TODD REYNOLDS
violinist, composer, educator, technologist.
Photo by Lynn Lane (Click for high resolution)
“your road map through the wilds of contemporary-classical New York. ” -New York Times
Todd Reynolds is known as one of the founding fathers of the hybrid-musician movement and one of the most active and versatile proponents of what he calls ‘present music’. The violinist of choice for Steve Reich, Meredith Monk, Bang on a Can, and a founder of the string quartet known as Ethel, his compositional and performance style is a hybrid of old and new technology, multi-disciplinary aesthetic and pan-genre composition and improvisation.
BOOKING
Todd Reynolds is available for immediate booking for corporate events, concerts, film scoring and commercial work, educational residencies, and other projects listed here on his website. Collaborators include Guy Klusevsek, Suzanne Bocanegra, Shoko Nagai, Luke DuBois, Bill Morrison, Sxip Shirey, Jonny Rodgers (aka Cindertalk), and more.
PRESS for TODD REYNOLDS
“…instrumental in making classical music hip again…”
–Time Out New York
“…Reynolds drew only the subtlest gestures to create a seamless ambient texture that was perfectly gauged…he [needs] only to pluck a note or slide through a glissando occasionally to keep the sonic fabric lively.” -Village Voice
“Todd Reynolds, more than any other New York violinist, has mastered the styles of jazz and classical with equal skill and flair.” –The New Yorker
“His compositional skills and cross-century aesthetics leave a longer-lasting impression, offering dynamic melodies and structures alongside amplification, loop effects, and laptop electronics.” – Alarm Press
"…one of my favorite musicians ever…"
–RadioLab
“A classical pioneer in both performance and composition.”
–WQXR
“Those yet to encounter the musical force that is Todd Reynolds have some engrossing listening in store.” –New York Classical Review
PRESS for Outerborough
Think of “Outerborough,” an engrossing new two-CD set by the violinist Todd Reynolds on the Innova label, as your road map through the wilds of contemporary-classical New York. “
–New York Times
“One of our favorite albums so far this year”
–NPR Music
“…a rich album…”
–Pop Matters
AUDIO/VIDEO
FILM SCORING
FULL BIO
Todd Reynolds, violinist, composer, educator and technologist is known as one of the founding fathers of the hybrid-musician movement and one of the most active and versatile proponents of what he calls ‘present music’. The violinist of choice for Steve Reich, Meredith Monk, Bang on a Can, and a founder of the string quartet known as Ethel, his compositional and performance style is a hybrid of old and new technology, multi-disciplinary aesthetic and pan-genre composition and improvisation. Reynolds’ music has been called “a charming, multi-mood extravaganza, playful like Milhaud, but hard-edged like Hendrix” (Strings Magazine), and his countless premieres and performances of everything from classical music to Jazz to Rock‘n’Roll seem to redefine the concert hall and underground club as undeniably and unavoidably intertwined. He has just released his double CD set, Outerborough on Innova Recordings, featuring InSide, a collection of his own music, paired with OutSide, music written by a veritable who’s who of contemporary composers.
A forerunner in the expansion of the violin beyond its classical and ‘wood-bound’ tradition, Reynolds electrifies in concert, weaves together composed and improvised segments, and makes use of computer technology and digital loops to sculpt his sounds in real time, seamlessly integrating minimalist, pop, Jazz, Indian, African, Celtic and indigenous folk musics into his own sonic blend. As a cross-genre improviser and collaborator, he has appeared and/or recorded with such artists as Anthony Braxton, Uri Caine, John Cale, Steve Coleman, Joe Jackson, Dave Liebman, Yo-Yo Ma, Graham Nash, Greg Osby, Steve Reich, Marcus Roberts and Todd Rundgren, and has commissioned and premiered countless numbers of new works by America’s most compelling composers, including John King, Phil Kline, Michael Gordon, Neil Rolnick, Julia Wolfe, David Lang, Evan Ziporyn and Randall Wolff. His interdisciplinary work includes ongoing collaborations with SoundPainter Walter Thompson as well as media artists Bill Morrison and Luke DuBois and sound artist Jody Elff.
Reynolds is a founder of the band known as Ethel, a critically acclaimed amplified string quartet, with whom he wrote and toured internationally for seven years. He has also produced Still Life With Microphone, an ongoing theater piece which incorporates his own written and improvised music, compositions written for him, and elements of video and theatrical arts. Nuove Uova [new eggs], new works for violin and electricity, another Todd Reynolds production is a ‘new-music cabaret’ of sorts, having as its home Joe’s Pub in Manhattan. The Todd Reynolds String Quartet and Typical Music, an avant piano trio featuring Ashley Bathgate and Vicky Chow from the Bang on a Can All-Stars, continue to commission, perform and record music from Contemporary Music’s brightest stars.
