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.