biography

Virgil Moorefield is a composer, intermedia artist, drummer. and author. CDs of his composer-led ensembles include "No Business As Usual", published together with a DVD, "Five Ideas About the Relation of Sight and Sound (Hinterzimmer, 2013); "Things You Must Do to Get to Heaven" (Innova, 2007), "The Temperature in Hell is Over 3,000 Degrees" (Tzadik, 1997), and "Distractions On the Way To the King's Party" (Cuneiform, 1994). The Virgil Moorefield Bicontinental Pocket Orchestra has performed thourghout Europe and the U.S., including the Inventing America Festival at London's Barbican Hall, and the Bang on a Can Marathon at Lincoln Center. Moorefield's concert-length intermedia work, "Five Ideas About the Relation of Sight and Sound" (2008-2011), has been presented at festivals in the United States, Canada, Ireland, and Chile, and performed in concerts in Berlin and New York City, among others. A collaborative intermedia work, "Chicago Union Station" (2004), has been shown around the world. His work has received support from the Rockefeller Foundation, Commissioning Music USA, and the National Endowment for the Arts, among others. Moorefield's commissions include the Bang On A Can All-Stars, New Music Detroit, and Tage für Neue Musik, Zürich. His orchestral work "Blanqui" was performed by the Orchestra of the S.E.M. Ensemble in Brooklyn.

His book, "The Producer As Composer" (2005; paperback, 2010), is published by MIT Press. As a drummer, Moorefield has worked with numerous rock and avantgarde artists, including Glenn Branca, Swans, Bill Laswell, Elliott Sharp, and Damage.

Moorefield received an M.F.A. and a Ph.D. in composition from Princeton University. He also holds an M.A. and a B.A. in Comparative Literature from Columbia University, and studied at the Juilliard School. He was formerly an Assistant Professor of Music at Northwestern University and an Associate Professor of Music at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Moorefield lives and works near Zürich, Switzerland.