Michael Coyle (American Composer)

:"See also Michael Coyle (politician) for the Irish nationalist."

Michael Patrick Coyle (born May 2, 1957) is an American composer.

Coyle was born in Easton, Pennsylvania. He studied at the Eastman School of Music, the New England Conservatory of Music, and the University of Minnesota.cite web
title = Member Bio: Michael P. Coyle
publisher = American Composers Forum
date = July 2005
url = http://www.composersforum.org/member_profile.cfm?oid=5648
accessdate = 2007-07-14]

Coyle's work is often performed at concerts produced by the American Composers Forum in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has held past positions as music director for the Cottage Marionette Theater in New York, and composer-in-residence for the Manhattan Performance Group. Coyle's works have been featured on television and stage and in art installations in New York City, Madison, Wisconsin, and Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Coyle has an avid interest in science and material experimentation and in the mid-1980s accepted a position as Production Manager for McHugh-Rollins Associates, a properties and special effects design firm in New York City. While in that position he oversaw the special effects production of such large Broadway shows as Phantom of the Opera and Les Misérables and implemented the effects for Ingmar Bergman's production of Hamlet at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, as well as many other stage productions and films.

Coyle currently resides in Minneapolis, where, in addition to his work as a composer and arranger, he occasionally performs on the piano and trombone.

Style

Coyle writes music influenced by minimalism and the American avant-garde tradition of the 1950s and 1960s. He frequently uses techniques involving a combination of highly static elements with elements that have little or no repetition.Quoted from the composer's comments during a question and answer session at the American Composer's Forum concert October 17, 2006] One of the best examples of this technique is his work "Intervals I", which maintains a static rhythmic pattern while the harmonic configuration changes, sometimes subtly, sometimes radically, with each iteration. It is largely the harmonic complexity of Coyle's music that distinguishes it from traditional minimalism.

Recent Works

* "DX" - for viola, clarinet, trombone, string bass, and percussion
* "Intervals I" - for small wind ensemble, piano, and percussion
* "Intervals II" - for piano, violin, and viola
* "Small Village Large Tree" - for chamber orchestra
* "Bruckneurosis" - for large orchestra
* "The Barking Wizards of Middleview" - for chamber orchestra
* "Trio for violin, viola, and piano"

Contact and More Information

American Composers Forum Bio Page [http://www.composersforum.org/member_profile.cfm?oid=5648]

References