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Work Samples

Dan Deacon, Owen Gardner, "Harold’s Lament"

A collaboration with Dan Deacon manipulating my cello playing, from the soundtrack to Theo Anthony's "Rat Film."

Global Improvisers Orchestra 2019

Official documentation of the Global Improvisers Orchestra, an international ensemble in which I was one of two US invitees, rehearsing and performing at the Moers Festival (Moers, DE) and Music Meeting (Nijmegen, NL).

performance at HIZZ, 2019

From a performance on modified electric guitar, solo and in a duo with Jessica Sligter (NL) at HIZZ in Cairo, EG in November 2019. Photo by Ahmed Hany.

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About Owen

Baltimore City - Station North A&E District

Owen Gardner's picture
I am a Baltimore-based multi-instrumentalist, composer and improviser committed to expanding the resources of musical performance and perception. My work is guided by the generative tension between experimental and traditional approaches. The son of a musician and instrument-builder, I was exposed to a wide variety of music from an early age, most importantly to American folk music, which has had the greatest impact on my subsequent music-making. Early experiences playing fretless banjo and cello... more

"Sammusik 2" (2020) (excerpt)

An excerpt from a 52-minute (and potentially much longer) composition, based on a simple counting procedure that yields perpetual melodic variation.  Taking insights from perceptual psychology, I have used tuning and timbre to ensure that the listener is always at the edge of something familiar but never quite arrives there.

  • "Sammusik 2" (excerpt)

    The full version may be heard here: https://owengardner.bandcamp.com/track/sammusik-2

Horse Lords, "Integral Accident" (2018) (excerpt)

A composition by Horse Lords (of which I am a member) commissioned by Peabody's contemporary music ensemble Now Hear This. I arranged and notated the parts for the ensemble and I perform the guitar part. As in "Sammusik," a simple mathematical procedure generated much of the musical content; the pitches, the basic rhythmic structure, the electronics, and the large-scale form of the piece are all governed by the same law. This was performed at Peabody in 2018, a studio recording released in 2020, and further European performances were scheduled for 2020 but cancelled due to COVID-19.

Meidah ould Dendenni, "Wezen" (transcription)

Over the past year I have been transcribing performances of virtuoso guitar music from Mauritania, which I have undertaken both to better understand the music and technique myself and to bring some public recognition to this music, which is so under-studied that these are the first transcriptions of it. The music is very complex and these can only serve as a complement to a more thorough contextualization, but it has been and continues to be a valuable way for me to deepen my appreciation for these artists and to expand my own work. Ould Dendenni's performance may be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWzkHYuZFKw

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