Gene "Sxip" Shirey (pronounced "skip"[1]) is an American composer, performer, and story-teller. He grew up in Athens, Ohio and currently resides in New York City. Sxip started experimenting with found sound composition and extended instrument techniques when asked to compose music for Ohio University’s modern dance department. This eventually took him to New York City and he has been performing everywhere from underground clubs in Brooklyn (Rubulad) to TED (solo performance), all over Europe (The Luminescent Orchestrii) to the Sydney Opera House (The Daredevil Opera Company).
Shirey is an electric-acoustic oriented composer whose work blurs the edge of what is composition and what is sound design, what is experimental and what is novelty, with the intention to create a music built on direct statements that is very audience aware and very audience welcoming. His work utilizes found objects, traditional instruments, computer and re-imaged instruments such as Industrial Flutes, Bullhorn Harmonicas, Regurgitated Music Box, Triple Extended Pennywhistles, Miniature Hand Bell Choir, Obnoxiophone, Glass Bowls With Red Marbles and a clutch of curious objects.
At request from the Aaron Copeland founded American Music Center, Shirey has developed composing workshops that draw inspiration from Ann Bogart’s Viewpoints, Foley techniques and deep listening. These workshops allow musicians and non-musicians alike to develop strategies to use what is available to them, voice, found objects and found sounds and extended techniques for traditional instruments to create composition for their own work.
Shirey has been invited to be a guest lecturer at the Norwegian Institute of Art in February 2012 and September 2013. By invite of the English National Opera he will running a weekend workshop for young composers (and composing music for a short film), March 2012. He has also run his workshop at Trinity College, Oxford England at request of tuba instructor Oren Marshall and for the animation department at Harvard at request of animation professor Ruth Linford.
Upcoming performances include: Featured performer as member of an ensemble led by founding member of Ethel and Bang on a Can alumni Todd Reynolds, co-billing with Laurie Anderson at Lincoln Center Outdoors on August 10. Solo performance and performance with Children's Choir in collaboration with composer Angelica Negron at New Amsterdam's Ecstatic Music Festival March 22 in NYC.
"His music sounds like stories. He works in the places where noise becomes music and does things that make you realize there are no boundaries between noise and music—or not like you imagine" -Neil Gaiman in The Wall Street Journal
Composition Highlights include scoring a short film for Neil Gaiman (Sandman, Coraline) which was featured in an 11 part series for Sky TV in the U.K. and ran on Christmas day. Composition “Song for Lizzie” premiered by The Boston Pops at Symphony Hall on New Years Day. Work with choreographer Heid Latsky and disabled dancers on "GIMP "which had a Boston Premier at The Institute of Contemporary Art. Composition for the feature film Hotel Gramarcy Park by director Douglas Keeve (Unzipped). Collaboration with composer Rachelle Garniez to create and perform the work "Shadowland" for MOMA's Surrealistic Tribute to Salvidor Dali. Composition and music direction for "Marsupial Girl” at The Minneapolis Children's Theater by playwright Lisa D'Amour. Composition for 5 George Meilies silent films including "A Trip to the Moon" for The Museum of The Moving Image in Queens with presentation by International Book Award writer Brian Selznick (The Invention of Hugo Cabaret). Shirey composed music for director puppeteer Theodora Skipitaras' for Women of Troy and Lysistrata at La Mama.
Previous performance highlights include Featured presenter at TED (solo performance), support act for Dresden Dolls US tour, England. Ashley Capp's (founder of Bonaroo) Big Ears Festival, Edinburgh Fringe, Adelaide Fringe Festival in Australia, Floyd Fest, Joe's Pub, The Knitting Factory and CBGB's in New York Ctiy.
"My first night in New York City I wandered over to Tompkin's Square Park, where 15 punk rockers, armed with sledgehammers, sticks and whatever they could find were pounding a piano into dust. It was John Cage made dangerous and delicious." -Sxip Shirey
Sxip Shirey he has played exploding circus organ for the pyro-technic clowns of the Daredevil Opera Company at the Sydney Opera House and the Kennedy Center, industrial flutes for acrobats on mechanical jumping boots at The New Victory Theater on Broadway, tamponophone with The Bindlestiff Family Cirkus at Bonaroo, hillbilly music for gypsies in Transylvania and gypsy music for hillbillies in West Virginia with The Luminescent Orchestrii. When in NYC, Shirey performs at the last of New York's true underground parties and at Joe's Pub at The Public Theater.
Shirey also hosted and curated the multi-part Charm Sessions featuring live international music from NYC for Radio Scotland.Shirey has toured Ireland and Wales as a duo, "Sxip and Rhi" with Rhiannon Giddens of the Carolina Chocolate Drops. Featured on a track with New Orleans legend Doctor John on the next album by french recording artist Feloche.
Shirey has released 3 solo albums, 3 albums with The Luminescent Orchestrii and one fabulous EP on Nonesuch records as a collaboration between Luminescent Orchestrii and The Carolina Chocolate Drops. He has had two songs featured as NPR 'S Song of the Day.
He is the host and producer of Sxip's Hour of Charm, a variety show of cabaret acts. Hour of Charm regularly occurs in New York City, usually at Joe's Pub, but has been taken on the road to the American Repertory Theatre,[2] the Rothbury Music Festival[3] and other venues. Musicians and sound generators who have performed include: Amanda Palmer, Jason Webley, Reggie Watts, Corn Mo, Bora Yoon, Project Jenny, Project Jan, and Curtis Eller; variety artists who have performed include: The Red Bastard, Una Mimnagh, Greg Walloch, Scotty The Blue Bunny, Jonathan Nosan, and AJ Silver.[4]
Sxip has also toured with Féloche.[5] and Evelyn Evelyn[6] for whom he provided an elaborate shadow puppet show.
Sxip is a member of The Daredevil Opera Company[7] and is a founding member of the band Luminescent Orchestrii.[8][9]
In November 2006 Sxip released his début album, Sombule.[10]
Sxip composed the music for a play Tale of a West Texas Marsupial Girl, a new play at the Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis, Minnesota in January 2007.
Sxip then wrote the music for Neil Gaiman's short film Statuesque, first shown December 2009 on Sky 1 in the UK.[11]
This was followed by a project with Jason Webley in 2009 entitled Days with You.[12] a 2-song coloured vinyl 7" accompanied by a free 13-song CD.
In May 2010 Sxip released his second album Sonic New York,[13] which included a cover of Ring My Bell by Anita Ward.
On August 1, 2011, Sxip announced that, through the crowd sourcing website Kickstarter, he had managed to raise $21,005 to fund a third album A Bottle of WHISKEY and a Handful of BEES.[14]