s New Music Bazaar (http://kalvos.org/), which won the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award in 2000. He has been project director for festivals from the 1974 Delaware Valley Festival of the Avant-Garde through the 2001 Ought-One Festival of NonPop (http://ought-one.com/), and co-founded the NonPop International Network (http://nonpopradio.com/) of new music shows.
Dennis plans to compose 365 compositions in 2007 in a project called "We Are All Mozart" (http://maltedmedia.com/bathory/365-2007.html).
Dennis speaks and writes about music and composition; is Senior Editor for The Transitive Empire (http://maltedmedia.com/empire/); is co-founder of OrbitAccess (http://orbitaccess.com/), evaluating website usability; and is Executive Director of the Vermont Alliance of Independent Country Stores (http://vaics.org/). Dennis's virtual home is at maltedmedia.com and he lives in Northfield, Vermont.
