Chris Cresswell

Biography

Room tone. Radio static. Sampled ephemera, field recordings and no input mixers. Chris Cresswell is a composer and sound artist who builds his musical worlds out of sonic artifacts and cultural refuse.

With a practice equally rooted in his classical compositional training, his experience as a singer/songwriter and his use of the recording studio as a creative sandbox, Cresswell’s music has been described by PopMatters as, alternately, “truly immersive, dreamlike” and an “eloquent, barely controlled nightmare.” It has been praised for its “unworldly atmosphere” (Vital Weekly) and “textural variety” (Gramophone) that “blurs the boundaries between industrial and organic, soothing and suspenseful, and introspective and anxious” (International Clarinet Association).

Having picked up his first guitar at the age of 13, Cresswell continues to perform as a singer/songwriter, guitarist, singer and narrator. He currently works as an adjunct at Syracuse University and Onondaga Community College and as a teaching artist with his One Mic Project, a songwriting and recording program. Cresswell is the host of “A Curious Ear,” a monthly radio program on WCNY-FM that explores the unlikely connections between disparate musical worlds. He is a contributing writer to Syracuse.com, where he reviews local and national music acts.

A graduate of Syracuse University and the Birmingham Conservatoire, Cresswell is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in music composition at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. When not doing musical things, he can be found running the streets and trails of Central New York, watching St. Louis Cardinals baseball or Syracuse basketball, and spending time with his wife Amber and their adorable kitty, Eloise.

Education

• Ph.D. (In Progress), Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
• M.M., Birmingham Conservatoire
• B.M., Syracuse University