Long Bio:
A composer/sound artist, singer/songwriter, guitarist, educator, and radio host, Chris Cresswell is a curious musician whose work betrays his affection for sonic wanderlust. With an ear that incorporates all sorts of sounds, from pitch set theory and baroque counterpoint, to field recordings and a singer/songwriter at an open mic night, Cresswell’s music has been praised for its “unworldly textures” (Vital Weekly) and '“textural variety” (Gramophone) that “… blur the boundaries between industrial and organic, soothing and suspenseful, and introspective and anxious” (International Clarinet Association), creating “a truly immersive, dreamlike atmosphere” (PopMatters). He has shared the stage with a Pulitzer Prize winning poet and a Top 40 country star (two different occasions) and his music has been heard in coffee shops, concert halls, and venues around the world, from chic Brooklyn spots like Areté Venue and Gallery and The Firehouse Space, to Birmingham, Englands’s renown Symphony Hall and the Paleis voor Schone Kunsten in Brussels.
After learning how to play a few basic chords in his 8th grade music class, Cresswell bought his first guitar in the summer of 2001. He almost immediately began writing songs and shortly thereafter started recording them. Two decades later the interdependence of exploring the idiomatic possibilities of an instrument and using the recording studio as a creative sandbox, ultimately as a means of personal expression is a hallmark of his work. Whether stretching the capabilities of an instrument, pushing into the extremes of harsh noise, ambient stillness, or somewhere in between, Cresswell’s music retains an emotional core rooted in his experience as a singer/songwriter.
His music has been performed, recorded, and championed by some of the leading performers and ensembles from around the world, including Andy Kozar, Jamie Jordan, Arda Cabaoglu, Megan Ihnen, Rachel Blaustein, Decibel Ensemble, Project Instrumental, Tammy Evans, Holly Roadfeldt, Decho Ensemble, Byrne:Kozar:Duo, Anne H. Goldberg-Baldwin, Ben Ellis, and more. It has been presented by the International Music Council, Rostrum+, Time:Spans Festival, Kathleen Suppose’s Music with a View, the SPLICE Institute, Contemporary Art Music Project, SCI Conference, New Music Chicago, BFE/RMA Research Students Conference, National Student Electronic Music (N_SEME), the Hot Air Music Festival, Society for New Music, and more. He has received support and recognition from the American Composers Forum, Jerome Foundation, National Band Association, CNY Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts. Cresswell has participated in Artist Residencies at Estalagem da Mona do Sol Residency for Contemporary Music and Electronics, and the Stone Quarry Hill Art Park. His music has been released commercially by PARMA Records and New Focus Recordings. The Byrne:Kozar:Duo’s recording of all that’s left is dirt and sky was included on AnEarful’s Best of 2023: Classical.
Having first started lessons in middle school bands and choruses, Cresswell continues to perform as a singer/songwriter, guitarist, singer, and narrator. He has performed at Andrea Clearfield’s Salon in Philadelphia, sung with British composer, Errollyn Wallen CBE, and has performed on stage with the Syracuse Orchestra (formerly Symphoria) as the narrator in Tchaikovsky’s Peter and the Wolf. As a solo artist, and with his chamber group, 315 Ensemble, Cresswell has performed, championed, and commissioned works by composers including Eve Beglarian, Emily Levy, Andrew Rodriguez, Patrick Ellis, Kirsty Delaney, and many more. While his primary focus is his composition and sound artist work, he continues to perform as a singer/songwriter, his first musical love.
An active educator, Cresswell’s educational philosophy is to meet students where they are at and elevate them from there. He currently works as an adjunct lecturer at Onondaga Community College, where he teaches several courses and maintains a composition studio. An exceptional teaching artist, Cresswell has worked in Syracuse City Schools, with Red House Arts Center, CNY Jazz Central, and a variety of other settings. In 2014 he co-founded and built the recording studio at Lake of the Woods and Greenwoods Summer Camp. This work led him to start the One Mic Project, a songwriting and recording project that believes that “one mic can amplify a voice, a voice can tell a story, and a story can change the world.” Through Great Lakes Guitar Society, One Mic Project has received support from Arts in Corrections NYS, a regrant program of NYSCA, facilitated by Wave Farm with the support of NYS DOCCS. Previously Cresswell taught composition at the Birmingham Junior Conservatoire, ran the Young Composers Project (UK), Young Composers Corner (US), and has occasionally served an adjunct professor at Le Moyne College and Syracuse University. His passion for youth development led him to work for Fiver Children’s Foundation, a non profit that provides experiences that challenge and builds relationships that nurture so that youth from systemically under-resourced communities in New York can create their own positive futures.
Cited for his expertise in arts administration, Cresswell has previously worked at Boosey & Hawkes and Black Tea Music. He currently serves on the board of Syracuse Friends of Chamber Music and has previously served on the board of Society for New Music and Full of Noises (UK).
Cresswell graduated from Syracuse University and the Birmingham Conservatoire. He is an occasional fill-in host at WCNY-FM, where he will launch a new radio program, A Curious Ear, which explores the unlikely connections between disparate musical worlds. When not doing musical things, he can be found running the streets and trails of Central New York, watching St. Louis Cardinals baseball or Syracuse basketball, and spending time with his wife Amber and their adorable kitty, Eloise.