MERI von KLEINSMID
Welcome to the official web site for composer Meri von KleinSmid.
About the Artist:
Meri von KleinSmid (b. 16 December, Los Angeles, California) is a classically trained musician, composer, sound-artist and phonographer. Grounded in an academic education in Western music and ethnomusicology, she creates electro-acoustic works by experimentation with varying concepts and techniques. Her primary aim is to create work that challenges the listener psychologically. Her work has been described in the press as: stunning, sparse, frightening and uniquely expansive.
Von KleinSmid's academic music studies started at school (flute and choir) after which she studied piano and violin with private tutors. At the University of Washington and Columbia College in Chicago she studied theory, the history of Western music and ethnomusicology. She has been a collector and manipulatrix of found sound since age eight.
Her recorded works include the compact discs CHI-TAPE (American Archive) a 62-minute tape-collage odyssey of life in Chicago, and her most recent CD, Ex Vivo (Mimeomeme-Mimeograph). Her work can also be found on Internet EPs, and in work included on international CD compilations.
She has occasionally collaborated with other composers (most notably Alex Keller) and has performed live on stage and radio. Her work has been selected for inclusion in festivals and concerts of new music around the world. (For more detailed information, see the 'Participation' or 'Music' sections.)