Suzanne Ciani
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Suzanne Ciani (; born June 4, 1946) is an American musician,
sound design Sound design is the art and practice of creating sound tracks for a variety of needs. It involves specifying, acquiring or creating auditory elements using audio production techniques and tools. It is employed in a variety of disciplines including ...
er, composer, and record label executive who found early success in the 1970s with her
electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...
and sound effects for films and television commercials. Her career has included works with
quadraphonic sound Quadraphonic (or quadrophonic and sometimes quadrasonic) sound – equivalent to what is now called 4.0 surround sound – uses four audio channels in which speakers are positioned at the four corners of a listening space. The system allows for th ...
. She has been nominated for a
Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
for
Best New Age Album The Grammy Award for Best New Age Album is presented to recording artists for quality albums in the new-age music genre at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors in several c ...
five times. Her success with electronic music has her dubbed "Diva of the Diode" and "America's first female synth hero".


Early life

Ciani was born in an army hospital in Indiana. She was raised in
Quincy, Massachusetts Quincy ( ) is a coastal U.S. city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county and a part of Greater Boston, Metropolitan Boston as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in 2020 was 1 ...
, a southern suburb of
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
. She has four sisters and Italian roots. Her father was a physician and she started to play the piano at six. From 1964 to 1968, Ciani studied traditional liberal arts at
Wellesley College Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial g ...
in nearby Wellesley where she received classical music training. She also took evening classes, one of which was at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
which is where she first learned about music technology. One artist she cites as a big influence is German photographer
Ilse Bing Ilse Bing (23 March 1899 – 10 March 1998) was a German avant-garde and commercial photographer who produced pioneering monochrome images during the inter-war era. Biography Background and early life Bing was born to a wealthy Jewish famil ...
, who provided lyrics and drawings to her track "Lumière", along with classical music composers and pianist
Glenn Gould Glenn Herbert Gould (; né Gold; September 25, 1932October 4, 1982) was a Canadian classical pianist. He was one of the most famous and celebrated pianists of the 20th century, and was renowned as an interpreter of the keyboard works of Johann ...
. Ciani studied for a master's degree in composition at
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
, from 1968 to 1970. In her first year, she met synthesizer inventor and pioneer
Don Buchla Donald Buchla (April 17, 1937 – September 14, 2016) was an American pioneer in the field of sound synthesis. Buchla popularized the "West Coast" style of synthesis. He was co-inventor of the voltage controlled modular synthesizer along with Robe ...
through her boyfriend at the time, and became highly influenced by his analog
modular synthesizer Modular synthesizers are synthesizers composed of separate modules for different functions. The modules can be connected together by the user to create a patch. The outputs from the modules may include audio signals, analog control voltages, o ...
, the
Buchla Buchla Electronic Musical Instruments (BEMI) was a manufacturer of synthesizers and unique MIDI controllers. The origins of the company could be found in Buchla & Associates, created in 1963 by synthesizer pioneer Don Buchla of Berkeley, Californi ...
, then a competitor of the
Moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer is a modular synthesizer developed by the American engineer Robert Moog. Moog debuted it in 1964, and Moog's company R. A. Moog Co. (later known as Moog Music) produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 20 ...
by
Bob Moog Robert Arthur Moog ( ; May 23, 1934 – August 21, 2005) was an American engineer and electronic music pioneer. He was the founder of the synthesizer manufacturer Moog Music and the inventor of the first commercial synthesizer, the Moog synthesi ...
. Ciani became a devotee, working for Buchla. "I call Don the Leonardo DaVinci of instrument design." She spent time with a Buchla synthesizer in a rented studio at the tape music center at
Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University is a private college in Oakland, California and part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was ...
in Oakland, paying $5 for each visit. She took a summer course in
computer music Computer music is the application of computing technology in music composition, to help human composers create new music or to have computers independently create music, such as with algorithmic composition programs. It includes the theory and ap ...
at
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
where she was taught by
Max Mathews Max Vernon Mathews (November 13, 1926 in Columbus, Nebraska, USA – April 21, 2011 in San Francisco, CA, USA) was a pioneer of computer music. Biography Mathews studied electrical engineering at the California Institute of Technology and the Ma ...
, John Chowning, and Leland Smith at the Artificial Intelligence Lab. After graduating from Berkeley, Ciani took up work at Buchla and Associates to earn enough money for a Buchla synthesizer of her own, the Buchla 200. There she "Sat and soldered joints and drilled holes for three dollars an hour. When the synthesizers were finished, tested and shipped off, I felt as though I were losing children". Her first paid job in composing was in 1969, producing for 10 Macy's Christmas advertisements. Around this time she worked on sound installations at galleries, exhibitions, and dance performances, composed at
San Francisco Tape Music Center The San Francisco Tape Music Center, or SFTMC, was founded in the summer of 1962 by composers Ramon Sender and Morton Subotnick as a collaborative, "non profit corporation developed and maintained" by local composers working with tape recorders a ...
, which was housed at Mills College, composed for films, and recorded experimental pieces in her garage studio. Ciani also started a furniture company, but ceased after six months after two "unsaleable" designs, theft, fire, and vandalism. She realised that she was not doing what she liked and decided to make her living at music. In 1970, she released her debut record, ''Voices of Packaged Souls'' (1970), a collaboration with sculptor Harold Paris, put together using music concrète techniques at the KPFA radio station in Berkeley during the night shift. The album had an initial release of 50 copies.


