(b. 1971, Detroit, Michigan).
American composer of stage, orchestral, chamber, choral, vocal, and electroacoustic works that have been performed in Asia, Europe and North America.
Mr. Schocker studied composition with James Hartway and piano with Rob Conway at Wayne State University in Detroit from 1993–96 and composition with Alvin Curran at Mills College in Oakland, California in 1997–98 and with Pauline Oliveros there from 1997–2000. He also studied composition privately with Paul Barker in London in 1996 and twice attended the Dartington International Summer School, where he studied gamelan and tunings with Lou Harrison in 1996 and film scoring with Daryl Runswick in 1998.
Among his honours are the Gil Sirotti Memorial Scholarship (1996), two Mills Residence awards (1997, 1999), the Hattie M. Strong Foundation Fellowship (1999), an ASCAP Plus Award (2002–05), the United States of America Federal Assistance Award (2004), and the JUSFC/NEA Creative Artist Exchange Fellowship (2006, for a residency and research in Japan). His music has been performed in Belgium, Cyprus, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Taiwan, the UK, and the USA.
He is also active in other positions. He co-founded the Music for People and Thingamajigs Festival in 1998 and has served as its director since 1998. He served as composer-in-residence to the European Dance Development Centre in Düsseldorf in 2000–01 and the St. Ignatius Church in San Francisco in 2002. His writings include the book Just Intonation for Nonfixed-Pitch Instruments, Vol. 1: Trombone (1999–2000, self-published).
COMPLETE LIST OF WORKS
STAGE:
Twenty + 4 (opera/music-theatre work, libretto by Judy Halebsky), 5 mixed voices, 5 dancers, 5 electric guitars, 1997–98
Banana Seat Low Rider (text by Judy Halebsky), mixed chorus, dancer, trombone, 1998
Since They Forced Me (UP ON AN ELEPHANT'S-BACK), dancer, musical glasses (1 player), 1999
The Stones I Threw Yesterday, mixed chorus, dancer, made instruments (3 players), 1999
Obong-san, voice, dancer, musical glasses (1 player), 1999
Sous le sable, dancer, flute, musical glasses (1 player), 2000
Eve, dancers, made/found instruments (4 players), 2000
Mudwings, 3 performance artists, fixed media, 2001
Sessantadue, performance artist, fixed media, 2001
The Big Bang (text by Judy Halebsky), mixed chorus, made instruments (2 players), 2003
Wind Dharma 1, musical glasses (1 player), live text-images (by Judy Halebsky), 2003
ORCHESTRAL:
Tapestry, 6 percussion, string orchestra, 1995
Suling Manus, suling (bamboo flute from Southeast Asia), gamelan, 1996
Kusu Mastra, gamelan, 1997
The End of Certainty, percussion, string orchestra, 1996–98
Global Symphony, 18 ensembles (variable total number of players), 1998
The Hill, string orchestra, 1998
Untuk Sahabat Tercinta (in memoriam Bill Colvig), gamelan, 1999
CHAMBER MUSIC:
Marimba Music, marimba, 1994
Dissension, French horn, 2 trumpets, trombone, tuba, 1995
1971, any 7 players, 1996
Fish Wife, any 8 players, 1996
WEN, 2 violins, 1996–97
GRO, flute, viola, 1997
POO: 32 variations on a theme of Andrew Lloyd Webber, any player, 1997
ONE, any 2 strings, 1997
TAP, 2 percussion, 1997
et cetEra, 2 electric guitars, 1997
Are, viola, 1997
I have Five Things to Say, made instruments (6 players), 1998
MEG, soprano saxophone, trombone, piano, accordion, 1999
Spots 1–6, bass clarinet, 1999
Litosts, bass clarinet, trombone, 1999
Après la pluie..., cello, 1999
FOUR, any 4 players, 1999
Volcano, trombone, fixed media, 1999
Renewable Energy, clarinet, trombone, violin, viola, piano, percussion, 2000
Death of an Optimist, made/found instruments (4 players), 2000
Rustbelt, made/found instruments (4 players), 2001
Dodecachordon I–VI, any number of electric guitars (with e-bows), 2001–02
Sleeping Dream, made/found instruments (2 players), 2002
Shared Echoes, made/found instruments (any number of players), 2004
Tuesday, March 14, 2002, violin, cello, piano, 2005
Netori 1–4, 2 electric guitars (with e-bows), 2006
Hymn for Lou and Bill, any 2 players, 2006
CHORAL:
Beatus Vir, soprano, baritone, mixed chorus, flute, 1995
Kyrie, mixed chorus, 1995
For Tonight I am Blind (text by Jennifer Jurewicz), mixed chorus, 1995
Ave Maria, tenor, mixed chorus, 1995
Psalm 62, bass, mixed chorus, organ, 1996
Ave Verum Corpus, mixed chorus, oboe, bassoon, 1996
Salve Regina, mixed chorus, 2001
Ave Regina, mixed chorus, 2001
Take, Lord, and Receive (text by St. Ignatius of Loyola), mixed chorus, 2002
Vox Clamantis, mixed chorus, 2002
Long, Too Long, America (text by Walt Whitman), mixed chorus, 2005
VOCAL:
The Lamb (text by William Blake), soprano, 1995
Salvator Mundi, baritone, 1996
Tintinnabuli (vocalise), soprano/tenor, alto/bass, flute, oboe, string orchestra, 1996
Ethel's 7 Percent (text by Janet Holgrum), voice, 2 typewriters, 1998
Festival (text by Max Ernst), soprano/tenor, alto/bass, 1998
PIANO:
For Jenn, 1995
Aptos, prepared piano, 1997
One Hundred Years of Solitude, 1999
ELECTROACOUSTIC:
Technology is Good, fixed media, 1998
Berührungspunkte, fixed media, 1999
Blesch, fixed media, 2000
Wind Dharma 2, fixed media, 2004
MULTIMEDIA/PERFORMANCE:
Triptych (text by Judy Halebsky), voice, dancer, guitar, slide projections, 1997
Within the Walls, dancer, fixed media, film (by Ching-fang Chiang), 2001–02
ARRANGEMENTS:
Phantom (Sergei Prokofiev), orchestra, 1995
Metamorphosis (Philip Glass), orchestra, 1995
Choral (Béla Bartók), small orchestra, 1997
Spiegel im Spiegel (Arvo Pärt), guitar, 1997