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Mark Alburger is an eclectic American composer of postminimal, postpopular, and postcomedic sensibilities. He played oboe in Philadelphia and Delaware County Youth Orchestras (the latter in association with George Crumb, Richard Wernick, and George Rochberg), and studied composition with Karl Kohn (Pomona College, 1978); Gerald Levinson and Joan Panetti (Swarthmore College, B.A., 1979); Thomas Wubbenhorst (Weber State University, 1983); Jules Langert (Dominican University of California, M.A., 1991); Roland Jackson, Thomas Flaherty, and Christopher Yavelow (Claremont Graduate University, Ph.D., 1996); and Terry Riley (1997-1999).
Mark Alburger is Founder and Music Director of San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra (SFCCO), Music Director and Resident Composer of San Francisco Cabaret Opera / Goat Hall Productions (SFCCO/GHP), Editor-Publisher of 21st-Century Music Journal, and Music Critic for Commuter Times and San Francisco Classical Voice.
Mark Alburger has taught Music Composition, History, and Theory at Philips Academy Andover (1979-1980), Westtown School (1983-1986), Marin Academy (1986-1990), Dominican (1992-1997), Diablo Valley College (2002-present), and St. Mary's College of California (Visiting Lecturer, 2009-2010).
Among his 187 opus numbers (often troped after Medieval/Renaissance practices on pre-existing works ranging from ancient Chinese sources to the musics of Igor Stravinsky, Crumb, and Philip Glass) may be counted 16 concerti, 23 operas, 31 song cycles, 9 symphonies, and a ten-hour work-in-progress on The Bible. Other notable works include The Twelve Fingers, Diocletian, Mary Variations (on Mary Had a Little Lamb), The Pied Piper of Hamelin, The Playboy of the Western World, The Vespers of 2010 (in homage to the 400th anniversary of the Claudio Monteverdi setting), and Sex and the Bible: The Opera (Part I). His Job: A Masque was recently revived in San Francisco, and he is presently writing his way through The Book of Psalms.
In addition to regular performances with SFCCO and SFCO/GHP, Mark Alburger's compositions have been presented across the USA by such organizations as The American Composers Forum, The Annie Wright School (Washington), Berkeley Store Gallery, Ernest Bloch Music Festival (Oregon), Boxcar Theatre, California State University Stanislaus, Chapel of the Chimes, Christ and St. Stephens Church (New York), College Music Society, College of Marin, Foothill College Radio, Ilona Duo, Left Coast Ensemble, Music Next Millenium, National Association of Composers U.S.A., The Next Stage, Noe Valley Ministry, Noh Space, North/South Consonance Orchestra, Northwestern State University (Louisiana), NOW Music Festival, Oakland Metro Opera, Old First Concerts, Opus 415 Marathon, Onyx Quartet, Orchestra 2001, Palo Alto Cultural Center, Pacifica TV, Pacific Sticks, Potrero Hill Neighborhood House Theatre, Las Pulgas School, Sacramento State College, San Francisco Community Music Center, San Francisco Conservatory, San Jose Choral Project, San Jose State Univeristy, Scola Cantorum, Sounds New Ensemble, Star Classics Recital Hall, The Surrey School (Maine), Susan Hess Dance (Philadelphia), Thick House Theatre, Tuolumne Brass, 20th-Century Forum, Venue 9, The Western Springs Music Club (Chicago), Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and Z Space.
His YouTube channel (DrMarkAlburger) includes more than 400 music videos of his work, and has received hits from around the world - notably from Australia, Brazil, England, India, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. His videos have also been featured on All TV Downloads, AOL Video, Apni Community, Cha Cha, CineBasti, Cine Duck Video, Desi Shock Videos, Domotica, Download Video, Encyclopedia.com, Find4Real, FormAsk, FullSongs.Net, Go Song, Historic River Cities, Holy Tube, Holy YouTube Religion-Based Videos, Lyrics AZ, Moving Space Productions / Lady Tenenbaum, MP3 Downloads, MP3-Find, MP3DL, Music Sense, Musipedia, Next Gossip, One Pakistan Videos, Online Free Videos, Online Television, Otimo Videos, Portal de Misterios, Prismotube, RB Video Search, Sea Flog, Siteo Web Professional, Songs RS, Supermarket, Tube Home, Tube Sense, Veengle, Video Search 24, Vid Surf, Video Surf, Watch Crash Demented Videos, Watch 2 Videos, Witty Sparks, World News, Yidio, and YouTube Dish. Alburger's works have been recorded on the North/South Consonance, New Music, and I Kill Me Music labels.
Mark Alburger has received a number of awards from ASCAP, Meet the Composer, and Theatre Bay Area; and grants from the Getty, William and Flora Hewlett, Marra, MetLife, and Zellerbach Family Foundations.
As Editor-Publisher of 21st-Century Music monthly journal (first published as 20th-Century Music from 1994-1999), he has interviewed many composers, including Charles Amirkhanian, Lisa Bielawa, Henry Brant, Earle Brown, Crumb, Andrew Culver, Anthony Davis, Paul Dresher, Dean Drummond, Jim Fox, Glass, Ali Akbar Khan, Joan La Barbara, Steve Mackey, Tod Machover, Meredith Monk, Pauline Oliveros, Steve Reich, Riley, "Blue" Gene Tyranny, Melinda Wagner, Erling Wold, Christian Wolff, and Pamela Z.
Mark Alburger has recently been commissioned to update the Philip Glass article for the second edition of The New Grove American Dictionary of Music, and write new articles on American Baroque, Cold Blue, Jim Fox, Mona Lyn Reese, Belinda Reynolds, Alex Shapiro, Andrew Shapiro, Wagner, William Winant, and Wold.
Mark Alburger's parents are George and Elizabeth Alburger, artists and journalists of the Philadelphia area. His sister Sorrel Ann is a New York performance artist. He was married to Carolyn Alburger from 1983 to 1999; their daughter Crystal is a recent double-major summa cum laude graduate of Beloit College. Alburger resides in the San Francisco Bay Area with his partner of eleven years, Harriet March Page - mezzo-soprano, and Founder and Artistic Director of San Francisco Cabaret Opera / Goat Hall Productions. |