Career


1970s

In April 1974, Ciani began a nineteen-year stay in New York City, travelling only with clothes and her Buchla synthesizer. Among her first activities was a solo performance at the Bonino Gallery in conjunction with the opening of a
Ronald Mallory Ronald Mallory (June 17, 1932 – July 7, 2021) was an artist who worked in New York City and Milan, Italy, and later lived in San Miguel de Allende Mexico. In the sixties, he was one of the foundational members of the kinetic art movement. ...
exhibition. Ciani became a
session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...
, but soon struggled to maintain a steady income. She once accepted a concert performance at the
Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...
in Manhattan, but when she was denied a four-speaker quadraphonic sound setup, she refused to perform. She also spent three years on the venue's renovation, but "that didn't work". At a solo show in April 1975, Ciani learned that
Vladimir Ussachevsky Vladimir Alexeevich Ussachevsky (November 3, 1911 in Hailar, China – January 2, 1990 in New York, New York) was a composer, particularly known for his work in electronic music. Biography Vladimir Ussachevsky was born in the Hailar Distric ...
had attended and recommended her to a grant. She later wrote that she was "homeless and happy" at this time and moved from the loft of art critic Robert Hughes to the floor of
Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...
's basement recording studio. By 1976, Ciani had secured a
National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...
grant. In 1978 Ciani founded Ciani/Musica. Inc. to produce jingles for advertisements for companies such as
Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...
,
Merrill Lynch Merrill (officially Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated), previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investment bank ...
,
AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...
and
General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...
. She enjoyed the opportunity to work for such companies and enjoyed the creative freedom because few people understood what the Buchla could do as it lacked a keyboard. The sound of a bottle of
Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...
being opened and poured was one of Ciani's most widely recognized works and was used in radio and television commercials in the late 1970s. She is also responsible for "logo" sounds pertaining to Energizer and ABC. Such was the demand for her services, that at one point she was doing up to 10 sessions a week. Ciani performed as a guest artist on various albums from 1976. The first was the same-titled album by the
Starland Vocal Band Starland Vocal Band was an American pop band, known for " Afternoon Delight", one of the biggest-selling singles of 1976. Career The group began as Fat City, a husband/wife duo of Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert. Danoff and Nivert co-wrote the s ...
, including the "swoosh" sound to "
Afternoon Delight "Afternoon Delight" is a hit song recorded by Starland Vocal Band, known for its close harmony and sexually suggestive wordplay. It was written by Bill Danoff, one of the members of the band. "Afternoon Delight" charted well in New Zealand, pea ...
". At the time, Ciani thought the work was just a "song about spaceships". In the following year, Ciani provided sound effects for ''
Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk ''Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk'' is a disco album by Meco released in 1977. The album uses various musical themes from the ''Star Wars'' soundtrack arranged as instrumental disco music. A single from the album, "Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band" ...
'', a disco version of the ''Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope'' soundtrack by
Meco Domenico Monardo (born November 29, 1939), known as Meco, is an American record producer and musician, as well as the name of his band or production team. Meco is best known for his 1977 space disco version of the ''Star Wars'' theme from his ...
. Ciani scored Lloyd Williams's 1975 experimental film ''Rainbow's Children'', and for a 1986 documentary about
Mother Teresa Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu, MC (; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), better known as Mother Teresa ( sq, Nënë Tereza), was an Indian-Albanian Catholic nun who, in 1950, founded the Missionaries of Charity. Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu () was bo ...
. She also composed the 1976
Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
and
Columbia Pictures Television Columbia Pictures Television, Inc. (abbreviated as CPT) was launched on May 6, 1974, by Columbia Pictures as an American television production and distribution studio. It is the second name of the Columbia Pictures television division Screen Gem ...
logo themes. In 1979, Ciani was commissioned to provide sounds to the pinball machine game ''
Xenon Xenon is a chemical element with the symbol Xe and atomic number 54. It is a dense, colorless, odorless noble gas found in Earth's atmosphere in trace amounts. Although generally unreactive, it can undergo a few chemical reactions such as the ...
'', which featured her own voice fed through a
vocoder A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''voice'' and ''encoder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder was ...
. This marked the first female voice heard in a pinball game and Ciani had never played pinball before the project arose. In 2013, she was inducted into The Pinball Expo Hall of Fame for her work on the game. Ciani then sampled her voice onto a sound chip with the aim of selling it for use in other applications, including elevator announcements. The US federal government approached her to design sounds for flight simulators.


