Biography
Augustus Arnone | Biography
Augustus Arnone is an adventurous pianist who has made a home at the edge of transcendental extremes in the modern repertory. His repertoire includes the complete works for solo piano by Milton Babbitt, Michael Finnissy's complete monumental eleven movement piano cycle, "The History Of Photography In Sound," as well as works by Cage, Xenakis, Stockhausen, Rzewski, Carter, Nono, Lucier, Feldman, Martino, Rakowski, Sierra, Campion and Eckardt. Composers who have written for him include Michael Finnissy, Robert Morris, Christopher Bailey, Yotam Haber, Elizabeth Hoffman, Jeff Snyder, Michael Klingbeil, Elizabeth Adams, Lou Bunk, Spencer Topel, and more. A stalwart champion of the ever controversial Babbitt, Mr. Arnone performed the composer's complete solo piano music on two occasions, first in 2008 at Merkin Concert Hall, New York City, and again in 2016, in honor of the centenary of Babbitt's birth year. He is currently recording the cycle for commercial release. Mr. Arnone has been presented at venues throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn including Merkin Concert Hall, the Issue Project Room, Roulette Concert Space, the cell, the Firehouse Space, Spectrum, and the Greenwich Music House.
Driven to a large extent by the writings of Marshall McLuhan, Mr. Arnone began the Collide-O-Scope Music series of collaborative concerts in the Spring of 2010 along with composers Stephen Gorbos and Christopher Bailey. The fundamental artistic directive behind these concerts was the simultaneous combination of numerous diverse media forms, both visual and aural, electronic and acoustic. Now in its Fifteenth Season, the Collide-O-Scope Music concerts, besides featuring cutting-edge ambitious repertoire, have remained experimental and perceptually challenging, mingling the old with the new, and fixed compositional forms with improvisation and musique concrète. Collide-O-Scope Music's debut album, "Eidos," featuring music by Jason Eckardt, Robert Morris, Lou Bunk, and Yotam Haber, is now available for purchase at BandCamp.
Mr. Arnone completed his doctoral studies at Cornell University where he studied historical performance practice with Malcolm Bilson. During that time, he presented recitals using period instruments spanning the entire history of the piano, from eighteenth-century five-octave pianos to mid-nineteenth-century precursors to the modern piano. In addition, he was active as a musicologist, focusing research on the music of Brahms and the performing culture of the mid-to-late-nineteenth century. This led to the publication of two articles as well as lecture-presentations at a number of universities, and at the national meeting of the American Musicological Society. Mr. Arnone holds degrees from the Boston Conservatory, the University of Michigan, and a Doctorate in Musical Arts from Cornell University. Principal teachers include Malcolm Bilson, Marilyn Nonken, Jonathan Bass, Logan Skelton, Penelope Crawford, and William Heiles.
Mr. Arnone is also an expert piano technician servicing pianos in Central NJ since 2011. For more information or to make an appointment visit augustusarnone.com/pt.html
Collide-O-Scope Music
Augustus Arnone serves as Executive Artistic Director of Collide-O-Scope Music, a contemporary music collective that he founded in 2009. The group has been presented at some of the premiere contemporary music venues in New York City, including The Issue Project Room, Symphony Space, Roulette Concert Space, The Cell, and more. Now in its Fifteenth Season, the group has offered an eclectic mix of newly composed works and essential classics from the modern repertory. http://www.collidemus.com
