maryclare.brzytwa@gmail.com
Summary
Creative and strategic thinker. Experienced in academic leadership, production, education and performance. Deep passion for music, interdisciplinary collaboration and technology. Champion of diversity in the arts.
Arts Administration and Higher Education Experience
Executive Director, Technology and Applied Composition (TAC)
San Francisco Conservatory of Music, San Francisco, CA
April 2016 - PRESENT
Founding Director of 40+ person digital composition department
Design, execute and administer curricula, budget, personnel, and facilities for TAC department
Oversee student enrollment and recruitment process for TAC program
37 + students in 3 years, on target for 100 students in the TAC program within first 5 years
Exceeded target discount rate
50% female student representation with TAC student body
Teach private lessons and up to 5 courses per year in various music composition, performance and technology subject areas
Executive producer and creative director of TAC departmental projects
Bi-Annual Sony Playstation San Mateo Studios “SFCM Sony Project”
Walt Disney Family Museum “Jake Fashion Week Project”
Shanghai Electronic Music Week Festival “SFCM TAC Showcase Concert”
Recruit, hire and supervise faculty and staff of the Technology and Applied Composition Program and archival recording department
Curate visiting artist series, 20+ visiting artists per year from related industries
Imagine, perform and produce domestic and international performance opportunities and collaborations on behalf of the students and faculty in the department
Consult on curriculum and facilities design of partnering international music technology programs on behalf of San Francisco Conservatory of Music
Developed and finalized six strategic partnerships with leading companies and industry organizations for internship opportunities, departmental collaboration, and visiting industry faculty lectures.
Finalized 5-year strategic Partnership agreement to include exclusive summer program and feeder curriculum with Shanghai Vocational School of Modern Music and Shanghai Conservatory of Music.
Oversee Conservatory archival recording services staff and budget
Archival recordings of up to 500 performances per year
Associate Dean for New Media and Music Technology
San Francisco Conservatory of Music, San Francisco, CA
August 2014 - April 2016
Chaired committee to a nearly unanimous vote from the full faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music for approval of undergraduate and professional studies diploma programs in music technology for composers
Led the design and administered budget for a $1m construction and integration project to create 3 state-of-the-art recording rooms and 2 music technology classrooms
Managed the project from start to finish on-time and on-budget
Developed communications and brand strategy to successfully recruit target goal for inaugural class
Recruited world-class, dynamic roster of visiting industry faculty and staff to the program
Taught private lessons and up to 5 courses per year in music composition, performance and technology subject areas
Integrated pre-existing Archival Recording Tonmeister program into curriculum and budget of TAC program
Spearheaded and produced first annual “New Music Gathering” conference and festival to draw international attention and media coverage to San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s curricular initiatives
Spearheaded and produced “Game On!” conference on video game music in collaboration with Game Audio Network Guild (GANG)
Assistant Dean for Professional Development and Academic Technology
San Francisco Conservatory of Music, San Francisco, CA
July 2013- August 2014
Founded San Francisco Conservatory of Music's Professional Development and Engagement Center
Peer to peer advising program
Resume, CV, cover letter, music business resources, audition recording reviews
Overhauled career oriented resource guides and handouts
Website building, grant writing, and project management counseling, music business
Administered the Student Professional Development Grant Program, mentored students on their artistic and entrepreneurial projects, proposals, budgets and execution
Designed curricular uses of technology for creating and promoting music digitally
Director of Professional Development
Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Oberlin, OH
July 2012- August 2013
Advised undergraduate conservatory students on their professional development
Coordinated the Bay Area internship program for 28 student internships
Taught basic audio, post production for video, website design, grant writing, and CV review
Designed and managed gig referral service and opportunity blog
Courses Taught
Building Apps for Music in Max/MSP Production Techniques in Ableton live
Production Techniques in Logic Pro X Composition Workshop
Portfolio Review
Education
MFA, Composer / Performer
California Institute of the Arts, Santa Clarita, CA
August 2010 - June 2012
STEIM (studio for electro instrumental music) Cal Arts Residency, Amsterdam Netherlands
CalArts Research Grant for “Brzytwa, Robinson, Lewis” trio tour, 2011
August 2004 - June 2006
Mills College, Oakland, CA - BA, Composition minor in Recording Arts
Donner Merit Based Scholarship, 2004 -2006
Margaret Lyons Music Student Prize
Hellman Award for instrumental study
Mills College Research Grant for private study with flutist Robert Dick
August 2001 - June 2003
Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH - Psychology Major
Managing Arts Editor of The Vindicator, the multi-cultural magazine of a large state university.
