Wooden Cities is a collective of performers and composers based in Buffalo, NY. The group frequently collaborates with and draws musicians from Buffalo's rich local scene, as well as other artists from throughout Western New York and the wider United States. Click here for a list of artists no longer active within the group, but with whom the ensemble still frequently collaborates.
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As a performer, educator, and composer, Brendan Fitzgerald has presented music throughout the United States East Coast for the past fifteen years. As a percussionist and student of Tom Kolor, Brendan has been part of performances and recordings across popular and art genres, premiering dozens of new works over his career. In 2011, he founded the contemporary music ensemble, Wooden Cities, which has made over eighty appearances since its inception and earned funding from the University at Buffalo Libraries and the New York State Council on the Arts. Having earned a Masters in Conducting Performance at the University at Buffalo, he has served as the conductor of the Buffalo Jazz Octet, Wooden Cities, and teaching artist with Young Audiences of Western New York. Recently, Brendan joined with long-time collaborator and friend, Ethan Hayden in the percussion, trombone, and electronics duo called f-f-f-f-Faulty Tower. Brendan will be completing his doctoral residency in audiology in 2019-20 at the Cleveland Clinic.
Evan Courtin is a violinist from Buffalo, New York. He began playing violin at the age of 5 and hasn't stopped since. After briefly attending the Mannes College of Music in New York City, he moved back to Buffalo where he helped form Peanut Brittle Satellite, a progressive rock band that was renowned for their unique harmonies and intrinsic rhythms. In 2008 they were awarded a Buffalo Music Award for Best New Original Music. In 2009 he composed/produced/scripted Oscar and the Hooker, which premiered at the Buffalo Infringement Festival that year, where it was named Best New Musical. In 2011 he assisted in the formation of Wooden Cities and has since enjoyed playing the music composed by his peers.
He is currently a member of Shubbaluliuma (aka Will Folk For Food), a trio of 2 violins and percussion that serves to proliferate the music of Béla Bartók and Eastern European folk music in general. In 2012 he was bestowed a Western New York Music Award as one of the region's best instrumentalists. Additionally, he performs with the Buffalo State College Philharmonia, and a band called Ramforinkus.
Ethan Hayden is a composer, performer, and author based in America's Rust Belt. His acoustic, electronic, and vocal music has been performed at conferences, festivals, and DIY spaces around the world. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. in Composition from the University at Buffalo, and also holds undergraduate degrees in Composition and Theory from the University of North Texas. His principal composition teachers include Cort Lippe, Jeffrey Stadelman, Joseph Klein, Andrew May, and David Bithell. He currently teaches sound synthesis and electroacoustic composition at Buffalo State College.
Also active as a performer, Ethan regularly presents new and experimental works for voice, trombone, and electronics. He is the associate director of Wooden Cities, a Buffalo-based contemporary music ensemble, and the technical director of Null Point, an initiative for new sound art in WNY. He runs the independent record label, Infrasonic Press, and is the author of Sigur Rós's
( ), published as part of Bloomsbury's 33⅓ series in August 2014.
Oboist Megan Kyle performs as a soloist, improviser, chamber musician, and orchestral musician throughout the Western New York region. She is a member of the composer/performer ensemble Wooden Cities, the artist collective Null Point, and is a founding member of several chamber music projects in Buffalo, including the oboe/cello duo Parvenue (with Katie Weissman) and the voice/oboe duo Senso di Voce (with Esin Gunduz). Megan has recently performed with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Slee Sinfonietta, the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, and the New World Symphony in Miami, among others. She teaches oboe and English horn at Houghton College, SUNY Geneseo, and SUNY at Buffalo and performs as a member of the Geneseo Wind Quintet.
Megan holds a Master of Music in Oboe Performance from DePaul University (2013), as well as a B.M. in Oboe Performance and B.A. in English from Oberlin Conservatory and College (2011). Her principal teachers have been Eugene Izotov, Robert Walters, Alex Klein, and Louis Rosenblatt.
Katie Weissman began playing the cello at the age of three at Buffalo Suzuki Strings after seeing Yo-Yo Ma appear on Sesame Street. She holds a Bachelors of Music in Cello Performance from Boston University, and her principal teachers include Feng Hew, Michael Reynolds, Amanda Truelove and Roman Mekinulov. When at home in Buffalo, Katie is cellist and backup singer in the Little Cake Cover Band and is a substitute for the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. She also plays with contemporary music ensemble Wooden Cities, the composition think-tank Evolution of the Arm, and various other chamber music outfits in the Western New York area. She has toured at home and abroad, and has lent her playing to many recording projects in the studio, including multiple albums and stage performances by Buffalo's own Goo Goo Dolls. She teaches privately in her own studio, and currently lives in Williamsville with her dogs, rabbit, cockatiel and parakeet.
Jon Nelson
Professor, University at Buffalo
Music Department
Founding Member/Trumpet,
Meridian Arts Ensemble
