Wayne Siegel: biography

Wayne Siegel (Los Angeles, California, USA, 1953)
• residence: Aarhus, Denmark
• composer

He has resided in Denmark since 1974. He studied composition at the University of California at Santa Barbara and at The Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus. In 1978, he received a three-year grant from the Danish Arts Foundation and worked as a free-lance composer in the years that followed. In 1986, he was appointed director of DIEM, the Danish national center for electroacoustic music in Aarhus. He was chairman of the 19th International Computer Music Conference (ICMC 1994) in Aarhus.

Siegel has written music in many genres ranging from solo works with live electronics to orchestral pieces. Important influences include American folk music, avant-garde rock and minimalism. In recent years he has explored the possibilities of interactive dance, where the dancer’s movements control the music. His music has been performed around the world. Major commissions include works for the Kronos Quartet, Singcircle, Harry Sparnaay, Evelyn Glenny and the two-hour science fiction electronic and acoustic opera, Livstegn (Signs of Life) for the Danish Music Theatre.