Biography
Jeffrey Zane Hansen is a composer who strives to reach a synthesis of both intellectual rigor and aesthetic appeal to music. His music often dwells on the concepts of symmetry and balance, manifesting in palindromic pieces and the exploration of unique forms highlighting complex canonic relationships while still remaining appealing to the ear.
Jeffrey Zane Hansen was born in Elmira, New York in 1996 and grew up in Horseheads New York. Hansen initially learned music from church music, and his parents exposed him to many different styles of music. Throughout school, he excelled in all academic areas, and studied the horn. As a horn player, Hansen attended numerous festivals and competitions, joined the Youth Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes, and toured Europe with American Music Abroad. However, other opportunities were afforded to instrumental students at his high school, allowing him to develop other areas of musical interest other than performance. Jeffrey Zane was appointed as head field conductor of his award-winning high school field band. This position also allowed him to conduct the band in Washington D.C. and on numerous other occasions. Several visiting composers such as Christopher Tucker and Timothy Mahr worked with the band. This inspired Jeffrey Zane to share his compositions and arrangements with the numerous chamber ensemble groups at the school, much to the delight of his peers. Hansen completed school with high honors and as a Mark Twain scholar, and began to study Music Composition under Dr. Carrie Magin at the Greatbatch School of Music, with additional studies in linguistics and philosophy at Houghton College. During that time, Hansen continued performing Horn, performing on Horn at the Kennedy Center with the National Christian Honor Band in 2015. He also joined several choirs, including a Gospel Choir, which vastly expanded his scope of experience with sacred and secular music. Furthermore, he began working on his own technique on the glass harp, while also learning piano and organ, which he promptly began using to serve in his Church Community in Wellsville, New York. One honor that he received during this time was in 2016, when his Composition OHO was awarded an honorable mention by the Frost School of Music Ibis International Composition Competition.
At the Greatbatch School of Music, Hansen was involved with several musical organizations outside of Houghton, including several with strong educational missions. For the Youth Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes' 2016-2017 season, Hansen was an Artist at Residence with The Youth Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes, having pieces like his Mensuration Canon performed, and writing a new composition, Sonderous Crossroads, for their final concert of the season. Hansen participated in events like the New Music Festival, in Christ Church Fitchburg in the Autumn of 2017, where one of his choral works was performed. In February 2018, he himself premiered selections of Canons of Organal Catechesis at St. Joseph's cathedral in Buffalo, New York, a piece which he composed to teach himself organ technique through increasingly complex structural canons. Additionally, in the spring of 2018 Hansen won a composition contest and subsequently worked with A.D. Oliver Middle School in composing Who Has Seen the Wind? for their choir.
Hansen graduated with both English and Latin honors from Houghton College's Greatbatch School of Music in May 2018, being inducted into the national music honor society Pi Kappa Lambda. Following his success there, Hansen began his study at Dallas International University in the Master of World Arts program, where he completed his degree in 2020, in the midst of the 2020 Pandemic. During his time there he not only studied music from various cultures, but also a number of other art forms including dance, visual art, language arts, and dramatic forms. He served numerous roles in the student life of DIU, continuing to use his musical gifts in the local Christian community, while also serving two terms as the Student Body President. He was even invited to be the student speaker at the online commencement during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
While he continued composing while pursuing his MA, Hansen was able to compose more after completing the program.
Jeffrey Zane Hansen was born in Elmira, New York in 1996 and grew up in Horseheads New York. Hansen initially learned music from church music, and his parents exposed him to many different styles of music. Throughout school, he excelled in all academic areas, and studied the horn. As a horn player, Hansen attended numerous festivals and competitions, joined the Youth Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes, and toured Europe with American Music Abroad. However, other opportunities were afforded to instrumental students at his high school, allowing him to develop other areas of musical interest other than performance. Jeffrey Zane was appointed as head field conductor of his award-winning high school field band. This position also allowed him to conduct the band in Washington D.C. and on numerous other occasions. Several visiting composers such as Christopher Tucker and Timothy Mahr worked with the band. This inspired Jeffrey Zane to share his compositions and arrangements with the numerous chamber ensemble groups at the school, much to the delight of his peers. Hansen completed school with high honors and as a Mark Twain scholar, and began to study Music Composition under Dr. Carrie Magin at the Greatbatch School of Music, with additional studies in linguistics and philosophy at Houghton College. During that time, Hansen continued performing Horn, performing on Horn at the Kennedy Center with the National Christian Honor Band in 2015. He also joined several choirs, including a Gospel Choir, which vastly expanded his scope of experience with sacred and secular music. Furthermore, he began working on his own technique on the glass harp, while also learning piano and organ, which he promptly began using to serve in his Church Community in Wellsville, New York. One honor that he received during this time was in 2016, when his Composition OHO was awarded an honorable mention by the Frost School of Music Ibis International Composition Competition.
At the Greatbatch School of Music, Hansen was involved with several musical organizations outside of Houghton, including several with strong educational missions. For the Youth Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes' 2016-2017 season, Hansen was an Artist at Residence with The Youth Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes, having pieces like his Mensuration Canon performed, and writing a new composition, Sonderous Crossroads, for their final concert of the season. Hansen participated in events like the New Music Festival, in Christ Church Fitchburg in the Autumn of 2017, where one of his choral works was performed. In February 2018, he himself premiered selections of Canons of Organal Catechesis at St. Joseph's cathedral in Buffalo, New York, a piece which he composed to teach himself organ technique through increasingly complex structural canons. Additionally, in the spring of 2018 Hansen won a composition contest and subsequently worked with A.D. Oliver Middle School in composing Who Has Seen the Wind? for their choir.
Hansen graduated with both English and Latin honors from Houghton College's Greatbatch School of Music in May 2018, being inducted into the national music honor society Pi Kappa Lambda. Following his success there, Hansen began his study at Dallas International University in the Master of World Arts program, where he completed his degree in 2020, in the midst of the 2020 Pandemic. During his time there he not only studied music from various cultures, but also a number of other art forms including dance, visual art, language arts, and dramatic forms. He served numerous roles in the student life of DIU, continuing to use his musical gifts in the local Christian community, while also serving two terms as the Student Body President. He was even invited to be the student speaker at the online commencement during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
While he continued composing while pursuing his MA, Hansen was able to compose more after completing the program.
Previously |
On May 14, 2017, the Youth Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes premiered Hansen's "Sonderous Crossroads," which they commissioned, at the finale of their 2016-2017 season. It was described as being "cinematic" by several audience members. One instrumentalist stated that the piece was "great; unlike anything I have ever played before."
Hansen participated in the New Music Festival at Christ Church Fitchburg in Massachusetts in the September of 2017, with one commentator remarking that Hansen's music was like what would have happened if "Renaissance composers had heard Black Gospel Music and their music had been forever changed; gaining an ancient, primordial darkness." In February 2018, he premiered Canons of Organal Catechesis at St. Joseph's Cathedral in Buffalo, New York. The piece, which is comprised of complex canons in odd modes to function as artistically meritorious music that is accessible for relatively newer organ players, was said to "be strangely beautiful and otherworldly, yet still very accessible." The AD Oliver Middle School in Brockport, New York, invited Hansen to work with them on Who Has Seen the Wind? in May 2018, having selected this composition, out of a number specifically written for them, for them to learn. This piece utilizes a text by English poet Christina Rossetti and introduces a phrygian sound world in an approachable manner. |
Upcoming |
After graduating with his MA in 2020, Hansen is working towards several new composition projects, and is researching ways to help people utilize local art forms in order to promote a better life.
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