Berk Schneider, based in Southern California, is recognized as a skilled trombonist and dedicated music educator. Praised for his "deep and probing" musicality by the San Diego Story, he has also been lauded as a "valiant proponent" of newly composed music by the San Diego Union Tribune. His curated performances seek to provide profound and immersive experiences via electronic elements and collaboration with talented composers. His research-creation publications delve into the exploration of how listeners perceive sonic boundaries and navigate performance dynamics in relation to time and space while investigating the intricate interplay between memories, dynamic semiotics, improvisation, and ingrained auditory habits. These investigations contribute to the development of distinctive and often interactive sonic environments, facilitating the exchange of tacit knowledge among participants. This, in turn, nurtures practices that not only honor the rich traditions of Western classical music but also embrace the diverse international artistic community.
Berk's musical experiences have taken him across the globe, from Saint Peters Basilica, Vatican City, performing Mozart under the direction of Helmuth Rilling to Carnegie Hall with Maestro Valery Gergiev and Ravel's Bolero. He's taught and performed in Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Colombia, China, Croatia, The Czech Republic, Ecuador, Germany, Mexico, Netherlands, Peru, Philippines, Uruguay, and United States. From the eerie perplexity of the Orange Show Monument nestled in Houston’s East End to the sold out Toyota Center, Frankfurt's Bockenheimer Depot, and the Berlin Philharmonie — performances occur in venues ranging from abandoned bunkers, parks, and traditional concert halls. His collaborations are equally varied, having worked alongside performers such as Charles Curtis, Joshua Bell, Mark Dresser, Josh Groban, Stephanie Richards, Steven Schick, Wilfrido Terrazas, conductors Brad Lubman, Enno Poppe, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Robert Spano, composers Arthur Gottschalk, Beat Furrer, Philip Glass, Helmut Lachenmann, Lei Liang, Alvin Lucier, Roger Reynolds, actor Alexander Fehling, musicians from the Akron, Firelands, Houston, and La Jolla symphonies, Ensemble Modern, Project [BLANK], as well as director Heiner Goebbels. He's made summer appearances at the Eastern Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Festival Napa Valley, and toured internationally with the Orchestra of the Americas.
As an avid contemporary musician Berk has commissioned and performed many new creative works. A grant awarded to him by the Hilda and Hershel Rich Family Endowment for Community Service funded the creation of "Procession," a trombone concerto by Seung-ah Oh, recipient of the Buma Toonzetters Prize and Guggenheim fellow. In addition, Berk collaborated with rising star Sang-Song, winner of the Harvard Fromm Music Foundation and Nee Commission. His new trombone concerto entitled "Frozen Grief" was premiered by The La Jolla Symphony & Chorus.
In Europe Berk has performed in the Darmstadt Summer Course and with Ensemble Modern in the Cresc Biennale Frankfurt, Klangspuren Festival Schwaz, the Kurt Weill Festival, Playsonic Festival, Hessischer Rundfunk radio broadcasts, and other projects. He also worked regularly with the, Burgfestspiele Bad Vilbel, Staatstheater Mainz, Schauspiel Frankfurt and Sinfonieorchester Bad Nauheim. A regular musician with contemporary music ensembles in Austria and Germany, Berk performed "Antipoden" for trombone and ensemble by Gerald Resch with Ensemble Zeitfluss in Vienna. and premiered Ulrich Rasche’s "Sieben gegen Theben/Antigone" in Frankfurt. While being rolled on a 3x4 draisine through Frankfurt Central Station, he made a solo appearance during Studio Libeskind's "One day in Life" concert series, performing Berio's "Sequenza V". He is a founding member of Mobile Beats Ensemble, a formation of alumni from the International Ensemble Modern Academy.
Berk is a dedicated teacher and has worked as an Associate Instructor for the UC San Diego Department of Music. This position gave him the opportunity to teach many different courses, including hip hop, popular music, western music history, music in cognition, electronic music, and fundamental music theory.
He has recorded many new chamber works in collaboration with the Analysis, Creation, and Teaching of Orchestration (ACTOR) Project, spearheading an independent creative-research grant proposal (MAP) that sought to investigate collaborative relationships between performers and composers during the creation process via digital media and binaural technologies. This research endeavor has undergone rigorous peer review, leading to its publication and presentation at conferences held in both Montreal and New York City. These conferences were led by notable figures such as Stephen McAdams and were hosted in collaboration with ACTOR as well as the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM). His dissertation, Scaffolding Metacognitive Self-efficacy Models in Post-Secondary Music Andragogy, further develops this research, creating innovative teaching approaches tailored to a wide range of adult music students via evidence-based tools that assist intermediate and experienced musicians while addressing the challenges associated with memory, performance anxiety, and social learning during the creative process.
Upcoming publications include "Timbrenauts: Creative Explorations in Timbre Space (2024)," co-authored with Yuval Adler. This project involves the utilization of experimental designs derived from timbre perception research to construct data models that guide the creation of innovative compositions for the unconventional instrumental pairing of cello and trombone.
Berk received his doctorate degree from UC San Diego in the summer of 2024. While at UC San Diego he curated experimental solo shows that offered commentary on the idiosyncrasies of the prevailing social zeitgeist, including 'Imposter Syndrome', 'Night and Day', and SEG, a work by Sang Song which reflects on the human condition in isolation, resonating with issues introduced by the COVID-19 pandemic. He will release a debut album with improvisatory trio and friends Douglas Osmun (AI hub) and Joey Bourdeau (percussion). Debut album— ElectroCognition: A Journey Through the Intersection of AI and Electronic Music (summer 2024)
Berk's mentors include James DeSano, Per Brevig, Allen Barnhill, Robin Eubanks, Uwe Dierksen, and Roger Reynolds. He is a graduate of Oberlin Conservatory, Rice University, Frankfurt University of Music, and has been a finalist and honorably mentioned in international trombone competitions, including the Robert Marsteller Competition, Lewis Van Haney Philharmonic Prize, and ITA Trombone Quartet Competition. He lives in Oceanside, CA, with his wife Denise and their daughter Naia and is currently earning a California Teaching Credential.
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