Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Composer/pianist Ketty Nez joined the Boston University School of Music in 2005, after teaching for two years at the University of Iowa. Her folk opera, "The Fiddler and the Old Woman of Rumelia," was premiered April 2011 by Xanthos Ensemble, and staged by the Juventas New Music Ensemble in May 2012. Ketty's portrait CD, "Listen to a Wonder Never Heard Before!," was released by Albany Records in 2010, and her piano concerto, "thresholds," performed with the Boston University Wind Ensemble, by Ravello Records in July, 2013. Portrait CD's of her folk-based chamber music include "double images" (Albany Records, 2929), and "far sight sun light" (Albany Records, 2023). In fall of 2021, Ketty was a guest teacher at the Liszt Academy in Budapest, Hungary, on a Fulbright teaching grant. In 2002-3, Ketty was in residence for several months at a conservatory in Montbéliard, France, prior to the premiere of "An Opera in Devolution: Drama in 540 Seconds," at the 2003 Seventh Festival A*Devantgarde in Munich. In 2001, Ketty was a visiting composer/scholar at Stanford University’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics, and in 1998 participated in the year-long computer music course at IRCAM. Prior to this, Ketty studied for two years with Louis Andriessen in Amsterdam, where she co-founded the contemporary music collective Concerten Tot and Met. Her music has been performed in festivals in Europe, North America, and Asia. Ketty holds a Ph.D. in composition from the University of California at Berkeley, a master’s degree in composition from the Eastman School of Music, and bachelor’s degrees in piano performance from the Curtis Institute of Music, and in psychology from Bryn Mawr College. For more information, please visit http://people.bu.edu/knez Specialties: Composition for various media (including solo, chamber, orchestra, opera, chorus, film scoring). Piano performance (solo, chamber). Conducting. Folk music research of East Europe.
Undergraduate and graduate level courses in theory, analysis, orchestration, conducting, writing opera, graduate research advisor. Co-founder, as composer/pianist, of the Wolfe/Nez duo of violin and piano, and "The Two Composers" of viola and piano. Frequent collaborations with musicians in projects of new music.
As a Fulbright scholar, I taught courses in contemporary orchestration and contemporary composition techniques to graduate composers at the Liszt Academy. I also collaborated with free-lance musicians in Budapest for performances, including a presentation of my folk-based compositions (November 11) at the Bartók Archives, Institute for Musicology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. I presented my compositions to the Liszt Academy (December 3), and also to the the Academy of Music, University of Ljubljana (December 10). This second event was part of a day of guest teaching working with student composers and librettists on their operas. I helped to organize the Fulbright Artist Showcase concert at the Liszt Academy (December 18), performing solo as well as collaboratively with other Fulbright artists. At a private meeting with esteemed composer György Kurtág (December 15), I performed selections from my work "Postcards from the 1930's" with violinist and fellow Fulbright artist, Daniel Sender.
Courses in undergraduate theory, beginning composition, and graduate orchestration. Coordination of a team of student teaching assistants in aural skills and harmony. Performer as pianist in chamber works with faculty colleagues.