1980s

In 1980, Ciani demonstrated several of her sound effects on national television with an appearance on ''
The David Letterman Show ''The David Letterman Show'' is an American morning talk show that was hosted by David Letterman on NBC. It originally aired from June 23 to October 24, 1980. Originally, the series lasted 90 minutes, then 60 minutes from August 4 onward. Backg ...
''. The producers agreed for her to perform her own music with the show's house band, but they cut to a commercial break when they started to play. That same year, she also appeared on the PBS children's TV show ''
3-2-1 Contact ''3-2-1 Contact'' is an American science educational television show produced by the Children's Television Workshop (CTW, now known as Sesame Workshop). It aired on PBS from 1980 to 1988 and later ran on Noggin (a joint venture between the CTW ...
'' demonstrating her synthesizer. Ciani's television work in the 1980s included an
Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc. (1972–1992), Atari, Inc., ...
commercial and work on a proposed "negative vocoder" with
Harald Bode Harald Bode (October 19, 1909 – January 15, 1987) was a German engineer and pioneer in the development of electronic musical instruments. Biography Harald Bode was born in 1909 in Hamburg, Germany. At the age of 18 he lost his parents and ...
, but development ceased following Bode's death in 1987. Ciani scored the soundtrack to
Lily Tomlin Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin (born September 1, 1939) is an American actress, comedian, writer, singer, and producer. She started her career as a stand-up comedian as well as performing off-Broadway during the 1960s. Her breakout role was on the vari ...
's film ''
The Incredible Shrinking Woman ''The Incredible Shrinking Woman'' is a 1981 American science-fiction comedy film directed by Joel Schumacher (in his theatrical directing debut), written by Jane Wagner and starring Lily Tomlin, Charles Grodin, Ned Beatty, John Glover, and Eliz ...
'', which marked the first solo female composer of a Hollywood film. In 1982, Ciani released her first studio album characterized by electronic and
new-age music New-age is a genre of music intended to create artistic inspiration, relaxation technique, relaxation, and optimism. It is used by listeners for yoga, massage, meditation, and reading as a method of stress management to bring about a state of ecs ...
. She later said that making albums was something that she had always wanted to do, calling it "my destiny". She started on her first, ''Seven Waves'', in 1979 which saw an initial Japanese only release. Ciani reasoned this to the difficulty American record labels had in selling an electronic album by a female artist that lacked vocals. In 1984, it was released in the US by
Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...
, thanks to Ilhan Mimaroglu who was an executive at the Finnadar label. The album was produced using an MC-8 and MC-4 sequencer, a
Prophet 5 The Prophet-5 is an analog synthesizer manufactured by the American company Sequential. It was designed by Dave Smith and John Bowen in 1977, who used microprocessors, then a new technology, to create the first polyphonic synthesizer with full ...
synthesizer, a
Roland TR-808 The Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer, commonly known as the 808, is a drum machine manufactured by the Roland Corporation between 1980 and 1983. It was one of the first drum machines to allow users to program rhythms instead of using preset patte ...
drum machine, the Buchla 200, Bode Vocoder, Lyricon, Synclavier, Polymoog, and Arp and Eventide Processing. In 1985, Ciani received a Bronze Lion award at the
Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity (formerly the International Advertising Festival) is a global event for those working in creative communications, advertising, and related fields. It is considered the largest gathering of the ...
. Ciani's 1986 album ''The Velocity of Love'', released by
RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...
, features the title track which became her best known song. It marks her first piano recordings for many years since focusing her work on the Buchla. In July and August 1987, Ciani performed her first live solo concerts in 15 years.


