Arditti Quartet 

Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik 2012

String Quartet no. 2 Movement I

Promises (2014), for orchestra

Janacek - In The Mists 1

aeolian dust

Performed and composed by Rachel Epperly 

wait, winter I

On his debut Ravello Records release ROSE, composer Michael Laurello offers a personal and refined style marked by rhythmic invention, visceral directness, and earnest emotional depth. His music reflects his diverse stylistic influences, which include Western classical music, jazz-fusion, progressive rock/metal, and EDM/IDM. Intricate polyrhythms, high-energy grooves, and a sophisticated harmonic palette are distinctive features of his music.

Laurello composes for both traditional and non-traditional musical forces, including symphony orchestra, acoustic chamber ensembles, and works conceived specifically for the recording studio. He has recently collaborated with groups such as So Percussion, the Yale Philharmonia, Sandbox Percussion, and HOCKET.

Rose and Tell hope everything you hear, two pieces from this release, exemplify Laurello’s fascination with seamlessly interwoven soundworlds of acoustic and electronic sounds. Rose (for Clavinet, synthesizer, and electronics) is a nostalgic homage to ’80s pop viewed through a contemporary lens, featuring a complex rhythmic structure and relentless forward motion. Tell hope everything you hear (for prepared steel-string acoustic guitar and electronics) is in some ways a blood relative of Rose, addressing similar compositional concerns, but with a focus on the electronic transformation of the guitar from being unprocessed to becoming distorted.

Big Things, an amplified quintet for electric guitar, electric bass, piano, vibraphone, and modified drum kit, is a high-powered exploration of groove and polyrhythm. Kaleidoscopic in nature, it showcases Laurello’s ability to create gorgeous, elaborate textures from relatively modest musical materials.

Embers is the most introspective piece on the release, and is the only work of fixed media. A musical collage at heart, it is composed of sounds that Laurello recorded and manipulated (including prepared Fender Rhodes electric piano, prepared acoustic piano, analog synthesizer, found object percussion, and toy piano, among others). Conceived as a tribute to composer Conlon Nancarrow, each instrumental layer is playing in a different tempo, creating a beguiling musical universe that can be at the same time hypnotic and disorienting.

http://ravellorecords.com/catalog/rr7944

Michael Laurello - Rose  "Big Things"

You Forgot My Name

In 2015, I decided to build a comment box and leave it in public places around New Haven, CT. On the outside of the box, I asked: "What would you do to change the world? What do we need?" The text in this piece is a compilation of those responses.

chainlink fences

California

Michael Laurello’s compositional work, praised for its “intricate structure” and “hints of thrashing and angularity” (The Wall Street Journal), reflects a fascination with time, energy, and emotion. It has been presented at venues and festivals such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Bang on a Can Summer Festival, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, MATA, PASIC, Carlsbad Music Festival, Music from Angel Fire, North American Saxophone Alliance (NASA), National Conference of the Society of Composers, Inc. (SCI) by artists including icarus Quartet, Bluecoats, United States Marine Band, The U.S. Army Band, Nashville Symphony, Sō Percussion, HOCKET, Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble, Yale Percussion Group, and Ensemble Repercussion featuring the Duisburger Philharmoniker and Deutschen Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz. 

Laurello studied composition at Yale School of Music and Tufts University, and music synthesis (electronic production and design) at Berklee College of Music. His mentors include David Lang, Christopher Theofanidis, Martin Bresnick, and John McDonald. Honors include a residency at Avaloch Farm Music Institute, a commission from the American Composers Forum, a Nashville Symphony Composer Lab Fellowship, selection for the EarShot Berkeley Symphony Readings, and a Baumgardner Fellowship and Commission from the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. He has attended the highSCORE and Etchings composition festivals, and was a fellow at the Bang on a Can Summer Festival.

His recording, mixing, and multimedia work is focused on contemporary classical music and can be heard on labels such as Furious Artisans, Ravello, Albany, Equilibrium, New Focus, and MSR Classics. He currently serves as Manager of Recording Services and Technical Engineer for the MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music at Bowling Green State University.

Promises (2014), for orchestra

Michael Laurello | Composer