Randall Woolf (born August 23, 1959) is an American composer known for his diverse contemporary works for chamber orchestra, chamber ensembles, and solo players, often combined with digital audio, turntables, and video. He studied composition privately with

David Del Tredici David Walter Del Tredici (born March 16, 1937) is an American composer. He has won a Pulitzer Prize for Music and is a former Guggenheim and Woodrow Wilson fellow. Del Tredici is considered a pioneer of the Neo-Romantic movement. He has also bee ...

and Joseph Maneri, and at Harvard, where he earned a Ph.D. He is a member of the Common Sense Composers Collective. He is composer-mentor of the

Brooklyn Philharmonic There have been several organisations referred to as the Brooklyn Philharmonic. The most recent one was the now-defunct Brooklyn Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, an American orchestra based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, in existence fr ...

. In 1997, he composed a ballet version of ''

Where the Wild Things Are ''Where the Wild Things Are'' is a 1963 children's picture book written and illustrated by American writer and illustrator Maurice Sendak, originally published in hardcover by Harper & Row. The book has been adapted into other media several tim ...

'' in collaboration with

Maurice Sendak Maurice Bernard Sendak (; June 10, 1928 – May 8, 2012) was an American author and illustrator of children's books. He became most widely known for his book ''Where the Wild Things Are'', first published in 1963.Turan, Kenneth (October 16, 200 ...

and Septime Webre. He created three pieces for video and live instruments with directors Mary Harron (director of “American Psycho”) and John C. Walsh. He has worked frequently with

John Cale John Davies Cale (born 9 March 1942) is a Welsh musician, composer, singer, songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the American rock band the Velvet Underground. Over his six-decade career, Cale has worked in various styl ...

, notably on his score of ''

American Psycho ''American Psycho'' is a novel by Bret Easton Ellis, published in 1991. The story is told in the first person by Patrick Bateman, a serial killer and Manhattan investment banker. Alison Kelly of ''The Observer'' notes that while "some countr ...

''. He re-created four of

Nico Naftiran Intertrade Company Société à responsabilité limitée#In Switzerland, limited (NICO) is a Switzerland, Swiss-based subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC). NICO is a general contractor for the oil and gas industry. NIOC bu ...

’s songs for Cale’s tribute concert “On the Borderline”, sung by Peter Murphy, Lisa Gerrard, Sparklehorse, Stephin Merritt, Peaches, and

Meshell Ndegeocello Michelle Lynn Johnson, better known as Meshell Ndegeocello (; born August 29, 1968), is a German-born American singer-songwriter, rapper, and bassist. She has gone by the name Meshell Suhaila Bashir-Shakur which is used as a writing credit on so ...

. He arranged over 40 of Cale’s songs for orchestra, including the entire ''Paris 1919'' album (performed at the

Brooklyn Academy of Music The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a performing arts venue in Brooklyn, New York City, known as a center for progressive and avant-garde performance. It presented its first performance in 1861 and began operations in its present location in ...

in January 2013), songs from ''The Velvet Underground and Nico'', and "Music for a New Society". His works have been performed by Kathleen Supové, Jennifer Choi, Timothy Fain, Mary Rowell, Todd Reynolds, Ethel, conductor/flutist

Ransom Wilson Ransom Wilson (born 25 October 1951 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama) is an American flutist, conductor, and educator. He currently is an Artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Artistic Director and Conductor of the Le Train Bleu ensemble ...

, Tara O’Connor, Lindsey Goodman, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the

Kronos Quartet The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco. It has been in existence with a rotating membership of musicians for almost 50 years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres, including contemporary classic ...

, Turnmusic, Fulcrum Point, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Sonic Generator, Bang on a Can/SPIT Orchestra, the

American Composers Orchestra The American Composers Orchestra (ACO) is an American orchestra administratively based in New York City, specialising in contemporary American music. The ACO gives concerts at various concert venues in New York City, including: * Zankel Hall at ...

, NakedEye Ensemble, and others. Recordings and scores of most of Woolf's music are on his website, randallwoolf.com. His complete flute music is on http://flutterbyrandallwoolf.com/, an alluvial by CCA. An alluvial is a music streaming website, organized around a theme, like an album. Woolf's orchestral work ''White Heat'' was commissioned by and premiered at the

Tanglewood Music Center The Tanglewood Music Center is an annual summer music academy in Lenox, Massachusetts, United States, in which emerging professional musicians participate in performances, master classes and workshops. The center operates as a part of the Tanglew ...

in 1989.

References

Randall Woolf
Liner notes for ''Rock Steady'' published by New World Records

biography on the ''Paul Dresher Ensemble'' website

External links

*

by Mic Holwin for American Composers Orchestra website
''Distant Partners, Distant Portraits''
preview of events by the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra 1959 births Living people American male classical composers 21st-century classical composers 20th-century classical composers Harvard University alumni 21st-century American composers 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians {{US-composer-20thC-stub