1990s

Although emphasizing electronic music in her recordings, her solo piano album ''Pianissimo'', from 1990, became her best-selling album. Ciani ended her contract with Private Music with the compilation ''The Private Music of Suzanne Ciani'', in 1992. In 1991, Ciani released ''Hotel Luna'', the music for which was inspired by her travels to Italy to learn more about her Italian ancestry. In 1992, the
soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...
''
One Life to Live ''One Life to Live'' (often abbreviated as ''OLTL'') is an American soap opera broadcast on the ABC television network for more than 43 years, from July 15, 1968, to January 13, 2012, and then on the internet as a web series on Hulu and iTunes ...
'' introduced a new theme song written and performed by Ciani, who also did scoring for several episodes of the show. In 1994, Ciani founded her own independent record label, Seventh Wave. Her husband became the label's president. All of her subsequent albums have been released on the label. Her 1994 album ''Dream Suite'' was recorded in
Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
with the Young Russia Orchestra, and was Grammy-nominated. 1999's ''Turning'' featured her first composition with lyrics, in the title track, sung by Taiwanese artist
Chyi Yu Chyi Yu or Qi Yu (; born 17 October 1957) is a Taiwanese singer best known for her 1979 hit, "The Olive Tree" (橄欖樹). She won the 9th Golden Melody Award for Best Female Vocalist Mandarin. She is the elder sister of singer-songwriter Chyi Ch ...
.


