Jason Eckardt

Jason Eckardt (born 17 May 1971 in Princeton, New Jersey) is an American composer. He began his musical life playing guitar in heavy metal and jazz bands and abruptly moved to composing after discovering the music of Anton Webern. Compositions Atonal and microtonal harmony, intricate rhythms, highly polyphonic textures and large-scale transformational processes are prevalent in Eckardt’s compositions. Allan Kozinn of The New York Times wrote that Eckardt’s music “celebrates harmonic prickliness, rhythmic complexity and a density of ideas”. Though Eckardt has been associated with the New Complexity movement, he is also influenced by American composers Milton Babbitt and Elliott Carter. Major works include Passage (2018) for string quartet, After Serra (2000) for chamber ensemble, Tongues (2001) for soprano and chamber ensemble, Reul na Coille (2002) for percussion and orchestra, Trespass (2005) for piano and chamber orchestra and the Undersong cycle (2002–2008), a series of four chamber works (A way tracing , 16, Aperture, The Distance (This)) that, when played together without pause, form a concert-length supercomposition. Some of Eckardt’s compositions are inspired by extramusical