Faculty

Profile

Composer/pianist Kirk Nurock orchestrated for Dizzy Gillespie, Leonard Bernstein and Meredith Monk, conducted a work for 2O voices and 3 canines at Carnegie Hall, and won a scholarship at age 16, awarded by Duke Ellington.  A child prodigy, Nurock [b.1948] sat in with the likes of Chet Baker, Sonny Stitt and Phil Woods.  In 1971, he founded the Natural Sound Workshop, dedicated to exploring the myriad sounds of untrained voices.  A video documentary, “Animalsong,” chronicles his compositions for chorus and the animals of the Bronx Zoo. His works have been performed by Clark Terry, Eddie Gomez, Jane Ira Bloom, Frank Foster, Rufus Reid, Theo Bleckmann, Janis Siegel and Miles Griffith.  His first solo record was produced by New School Jazz founder, Arnie Lawrence.  Nurock has been interviewed by Studs Terkel, published by Schirmer's, recorded on Columbia Masterworks, Impulse and Tzadik, was professor at Berlin's Hochschule der Künste, board member of Meet The Composer and broadcast on NBC, PBS and Bravo.  He holds a Masters's degree in composition from Juilliard.  Keyboard Magazine called him “joyously iconoclastic” and the New York Times wrote, “Mr. Nurock has unique credentials.”   Visit www.kirknurock.com