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Don Slepian combines skills in music and electronics in a career of performing electronic classical music. An exciting performer in a conservative style, he embodies the present-day trend of combining high technology with high art.
"... one of the genre's major talents..." Rolling Stone Magazine "His music is already at the level of sonic and musical integration which few achieve -- simultaneously stimulating and effervescent and soothing and profound." "Hearts of Space" Music Guide "Slepian offered a dazzling smorgasbord of computer sonorities -- all of them fascinating, some of them achingly beautiful. He is undisputably a master of his medium." The Newark Star Ledger "Slepian is a leading practitioner of New Age music." The Home News "One of the world's finest electronic artists ." "Synthetic Pleasure" WFMU Radio, East Orange, NJ
Don Slepian is an internationally known electronic musician, recording artist, and concert performer. Described by Rolling Stone magazine as "one of the genre's major talents", Slepian's live electronic concerts have been sponsored by radio stations, scientific groups, computer societies and universities. His compact discs on the Audion label are heard on the over 215 National Public Radio stations who carry the popular New Age syndicated program "Music From The Hearts of Space". Slepian has been a consultant in computer music for Yamaha International, Bell Telephone Laboratories, and Bell Communications Research. His technical articles have been published by the National Radio Institute and Electronic Musician magazine.
Don Slepian Music Program Sponsors:
Usually a quiet place, the North Plainfield Memorial Library radiated with music from the Renaissance era to modern times during a special concert featuring a unique electronic instrument designed by the performer. The selections played by Don SIepian, one of the best-known and highly respected electronic musicians in the United States, delighted an audience that included infants and seniors. Slepian put on the show using an electronic keyboard linked to a computer that allowed him to blend a wide variety of instrumental sounds. Through the custom-made apparatus, called a digital sampling keyboard, Slepian played show tunes and masterpieces from Beethoven, Tchalkovsky and John Philip Sousa. "All this magic is done with the feet," he said, referring to the five pedals he pushed down in timely measure. "If I push down one pedal, I get a horn. if I push down another, I get an echo. Then I can combine them together. "My feet act as conductors, mixing instruments together and blending sounds to make many arrangements," Slepian said. While his distinctive method of mixing a variety of sounds has not gained a foothold in the music industry, Slepian said he anticipates such instruments will be made available to the public in the next several years. A professional musician since 1970, the 40-year-old North Brunswick resident regularly performs in public libraries and schools and at private parties. He also has played for scientific societies, where he explains the technology behind the musical artistry. For his performance at the library, he veered from dwelling on the technical aspects of his instrument. But immediately afterward, many of the more than 45 spectators surrounded him were asking him about the mechanics of the instrument and trying their own hands at it. "What's unusual about my performances is that this electronic music is live, not pre-programmed," he said. "This is music created in front of people -- and I can take requests. That's what I really enjoy about it. " Slepian said he revels in the warmth of the crowds he performs . for, and keeps very little equipment between himserf and his listeners. "I like to make my performances personable," he said. A composer, computer programmer and electronics designer, Slepian has had his music broadcast over 215 stations via National Public Radio. Also, the French government commissioned him to create and perform music for the Pompidou Cultural Center in Paris.
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Born
into a scientific family, Slepian showed both musical and technical
talent early in life. By 1969 he was already programming computers,
building electronic music circuitry, and sampling, looping and crossfading
sounds with classic electronic music studio tape techniques. In 1971
he worked as a wiring technician in the computer sound output room
in the Acoustics and Behavioral Research Department of Bell Telephone
Laboratorles in Murray Hill, New Jersey. In the fall of that year,
Slepian moved to Hawaii and entered an experimental program at the
University of Hawaii that allowed him to major in electronic music.
He first learned and then taught classes in all the early analog synthesizers
and worked in commercial soundtracks before becoming a full-time theater
musician. In 1979 he began his video art work, starting with the Chromaton
14 Analog Video Synthesizer. By the end of '79 Slepian returned to
Bell Labs, where he spent two years working with their most advanced
digital synthesizer. From that time until the present he has produced
his current discography of 8 CDs and began his collaboration with
Stuart Diamond, forming the currently active