Artist description William Susman scores music for Film and Television. His music has been featured on PBS, The Discovery Channel, The Travel Channel, at film festivals, and numerous documentaries. His concert works receive frequent performances worldwide at such festivals as the Aspen Music Festival and the Gaudeamus Festival in Amsterdam. “I like the challenge of creating a broad range of emotion with a smaller palette of one or two instruments, or with the entire color spectrum of a symphony orchestra.” He notes that much of the uniqueness of a score or sound is the instruments you choose. “I like to create unusual combinations of world, pop, and classical instruments. I like the challenge of creating a broad range of emotion with a smaller palette of one or two instruments, or with the entire color spectrum of a symphony orchestra.

Music Style A melange of classical, jazz and latin influences

Musical Influences Jazz, Minimalism, Aleatoric, Afro-Cuban

Similar Artists Ennio Morricone, Glass, Jerry Goldsmith, Xenakis

Artist History William Susman brings to scoring a diversity and depth of work. An award-winning composer with national and international recognition, William has a solid grounding and comprehensive training in two powerful musical traditions -- the rigor and formal training of classical music and the improvisational freedom of jazz. He has scored nine films. Daydream Believer, Alaska’s Arctic Wildlife for the Discovery Channel; Indonesia and The Philippines for The Travel Channel; Southern African Safari, Discovering the Amazon and the Andes, Discovering Tropical Australia, The Elephant Seals of Año Nuevo, Catalysis: Technology for a Clean Environment for Rand McNally. Indonesia and The Philippines are available at Hollywood Video nationwide. A native of Chicago, William was raised on both jazz and classical piano, studying with some of Chicago’s leading jazz musicians including Alan Swain, Willie Pickens (pianist w/Sonny Stitt and Clifford Jordan) and Steve Behr (pianist w/Louis Armstrong). He led his own jazz combos by age 13, and appeared at the Ravinia Festival at 15 with his own quintet. William studied composition at the University of Illinois with Herbert Brun, Ben Johnston and Salvatore Martirano, and subsequently accepted a graduate fellowship from John Chowning at Stanford University at the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA). Further studies in computer-generated sound led to work in Paris at IRCAM, the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique. He studied film/TV scoring at BMI’s Composer Workshop with renowned television composer Earle Hagen (I Spy, Andy Griffith, Dick Van Dyke, Mod Squad.) Having composed more than 40 works for orchestra, chamber ensemble, string quartet, and soloists, half of which have been performed worldwide, William is also an accomplished jazz pianist and performs regularly with his own group. His orchestral works have been performed at such prestigious music festivals as the Aspen Music Festival, the Los Angeles Bach Festival, the American Microtonal Music Festival in New York, the Festival of Alicante in Spain, and the Gaudeamus Festival in Amsterdam.

Group Members William Susman composes, conducts, and orchestrates all his music. On many works he also performs on piano and keyboards.

Instruments Piano

Albums Music for Film & TV

Press Reviews Allan Kozinn of The New York Times writes...[The Harrington String Quartet] gave a vivid impression of the turbulent, watery imagery of William Susman’s “Streams,” a swirling, rich-textured microtonal work. Mark Alburger of 20th-Century Music writes...William Susman’s “Six Minutes and Thirty Seconds” ... sparkling...an essay of spirit and grace...sinuous lines in the French horn and bassoon. Mark Alburger of 20th-Century Music writes...Susman’s “The Starry Dynamo,”...progressive...sweetly dissonant...the hippest and most arresting music...Plain ol’ fun...a music for the 90s clearly enjoyed by players and audience alike.

Location Palo Alto, CA - USA

Copyright notice. All material on MP3.com is protected by copyright law and by international treaties. You may download this material and make reasonable number of copies of this material only for your own personal use. You may not otherwise reproduce, distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, or create derivative works of this material, unless authorized by the appropriate copyright owner(s).