Bryce Dessner

The artistic career of the American composer BRYCE DESSNER is impressive. He is being defined as is a vital and rare force in new music. Born on April 23, 1976, he grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio with his twin brother Aaron, a famous musician, performer and composer. Dessner attended high school at Cincinnati Country Day School and graduated in 1994, after which he got an MA from the Yale. He has won Grammy Awards as a classical composer and with the band The National, of which he is founding member, guitarist, arranger, and co-principal songwriter. Dessner's twin brother Aaron is also a member of the group. Together they write the music, in collaboration with lead singer / lyricist Matt Berninger. Dessner collaborates with some of today’s most creative and respected artists, including Philip Glass and Steve Reich, who named Dessner “a major voice of his generation”, Katia and Marielle Labèque, Paul Simon, the Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu, to name a few. Dessner’s orchestrations can be heard on the latest albums of Paul Simon, Bon Iver and Taylor Swift. Dessner's compositions draw on elements from Baroque and folk music, late Romanticism and modernism, as well as minimalism. Major works include Concerto for Two Pianos premiered by Katia & Marielle Labèque, London Philharmonic Orchestra and recorded for Deutsche Grammophon; Violin Concerto premiered and performed internationally by Pekka Kuusisto, Trombone Concerto for Jorgen van Rijen commissioned by Dallas Symphony and l’Orchestre National d’Île de France; Voy a Dormir for mezzo soprano Kelley O’Connor and Orchestra of Saint Luke’s and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra; Skrik Trio for Steve Reich and Carnegie Hall; the ballet No Tomorrow co-written with Ragnar Kjartansson; “Raphael“ for two electric guitars and large ensemble performed by “Intercontemporain“; The Forest for large cello ensemble, etc. Dessner also scored the music - involving full orchestra and a 200-member choir - for the Louis Vuitton show at the Louvre in Paris as part of Paris Fashion Week 2020. He is a high-profile presence in film score composition, for which he was Grammy and Golden Globe nominated. Dessner’s other film score credits include The Two Popes, which won Discovery of the Year at the World Soundtrack awards; C’mon C’mon (2021) directed by Mike Mills and Cyrano (2021), the major musical by Joe Wright (the music in it being a joint project of the Dressner brothers). Bryce Dessner lives in Paris and composes more and more actively for major European ensembles and soloists.