Completed coursework for Undergraduate Clinical Psychology Major
Masterclasses, Conferences, and Residencies
2017 Guest Lecturer, Soochow University Taipei Taiwan
2017 Guest Lecturer, Los Angeles City College Composition Department Los Angeles, CA
2017 Guest Lecturer, Sookmyung Women’s University Seoul, South Korea
2017 Guest Lecturer, Shanghai Conservatory of Music Shanghai, China
2016 Panelist, New Acoustic Dimensions and the Future of Live Performance Pearson Theatre, SF
2016 Guest Lecturer, Oberlin Conservatory of Music Oberlin, OH
2016 Guest Lecturer, Cleveland Institute of Music Cleveland, OH
2015 Guest Lecturer, Shanghai Conservatory of Music Shanghai, China
2013 Guest Lecturer, Oberlin Conservatory of Music Oberlin, OH
2007 Artist in Residence, Laboratoire Village Nomade Estavayer-le-lac, Switzerland
2007 Associate Artist-in-Residence, Atlantic Center for the Arts New Smyrna Beach, FL
Volunteer Experience
2018- present Board Member, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, San Francisco, CA
2015-2017 Board Member, Alameda Music Project , Alameda, CA
Selected Performances (Complete list available upon request)
2017 MCB + Hamir Atwal, SFCM TAC faculty recital San Francisco, CA
2017 MCB + Jonathan Mayer, SFCM TAC faculty recital San Francisco, CA
2016 Dominique Leone Band, Switchboard Music Festival San Francisco, CA
2015 MCB + David Tannenbaum, Shanghai Electronic Music Week Shanghai, China
2013 MCB + Theresa Wong, Oberlin College Oberlin, OH
2012 MCB + Zeena Parkins, The Stone New York, NY
2012 REDCAT Studio Series, JBL Trio Los Angeles, CA
2011 STEIM Amsterdam, Netherlands
2010 Bebe Donkey, Super Musique, 31e SAISON Montreal, Canada
2010 Bebe Donkey, Festival des Musiques Innovatrices Saint-Etienne, France
2009 Mocky Band, Factory Festival La Cigale, France
2009 Mocky Band, Gilles Peterson’s WorldWide Festival Sete, France
2009 Dominique Leone Band, Siestes Electroniques Festival Toulouse, France
2008 MCB + Fred Frith Estavayer-le-lac, Switzerland
2008 Dominique Leone Band The Knitting Factory, LA, CA
2008 MCB + Rova Saxophone Quartet, Counter pulse San Francisco, CA
2007 Bolivar Zoar, Unlimited 21 Festival Wels, Austria
2007 MCB solo, SF Electronic Music Festival SF, CA
2007 Bebe Donkey, The Stone New York, NY
2007 Solo Set, The Stone New York, NY
Selected Publications and Appearances (Complete list available upon request)
Recordings
2017 SFCM, Sony Video Game Music Project, Executive Producer
2017 Classical KDFC, Radio Sound Logo, Executive Producer
2016 SFCM, Sony Video Game Music Project, Executive Producer
2016 Classical KDFC, Radio Sound Logo, Executive Producer
2015 SFCM, Sony Video Game Music Project , Executive Producer
2008 Radio Village Nomade, composer, producer, performer, Jour par Jour Company
2008 Master Artist Rental Car, composer, producer, performer, Setola di Maiale (SM 1450)
2008 This Moment Is Not the Same, contributing composer, Werner Penzel Filmproduktion & Jour par Jour Co.
2012 MaryClare Brzytwa and Vinny Golia, composer, producer, performer, Setola di Maiale (SM2810)
2010 MCB, composer producer performer, Setola Di Maiale (SM2130)
2008 Radio Village Nomade, producer, Jour par Jour Company
2010 Stairwells, composer, producer, performer, Vaux Flores, Setola Di Maiale (SM2010)
2010 From the Tale of Pigling Bland, composer, producer, performer, Setola Di Maiale (SM1710)
2009 Gravida, composer, performer, Rumorebianoc
2007 Bebe Donkey, composer, producer, performer, Ambiances Magnétiques (AM163)
2012 Jonathan Snipes: Room 237, performer (distributed by IFC)
2011 Powerdove: Be Mine, performer, Circle Into Square
2009 The Boredoms, Super Roots 10, performer, Commmons (RZCM-46118) Thrill Jockey (Thrill 221)
2009 Cibelle, Las Venus Resort Palace Hotel, performer, Crammed Discs (Cram142)
2009 Kevin Blechdom, Gentlemania, performer, Sonig (76CD)
2007 Oxbow: The Narcotic Story, performer, Black Diamond Records (BDX04)
2007 Gregg Kowalsky: Tendrils In Vigne, performer, Root Strata (RS27)
Books and Apps
2017 Avant Tot music instruction App for San Francisco Conservatory of Music Pre College Program
2011 Avant Tot Teacher’s Manual and Lesson Plans
2010 Avant Tot
Magazine Print
2003 The Vindicator, Volume 34 issue 1–8, Managing Editor/ Arts Editor Cleveland State University
Selected Press (Complete list available upon request)
2018 KQED Arts : In San Francisco, Video Games Are Classical Music’s Next Frontier
“With her breadth of musical experience and connections in Silicon Valley, Brzytwa has pushed the San Francisco Conservatory to modernize its curriculum — and the country’s other top classical music schools are still catching up. In the TAC program, technology isn’t solely to enhance more traditional modes of music-making. Instead, it carries the same weight as classical training, and students learn to apply high-level musicianship to the entertainment industry’s real-world demands. That’s not to say that the program is purely technical like at a trade school; instead, Brzytwa fosters an experimental approach on campus and encourages students to pursue creatively challenging projects”
2017 The San Francisco Classical Voice: The Compleat Composer 2017: Musician, Sound Designer, Producer
“I wanted our TAC program to emphasize what technology can offer classical musicians and composers. Its mandate had to be a music/technology program that was specifically focused on media,” said Brzytwa….. Two years and $1 million went into converting the Conservatory’s basement into a state-of-the-art recording facility.”
