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Music of Jordan Nelson on...

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About

Jordan Nelson (he/him) is a composer and educator based in Southern California. Jordan's musical projects are often driven by collaboration, and his output ranges from abstract concert works to ambient electronic music. Jordan's compositions have been performed by HOCKET, Viano Quartet, Lucy Fitz Gibbon and Argus Quartet, Lina Bahn and Matt Haimovitz, Jack Cimo, Thomas Kotcheff, Clara Kim, Diana Newman, Duo Apollon, NOW ensemble, MoVE (Modern Violin Ensemble), Contemporaneous, Orchestra 2001, Yale Schola Cantorum, the Los Robles Master Chorale, and WomenSing, among others.

Jordan's recent projects include a work for string quartet commissioned by the Viano Quartet (Join), a piece for classical guitar and electronics written for and in collaboration with Jack Cimo (I Dream I Was Underwater), and a new electronic music project (Color Perception E.P.). Other notable works include a large-scale project for soprano, string quartet, and projected images (Tender Buttons) based on poetry by Gertrude Stein, with original artwork by Morgan Thomas Shankweiler, and a collection of pieces for solo piano based upon the Great American Songbook (Songbook for piano) created in collaboration with Thomas Kotcheff.

Jordan is also a passionate educator, and in addition to teaching private composition lessons, he has served on the faculty for multiple young composer programs and workshops in Southern California. At the college level, Jordan teaches at The Colburn Conservatory of Music and at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). He has previously served on the faculty of the West Chester University Wells School of Music, the USC Thornton School of Music, and Yale University.

Jordan earned his D.M.A. and M.M. in Composition from the USC Thornton School of Music, and he received his B.A. in Music from Yale University. Originally from Swarthmore, PA, Jordan lives in the Los Angeles area.