Pierce Gradone (he/him) is an award-winning composer whose music echoes the strange cultural brew of his musical formation, from playing bluegrass in the hills of Appalachia to sprinting the marathon of blinding-fast pentecostal shout music. Described as “gorgeous, expansive” (I Care If You Listen) and “engaging” (Chicago Tribune), Gradone’s music integrates the shimmering timbres of untempered harmony with an incisive, funk-infused rhythmic vocabulary.
He holds a particular interest in close collaborations with performers, creating uniquely personal compositions that reflect the musical personae of his collaborators. While his music has explored the notion of music as an embodied art and grappling with narratives of labor and mechanical reproduction, his current work interrogates the boundaries between electronic, popular, and contemporary concert music.