Chan Poling

Chandler Hall Poling (born 1957 in Evanston, Illinois) is an American musician and composer.^[1]

Early life and education

He was born in 1957 in Evanston, Illinois, USA. He moved to Minnesota with his family when he was a child. He studied composition at MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and, after graduating from high school there, went on to study composition and performance at the California Institute of the Arts from 1975 to 1977.

Career

Music

Influenced by jazz and theater music and the burgeoning punk and new wave pop music of that time, as well as the music of Minimalists Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and also world and avant-garde performer/composers like Meredith Monk, as well as the treasure-trove of film scores available to students at Cal Arts, Mr. Poling went on to write and perform dance scores, student theater and film scores and start his own rock band, The Suburbs. The Suburbs got their first recording contract with Twin/Tone Records and went on to record music for PolyGram Records, A&M Records, Universal Music, Restless Records.^[2] The Suburbs were voted among the “100 Most Influential Minnesota Musical Entities of the Twentieth Century” by The Minneapolis Star Tribune.

In the 1990s Poling made two solo albums: one a record of his score for Theatre de la Jeune Lune's Children Of Paradise, and the other a record of off-kilter pop songs; "Calling All Stars" for Manifesto Records. In 2005 he formed The New Standards^[3] with John Munson of Semisonic and Trip Shakespeare and released a CD; "The New Standards" which is composed of interpretations of a diverse collection of songwriters with Poling on grand piano, Munson on stand-up bass, and Steve Roehm on vibraphone.

In 2009, Poling's musical Venus opened at the Ritz Theater in Minneapolis.^[4] It is the only musical for which Poling wrote the music, the lyrics and the script.^[5] The musical took Poling ten years to complete, and he is working on five other musicals in "various stages of completion".^[5]

Composition

Poling's music credits include works for television, film and theater. His theater pieces include award-winning work for the Tony Award-winning French/American troupe Theatre de la Jeune Lune. Kevin McCollum commissioned Poling to write music for a new work developed under the aegis of The Ordway Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota.^[6] His score for the Twin Cities Public Television documentary Iron Range: A People's History (1994) won an Emmy Award. In 2008, he also composed the score to Fritz: The Walter Mondale Story, a documentary film about the life of his father-in-law Walter Mondale.

Personal life

Poling had three children with ex-wife Terri Paul.^{[citation needed]}

In 2005, he married Eleanor Mondale,^[3] daughter of former United States Vice President Walter Mondale. Until her death on September 17, 2011, they lived in Minnesota on a small farm where they raised miniature horses.^[7][8]

External links

• Chan Poling's Website

References