Search - Marc Mellits, Real Quiet :: Tight Sweater: Real Quiet Plays the Music of Marc Mellits

Marc Mellits was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1966. He was already composing piano music before he started formal piano lessons at age six. He went on to study at the Eastman School of Music, Yale School of Music, Cornell University, and Tanglewood. His composition teachers during this period included Samuel Adler, Martin Bresnick, Bernard Rands, Christopher Rouse, Joseph Schwantner, Roberto Sierra, and Steven Stucky, yet one hears other influences in Mellits? music. The sound worlds of Steve Reich (whom Mellits considers a mentor) and Philip Glass resonate inside of this music, not to mention the rock and funk music from his childhood in the seventies. Mellits is a miniaturist, composing works that are comprised of short, contrasting movements. His music is eclectic, all-encompassing, and open to reflecting whatever enters his life and mind during the period of creation. Just recently, he was awarded the prestigious 2004 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Award. Although this recording is the first dedicated completely to his music, other Mellits works can be heard on Santa Fe New Music and CRI/Emergency Music. Real Quiet is a three-man band dedicated to creating an exclusive repertoire of hard-edged acoustic and electro-acoustic music by today?s leading composers. Tight Sweater was written in 2005 for Real Quiet on a commission from the Muzik3 Foundation. Fruity Pebbles, the earliest work represented on this album, established Mellits?s reputation as "the witty post-minimalist." Like many of the post-minimalist composers, Mellits has found a way to use minimalist techniques without relying on them entirely. Agu was written in 2004 for Andrew Russo on a commission from the James S. Marcus Foundation. Disciples of Gouda was written in 2003 on a joint commission from the Common Sense Composers Collective and Essential Music.