Philip Schuessler - composer/songwriter/arranger

Supercell at Beauty Horror Silence Festival Miami Philip Schuessler (left) Michael McCurdy (right) Welcome to the website of composer Philip Schuessler: the most comprehensive on-line resource for news, scores, and audio clips for his various works ranging from solo, chamber, orchestral, and electro-acoustic music as well as experimental rock and improvisation. Philip Schuessler recently completed his PhD at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.  He received his Bachelors Degree in composition at Birmingham-Southern College and his Masters Degree from the University of Miami.  He attributes the work of New York School composers and European Spectralism as having a profound influence upon his compositional output.  Current compositional research involves the exploitation and emergence of silence as an inherently musical, timbral and structural device.  He is also interested in establishing links between acoustic structures and language and links between natural processes and socio-political activism. Dr. Schuessler currently teaches at Richland Community College in Decatur, Illinois, and resides in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois with his wife, composer Kari Besharse.

Here are a few recent and upcoming performances of some of my music: 12/10-12/09 Glass Abattoir for percussion trio - School for Designing a Society House Theater, Grosser/McDowell residence, Urbana, IL, Benjamin Michaelis/Michael Gaiuranos/Philip Schuessler - voice/percussion [WORLD PREMIERE - 3 performances] 12/5/09 Supercell for percussion and electronics - Beauty Horror Silence Electronic Music Festival, Harold Golen Gallery, Miami, FL, Michael McCurdy - percussion 11/15/09 Trio for percussion trio - Percussion Ensemble Concert, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 10/25/09 Five for five performers - Jacksonville State University/Community Orchestra Concert, First United Methodist Church, Anniston, AL Greg Robin - director 10/10/09 Theater Piece No. 2 for lecturer, performers, and electronic - Re-Viewing Black Mountain College Conference, UNC-Asheville, Asheville, NC Philip Schuessler - lecturer & electronics, Kari Besharse - guitar, L.H. Dickert - guitar, Rick Nance - guitar 7/23/09 Looking-Glass House for soprano and chamber ensemble - 2009 soundSCAPE Festival, Vittadini School of Music, Pavia, Italy Tony Arnold - soprano, Brian Hulse - conductor 4/18/09 Supercell for percussion - SEAMUS National Conference, Sweetwater Sound, Ft. Wayne, IN Michael McCurdy, percusssion 4/11/09 Interruptions II for piano - College Music Society Northwest Regional Conference, Eastern Washington University, Cheney, WA Philip Schuessler, piano 4/4/09 Supercell for percussion - SCI National Conference, College of Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM Michael McCurdy, percussion For a complete list of performances, please see the "News" page of this website!

July 23, 2009 - Premiere Performance of Looking-Glass House.  Pictured from left to right: Bryan Kelly (piano), Tony Arnold (soprano), Philip Schuessler, Rachel Beetz (flute), Avi Avital (mandolin), Ariana Lamon-Anderson (clarinet), Brian Hulse (conductor), Martha Morrison (violin), Trent Petrunia (percussion), Andrew Booth (guitar)