Peter Van Zandt Lane

Peter Van Zandt Lane is Associate Professor of Composition and Director of the Dancz Center for New Music at the University of Georgia Hodgson School of Music. He holds a BM in music theory and composition from the University of Miami Frost School of Music and MA and PhD degrees from Brandeis University. His composition studies include work with Melinda Wagner, Eric Chasalow, David Rakowski, and Lansing McLoskey. Prior to arriving in Athens, Dr. Lane taught at the University of Florida, Wellesley College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Harvard.

Peter has received commissions from the Barlow Endowment, the Composers Conference, American Chamber Winds, Sydney Conservatorium Wind Symphony, Emory University Wind Ensemble, Transient Canvas, Dinosaur Annex Music Ensemble, and the SUNY Purchase Percussion ensemble, among others. His full length ballet composed in collaboration with Juventas New Music Ensemble (Boston) and The People Movers contemporary dance company (Brooklyn), HackPolitik, explores the unique topic of cyber-dissidence through live music, dance, and electronics. Bringing contemporary music and dance into the cross-section of art, technology, and politics, HackPolitik was the subject of features on BBC radio, Forbes, CNet, and Boston Magazine, praised by critics as "angular, jarring, and sophisticated . . . very compelling . . . Ballet needs live music, and this one offered it at the highest level." (Boston Musical Intelligencer). The NYC run of the ballet was a New York Times Critic's Pick, hailed as "refreshingly relevant." (New York Times).

Dr. Lane composes works primarily for chamber ensemble, wind ensemble, and orchestra, often integrating electronics into works for traditional instruments. He has received fellowships from Yaddo, MacDowell Colony, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and Composers Now. His music has been performed by the Cleveland Orchestra, International Contemporary Ensemble, Lydian String Quartet, Ensemble Signal, Triton Brass, East Coast Composers Ensemble, Xanthos Ensemble, quux collective, Freon Ensemble, the New York Virtuoso Singers, and a number of college and university ensembles.

Festivals and conferences that have programmed Dr. Lane's compositions include the Sound and Music Computing Conference (Copenhagen), Festival of Contemporary Music in San Francisco, June in Buffalo, the Wellesley Composers Conference and Chamber Music Center, Festival Miami, SEAMUS, New Gallery Concert Series, Third Practice, Forecast Music, the Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Arts, Boston Cyber-Arts, and 12-Nights Music and Art (Miami). An avid advocate for new music, Dr. Lane has performed as a bassoonist in a number of contemporary music ensembles, participating in the commissioning and premiering of several new chamber and electroacoustic works. Recordings of his music are available on Parma/Navona Records, New Dynamic Records, and Innova Records.