2000s–present

In early 2006, Ciani's ''Silver Ship'' won in The 5th Annual Independent Music Awards for Best New Age Album. Ciani was also an inaugural member of the Independent Music Awards' judging panel to support independent artists. Ciani performed in a new-age jazz group, The Wave. In February 2015, Ciani was one of three Wellesley College alumni to receive an Alumnae Achievement Award. In 2016, Ciani released ''Buchla Concerts 1975'', formed of two live performances in New York City in April 1975. She was asked to release some archived material and following its release and "All of a sudden I was in the public eye with the electronics again! I wasn't aware at all about what was going on; it felt strange. ..There was this whole renaissance going on when I came out". Buchla then convinced Ciani to purchase a Buchla synthesizer from him following his decision to sell his company, but she left it for a year before she started to use it. In 2016, Ciani released ''Sunergy'', a collaboration using
Buchla synthesizer Buchla Electronic Musical Instruments (BEMI) was a manufacturer of synthesizers and unique MIDI controllers. The origins of the company could be found in Buchla & Associates, created in 1963 by synthesizer pioneer Don Buchla of Berkeley, Californ ...
s with the musician
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith is an American composer, performer and producer, originally from the Pacific Northwest and currently based in Los Angeles. Her work prominently employs Buchla modular synthesizers. She received acclaim for her albums ''Ears' ...
, as part of the
RVNG Intl. RVNG Intl. is an independent record label based in Brooklyn, New York. Founded in 2003 by Matt Werth, the label is run by Werth and focuses on experimental dance and electronic music, often incorporating avant-garde genres. Release formats include ...
FRKWYS Series. In May 2017, Ciani became the first female to receive a Moog Music Innovation Award at the annual electronic festival
Moogfest Moogfest is a music and technology festival held annually or bi-annually in Durham, North Carolina that honors engineer Robert Moog and his musical inventions. This multi-day, multi-venue event hosts artists and audiences from throughout the w ...
. In June 2018, Ciani released ''LIVE Quadraphonic'', a live album documenting her first solo performance on a Buchla synthesizer in 40 years. The show took place at Gray Area in San Francisco on March 5, 2016, presented in four channel quadraphonic sound. A recording of this performance was one of the first quadraphonic LP vinyl releases in over 30 years and used an encoding process based on the
QS Regular Matrix Quadraphonic Sound (originally called Quadphonic Synthesizer, and later referred to as RM or Regular Matrix) was a matrix 4-channel quadraphonic sound system for phonograph records. The system was based on technology created by Peter Scheiber, but ...
system. Inspired by the Buchla 227 quad output module, the $227 release was a very limited edition of only 227 numbered, 45 rpm, 180g quadraphonic vinyl discs sold. The box also included an enamel pin based on the album cover, plus a custom quadraphonic hardware decoder made in collaboration with Involve Audio to decode two channels of audio from the vinyl disc back to the four-channel recording. In June 2019, Finders Keepers Records released a previously unreleased album by Ciani that she recorded in 1969 entitled ''Flowers of Evil''. It features a recital of ''Élévation'' by French poet
Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poetry, French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticis ...
with Ciani performing on a Buchla synthesizer.


Personal life

In 1992, Ciani was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer from which she recovered after successful radiation treatments and surgery. The news prompted her relocation from New York City to California and she has resided in the coastal community of
Bolinas Bolinas is an unincorporated coastal community and census-designated place in Marin County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 1,483. It is located on the California coast, approximately (straight line dist ...
since. From 1994 to 2000, Ciani was married to producer and entertainment attorney Joseph Anderson. The marriage ended in divorce.


Awards and honors

* A2IM Independent Icon Award, 2020 * Moog Innovation Award, 2017 * Pinball Expo Hall of Fame, 2013 * Keyboard Magazine's Hall of Fame, 2012 * Nominee,
Grammy Award for Best New Age Album The Grammy Award for Best New Age Album is presented to recording artists for quality albums in the new-age music genre at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors in several ca ...
: ''Neverland'' (1988), ''Hotel Luna'' (1991), ''Dream Suite'' (1996), ''Pianissimo II'' (1997), ''Turning'' (2000) * Best New Age Keyboardist, ''
Keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...
'' magazine, 1992 * Lifetime Achievement Award (Granny), Women in Audio Section of the Audio and Engineering Society, 1997 * Winner, American Federation of Independent Music (Indie), ''Silver Ship'', 2006 * Most Valuable Synthesizer Player Award,
National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences The Recording Academy (formally the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; abbreviated NARAS) is an American Learned society, learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is famous f ...
, 1987 * Clio Awards, Excellence in Advertising, 1977–1989 * Bronze Lion Award for Excellence in Advertising, International Advertising Film Festival, 1985


