Listen to Samples of Nolan's Compositions
Click Here to Learn About Nolan's Current Projects

Nolan Gasser is the epitome of an eclectic composer, comfortable working in a wide-range of musical genres and styles, for a wide range of instrumental and/or vocal mediums ­– from Pop/Rock to Contemporary Classical, from Theater to Jazz, from solo piano to full orchestra, and everywhere in between. Nolan was fortunate to have been exposed to multiple style of music during his formative years, which combined with his natural ability to synthesize disparate musical idioms and make them his own has proven a great advantage throughout his career. Since at least the age of eleven, the long tail of “classical” music has been his most commanding calling – prodding him to undertake a rigorous educational path, culminating in his obtaining a Ph.D. in Musicology from Stanford University, in 2001. Indeed, his identity as a classical composer is the most “sacred” aspect of his musical identity, and it is a source of great pride that he is able to devote so much of his time to composing orchestral, chamber, vocal, and piano works – thanks to the generosity of numerous individual and institutional patrons.

The past five years have seen the serious expansion of his compositional output and an accompanying national exposure that is still at an early stage. His orchestral and chamber works have appeared in concert halls and music festivals around the world, with recent performances by the Charleston, Memphis, Arkansas, Oakland, and Napa Valley Symphonies, the American Brass Quintet, the Alexander String Quartet, pianist Kimball Gallagher – who last year performed his 3 Jazz Preludes at Carnegie Hall, and many others. In 2007, the prestigious music management firm IMG Artists, which boasts some of the world’s foremost classical musicians, signed on to promote Nolan’s large oratorio, American Festivals – beginning with a recent complete performance at the 2008 Festival del sole in Napa Valley, which featured two top vocal soloists (Jill Grove and Eric Owns) from IMG Artist’s impressive roster, along with actor Craig T. Nelson. Future performances of this oratorio are now being planned, e.g., in Washington D.C. (see the American Festivals feature for more details). Earlier this year, the World Concerto for Cello and Orchestra was premiered to great success by acclaimed cellist Maya Beiser with the Oakland Symphony, along with a trio of international soloists (see the World Concerto feature for more details).

Among future premieres include the second of two commissions associated with the launch and scientific mission of NASA’s Fermi (formerly GLAST) Space Telescope – a “tone poem” for orchestra and narrator entitled Cosmic Reflections, to be premiered at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC on November 2, 2009; the first of these NASA commissions, the GLAST Prelude, received considerable attention following its release in the wake of the Fermi launch in June 2008 (see the GLAST Prelude / Cosmic Reflection feature for more details and to see the video). Two weeks after the Washington D.C. concert, on November 15, 2009, another new piece (title TBD) will be premiered at Synagogue Shomrei Torah in Santa Rosa, CA – a chamber work for violin, cello, clarinet, and piano – to commemorate the dedication of a new Torah; then, in spring of 2010, an orchestral work (title TBD) will be premiered to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the City of La Mirada – Nolan’s hometown (look for more on these commissions in the near future).

One additional new commission to mention here is for a “Sonoma Overture” to help open the beautiful new state-of-the-art Green Music Center in Sonoma County in fall 2011, by Maestro Bruno Ferrandis and the Santa Rosa Symphony; more information on this will likewise appear here in the near future.

Beyond such classical endeavors, Nolan is likewise busy composing in more popular styles, including collaborations with vocalist/lyricist Marcus Lovett, the composition of a full-fledged Broadway musical based on the film, “Benny & Joon” (for MGM On Stage; see News for more details) with veteran Broadway lyricist Mindi Dickstein, and several jazz compositions for his Quartet (see News for more details), as well as a number of solo piano pieces combining classical and jazz elements. Among future aspirations include writing music for a major film, steps toward which are just now beginning.

In all his music, Nolan aims above all to create music that speaks deeply to his audience, both emotionally and intellectually. As he writes: “The aim of composition, in my view, is to represent in sound an emotional narrative, whether abstract or concretely tied to a particular storyline. Music is communication, and the most successful composition – whether a pop song, a symphony, or a film score – is one that communicates to a listener with a continually captivating voice. The music must tell a story, like a poem, a novel, or a film; it should take the listener on a journey, where the sequence from one moment to the next is driven by a narrative logic that can be discerned by the mind and ear. A brilliant, yet isolated musical gesture may please the ear, but when carefully prepared and arrived at through some inevitable sequence of sonic events, the impact – emotionally and intellectually – is magnified exponentially. To achieve those high-impact moments is perhaps my greatest joy as a composer.”

For a list of Concert works, download here

Click Here to Learn About Nolan's Current Projects

Here are some samples of Nolan’s compositions: