Composers > Jean Hasse
JEAN HASSE
Jean Hasse was born in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, 1958, and graduated from Oberlin College Conservatory, Ohio, specialising in piano, conducting and instrumental music education; she then did graduate work and teaching at Cleveland State University. A varied career as a teacher, multi-instrumentalist, concert producer, music copyist, editor and publisher has included managing Margun Music (then owned by Gunther Schuller) and acting as the US and Canadian Representative for Faber Music Ltd. London, as well as forming her own publishing company, Visible Music, in 1987. While living in Boston, Jean was also a member of the popular music ensemble, The Composers in Red Sneakers. She has had several composing residency fellowships at the MacDowell Colony (NH) and the Millay Colony for the Arts (NY) and has received commissions from many solo performers and chamber ensembles in the US and UK. She moved to England in December 1994. In 2006 she earned an MA degree at Bristol University, focusing on Composing for Film and Television (MAFTV).
As a music copyist, proofreader and editor Jean has worked for several publishing companies and for dozens of composers, including John Williams, Ornette Coleman and Paul McCartney. She recently did music score preparation work for the UK films, The Killing of John Lennon and Eliminate: Archie Cookson, for which she also conducted at the recording session.
Hasse's music has been heard throughout the United States and Europe, in Canada, Japan and Australia, with performances at venues including the Tanglewood Music Center, Hollywood Bowl, Carnegie Hall, Chicago's Orchestra Hall, London's South Bank Centre, Barbican Centre, Wigmore Hall, the British Museum, Mexico City's Museo Tamayo, St Paul's Cathedral, St George's Hall Bristol, and at numerous festivals.
In 1999, Hasse produced a CD, kinkh, that includes a large portion of her piano music, as well as Pulling (flutes) and After Earle (percussion). She composed music for the soundtrack of a film produced by Paul Swensen in 1999, So the Wind Won‘t Blow it All Away, based on a Richard Brautigan story, shown at festivals in the US and Europe. In 2001, she began a three-year project of composing new ring tone melodies for mobile phones, beginning with the Internet company iobox, which led to appearances on television and radio.
Jean now composes for films, silent films, videos, websites and special events, along with new concert music pieces. She taught Acoustic Composition at the University of Bristol for three years and is now Course Tutor for the MAFTV Composition Course in the Department of Music.
In October 2007, her new chamber orchestra score accompanied the 1926 silent film, Faust, in performances in Bristol and at London's Barbican Centre. Other silent film commissions include scores for the films Mabel's Dramatic Career (solo piano accompaniment) and Ghosts Before Breakfast (quartet). In November 2008, as part of a trio, she performed her new score to the 1925 film, The Rat, in Bristol. In July 2009 she accompanied several silent films at an international conference on colour film and restoration in Bristol.
In Spring 2010, the UK ensemble Counterpoise premiered Jean's new score to the 1928 film, The Fall of the House of Usher. Other recent projects include composing for an hour-long documentary, Autism: Coming of Age (American Public Television broadcasts), music for a short film on India, music for two animation films (DVD + childrens' book), music for website podcasts and screencasts. Early this year Jean composed incidental music for a University of Bristol theatre production, Dream On!, performed at the Wickham Theatre, Bristol, and various film scores.