Discography


Solo

Studio albums *''Voices of Packaged Souls'' (1970) *''Seven Waves'' (1982) *''The Velocity of Love'' (1986) *''Neverland'' (1988) *''History of My Heart'' (1989) *''Pianissimo'' (1990) *''Hotel Luna'' (1991) *''Dream Suite'' (1994) *''Pianissimo II'' (1996) *''Turning'' (1999) *''Pianissimo III'' (2001) *''Silver Ship'' (2005) *''Logo Presentation Reels 1985'' (2012) *''"Help, Help, The Globolinks!"'' (2017) *''Flowers of Evil'' (2019) *''Denali'' (2020) Live albums *''Suzanne Ciani and The Wave Live!'' (1997) *''Logo Presentation Reels 1985'' (2012) *''Buchla Concerts 1975'' (2016) *''LIVE Quadraphonic'' (2018) *''Live Buchla at Machines in Music'' (2018) *Improvisation on Four Sequences at Festival Antigel (2020) *''A Sonic Womb: Live Buchla performance at Lapsus'' (2021) Compilations *''The Private Music of Suzanne Ciani'' (1992) *''Meditations for Dreams, Relaxation, and Sleep'' (2002) *''Pure Romance'' (2003) *''Lixiviation (Ciani/Musica Inc. 1969–1985)'' (2012) *''A Life in Waves'' (2020)


Appearances


DVD

* 1997 ''Suzanne Ciani and The Wave Live!'' * 2008 ''Natura Poetica'' * 2008 ''Galapagos: A Musical Odyssey'' * 2020 "A Life in Waves" Blu-Ray


Publications

* 1991 ''Suzanne Ciani: New Age Piano'' (
Hal Leonard HAL may refer to: Aviation * Halali Airport (IATA airport code: HAL) Halali, Oshikoto, Namibia * Hawaiian Airlines (ICAO airline code: HAL) * HAL Airport, Bangalore, India * Hindustan Aeronautics Limited an Indian aerospace manufacturer of fight ...
) * 1995 ''Suzanne Ciani: Dream Songs'' (Hal Leonard) * 1999 ''Suzanne Ciani: Turning'' (Hal Leonard) * 2007 ''The Best of Suzanne Ciani'' (Hal Leonard)


Film scores

* 1981 ''
The Incredible Shrinking Woman ''The Incredible Shrinking Woman'' is a 1981 American science-fiction comedy film directed by Joel Schumacher (in his theatrical directing debut), written by Jane Wagner and starring Lily Tomlin, Charles Grodin, Ned Beatty, John Glover, and Eliz ...
'' (Universal Pictures) * 1986 ''Mother Teresa'', (Petrie Productions) * 1986 ''Cradle of wolves'' (Mexican novel - Televisa Productions) * 2001 ''
Mother Teresa Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu, MC (; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), better known as Mother Teresa ( sq, Nënë Tereza), was an Indian-Albanian Catholic nun who, in 1950, founded the Missionaries of Charity. Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu () was bo ...
: The Legacy'' (Petrie Productions)


See also

*
List of ambient music artists This is a list of ambient music artists. This includes artists who have either been very important to the genre or have had a considerable amount of exposure (such as those who have been on a major label). This list does not include little-known ...


References


External links


Official site
*

a detailed article about Ciani's life and music

An in-depth podcast interview featuring Ciani's life and accomplishments with GentleSounds host.com, Phil Paranicas. *
Oral History: Suzanne Ciani
Ciani talks about the frustrations of marketing the keyboard to the larger audience as a musical instrument at a time when it was thought of as an inappropriate interface.''] Interview dated January 25, 2015, NAMM (
National Association of Music Merchants The NAMM Show is an annual event in the United States that is organized by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), who describe it as "the industry’s largest stage, uniting the global music, sound and entertainment technology commun ...
) Oral History Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Ciani, Suzanne 1946 births Living people RCA Records artists Private Music artists American women film score composers American film score composers American electronic musicians Independent Music Awards winners New-age pianists American people of Italian descent UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni Wellesley College alumni American women in electronic music 21st-century American keyboardists 21st-century American pianists 21st-century American women pianists Women keyboardists