2017 San Francisco Chronicle : San Francisco Conservatory of Music Celebrates 100 years
“Directed by composer MaryClare Brzytwa, the program, whose faculty includes movie composers and music folk from Facebook, trains students to score films, do video game sound design and otherwise use the technology creatively. Half the program’s 38 students are women.”
2016 Hollywood News and Reporter: The Top 25 Music Schools in 2015
“#3. The San Francisco Conservatory of Music is one of the West's oldest conservatories, but it also boasts significant support and inspiration from Silicon Valley. “MaryClare Brzytwa is a young Dean who has put this all together herself, and I'm just impressed," composer Laura Karpman (Paris Can Wait) says of the school's New Music and Technology program. "She has got a hugely diverse student body."
2015 Wall Street Journal: “A New Festival for New Music”
“With much of the classical music here focused on the starry 70th-birthday celebration that the San Francisco Symphony threw for its music director, Michael Tilson Thomas, it would have been easy to miss New Music Gathering 2015, a feisty, hybrid festival and conference that last Thursday through Saturday took over the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, just a short walk down Van Ness Avenue from Davies Symphony Hall. “
2014 Wall Street Journal: “ Fine-Art Students Get Lessons in Business”
2011 Foxy Digitalis: Stairwells
Maryclare Brzytwa is a shaman, but I’m not sure if what she sees and passes on is something that will save, doom, or merely shake the listener. Actually, being shaken is rarely a mere event, and “Stairwells” is no comfortable way for armchair gloomies to get any morose fuel for their despair. The four tracks, or Steps, of the EP are harrowing and uncompromising. We don’t really know why she has taken us to a place of horror, but it is hard to stop listening, just in case there is solid ground. There is none. From the distorted flute instrumental “Step 1,” through the next two steps’ focus on Brzytwa’s chanting and howling interaction with that flute, to the twelve-minute or so “Step 4,” the closer that weaves together voice, industrial pulse (courtesy of guest Travis Johns) finally chaotic noise, the improvisations of “Stairwells” do not so much provide access to anything more than that dark, haunted room we never leave throughout. These are powerful steps to nowhere but deeper into a landscape that calls for catharsis. Obviously the signposts here are Diamanda Galas, Suicide and Carla Bozulich, but Maryclare Brzytwa carves her own niche in the experimental search for relief from suffering through pure sound. “Stairwells” is not an easy listen, but most good medicine goes down rough, and this is sonic purge if there ever was one.”
2009 Philadelphia Northeast Times: Master Artist Rental Car
...California’s MaryClare Brzytwa — an acclaimed flutist whose music often blends her preferred instrument with a sack full of odd electronics to create haunting soundscapes. Her songs are warped journeys through twisted pathways of noise that explore and test boundaries on a whim. The flute, as played by Brzytwa, is an instrument that can quickly jump from a tortured nightmare to softly drifting lullaby. The California artist adds another layer of surrealism to her work with the help of strange sound effects that tease out the otherworldly aura of her music. It is an unnerving cocktail of beauty and dreamlike melody…
2008 Dusted Magazine, features 737: Live Solo Performance
Flutist, vocalist, electronic musician, now based in Switzerland, via Oakland, via Cleveland. She’s a pretty scary/awesome artist and improviser in her own right. I was really sold after hearing her perform solo torch-noise behind a microphone, keyboard and computer screen with the most colorful Max layout I’d ever seen. Later, I learned of her association with folks like Fred Frith, Zeena Parkins and Joelle Leandre, but here’s a list of people I think should seek her out ASAP: Kate Bush, Maja Ratkje, Meredith Monk, Mike Patton, John Zorn, Britney.
2007 All about Jazz (Italy): Bebe Donkey
Ambient , Nervous, and Scattered. MC rocks! - Fred Frith
2007 Informator “Ars” (Poland): Bebe Donkey
Unusually intriguing improv. Avant garde improv that sometimes utilizes traditional dramaturgy. Motorized, hypnotic rhythms and vibrating, pulsating quadrants. Spatial electronics interwoven with lines of melodies seeped in mysterious micro and macro sounds and surprisingly coarse and prepared textures. Mysterious, magical tension, abstract paintings concretizing themselves in our suspenseful emotions and passions. Liturgical, melancholy arrest in unusual colors.
2007 San Francisco Weekly: San Francisco Electronic Music Festival
Maybe electrified female angst and all the beautiful things that spring from it floats your kayak. Then Oakland local MaryClare Brzytwa (‘brist wahh’, Polish) will transport you to netherworlds containing dark and twisty dimensions using a looped flute and custom computer programs that turn her devices into automaton improvisers, with a twist.