Ken Christianson is an American musician and artist living in Los Angeles, California, U.S, and co-founder of Père Music. He is the composer of the score to the short film ''Better Left Alone'' (2005), resident composer for the Samantha Giron Dance Project,
bass player for the Los Angeles funk-jam band The Three Trees, violinist for The ''

Jimmy Lifton James Ian Lifton (born January 13, 1955), also known as Jimmy Lifton, is an American musician and a producer. Lifton's first major film production was the horror cult classic '' Mirror, Mirror'' (1990). Since then, he has produced 18 feature films ...

'' Group, and former keyboard player for the indie rock band, Rogue Wave. Ken earned his BFA in Sculpture from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and his MFA in

Music Composition Musical composition can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are called c ...

from CalArts. Christianson also completed portions of his undergraduate studies at

Carleton College Carleton College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota. Founded in 1866, it had 2,105 undergraduate students and 269 faculty members in fall 2016. The 200-acre main campus is between Northfield and the 800-acre Cowling ...

and Parsons Paris. He is the younger sibling of Masanori Mark Christianson, bass-player and multi-instrumentalist of the California indie rock bands Rogue Wave, Release The Sunbird, and The Heavenly States.

Solo work

Christianson performed the Jeff Buckley and

Elizabeth Fraser Elizabeth Davidson Fraser (born 29 August 1963), is a Scottish singer, songwriter and musician. Hailing from Grangemouth, Scotland, she is best known as the vocalist for the pioneering dream pop band Cocteau Twins who achieved international ...

cover "All Flowers in Time Bend Towards the Sun" at the 2008 Annual Jeff Buckley Tribute in Los Angeles, CA under the pseudonym Scott Mead. Christianson released a self-produced 26-track double album set on January 15, 2010 entitled ''Sunshine/Shadow''. On February 11, 2010, Christianson performed at the "To Haiti With Love" all-star musical jam at Boulevard 3 in Hollywood, CA, sharing the bill with other artists such as

Common Common may refer to: Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts * Clapham Common, originally com ...

, Daniel Bedingfield, and

Judith Hill Judith Glory Hill is an American singer-songwriter from Los Angeles, California. She has provided backing vocals for such artists as Michael Jackson, Prince, and Josh Groban. In 2009, Hill was chosen as Jackson's duet partner for the song " I Just ...

Kickstarter

Christianson launched a Kickstarter project to fund the recording and publishing of a large number of his own composed chamber works on February 12, 2013 that successfully funded on March 24, 2013. He was pledged $12,711.00, surpassing the $11,250.00 goal.

Collaborative work

In 2010 Christianson joined indie rock band Rogue Wave for their North American tour promoting their fourth full-length album, ''

Permalight ''Permalight'' is the fourth album by indie rock band Rogue Wave Rogue waves (also known as freak waves, monster waves, episodic waves, killer waves, extreme waves, and abnormal waves) are unusually large, unpredictable, and suddenly appearing s ...

'', playing synthesizers and violin, and singing backup vocals. Christianson finished a tour at the end of August 2008 with the Samantha Giron Dance Project, with performances at the new Santa Fe Complex in Santa Fe, NM, the 2008 Boulder Fringe Festival in Colorado, as well as the 2008 Celebrate Dance Festival in San Diego, California. His compositions for the tour included pre-recorded music as well as live electronic and acoustic performance. Christianson again composed and arranged music in collaboration with the Samantha Giron Dance Project for eight performances at the Unknown Theater in Los Angeles in April 2009 with a piece entitled ''Mongrels'', a multi-form modern dance performance capturing the spirit of the underground dance community synthesizing classical violin-driven music with club and modern dance. Ken composed and performed the score for a dance series entitled "Dis-Illusions", choreographed by Donna Sternberg. The first of this series was performed at the Royal T Cafe in

Culver City Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. Founded in 1917 as a "whites only" sundown town, it is now an ethnically diverse city with what was called the "third-most ...

, CA on November 7, 2010. "Dis-Illusions II" was performed May 7, 2011 at the LA Live Arts space in

Eagle Rock, CA Eagle Rock is a neighborhood of Northeast Los Angeles, abutting the San Rafael Hills in Los Angeles County, California. Eagle Rock is named after Eagle Rock, a large boulder whose shadow resembles an eagle.http://www.eaglerockcouncil.org/index. ...

. The third installment, "Dis-Illusions III", was performed at the Annenberg Community Beach House in Santa Monica, CA June 14, 2011. Ken continued his ongoing collaboration with choreographer Samantha Giron again for the performance of "Sex, Love, Money," a modern ballet shown at San Francisco's CounterPULSE theater on July 22 and 23, 2011. Critic Stephanie Echeveste of SF Weekly remarked, "The score by Ken Christianson was a delight, ranging from muted underwater explosions to trembling violins, glitchy electronic melodies, and pulsating beats. Sprinkled throughout were anecdotal soundbites about marriage, which frame the piece." Ken composed music for "The Flowering of Desire", the first in a series of dance performances choreographed by Donna Sternberg & Dancers on November 13, 2011. The piece was performed at the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook in

Culver City, CA Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. Founded in 1917 as a "whites only" sundown town, it is now an ethnically diverse city with what was called the "third-most d ...

and made possible by grants from the Culver City Performing Arts Grant Program with support from

Sony Pictures Entertainment Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, ac ...

. In March 2012, Ken contributed original compositions to NAACP Image Award winner Kenyetta Lethridge's play ''Innocent Flesh''.

Père Music

In April 2013, Christianson and partner Cassandra Nguyen launched Père, a commissioned-based, personalized music service for newborns. Père was featured on WNYC's program

Soundcheck A sound check is the preparation that takes place before a concert, speech, or similar performance to adjust the sound on the venue's sound reinforcement or public address system. The performer and the audio engineers run through a small port ...

in May 2013.

Representation

In March 2011, Ken signed with Angry Mob Publishing based in Santa Monica, CA.

The Menstruators

Christianson and '' Nadia G's Bitchin' Kitchen'' star

Nadia G Nadia is a female name. Variations include Nadja, Nadya, Nadine, Nadiya, and Nadiia. Most variations of the name are derived from Arabic, Slavic languages, or both. In Slavic, names similar to ''Nadia'' mean "hope" in many Slavic languages: Ukr ...

iosia founded the punk-rock group The Menstruators in 2015, with members Ale Robles (drums) and Robin Feldman (guitar). He left the group in 2017, after the group's completion of its self-produced first album, ''Dead Glitter.'' The band's breakup was the subject of a Wall Street Journal article published August 23, 2017.

References

External links

Père Music website
*
Samantha Giron Dance Project website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Christianson, Ken American jazz composers Living people Singer-songwriters from California Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American singers American male singer-songwriters American country rock singers American graphic designers American performance artists American male violinists American keyboardists American classical musicians American contemporary dancers American rock musicians American alternative rock musicians American indie rock musicians American jazz musicians American folk musicians American country singer-songwriters Dancers from California 21st-century American drummers Jazz musicians from California American male pianists Country musicians from California Classical musicians from California Carleton College alumni 21st-century American pianists 21st-century American violinists American male jazz composers 21st-century American male singers