Andrew Conklin

He trained at the Oberlin College Conservatory, took a master’s degree at San Francisco State University and a doctorate at Stony Brook University. Before Pacific he taught at Stony Brook and at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. Alongside his studies he toured the United States and Europe as a guitarist and bassist with indie rock bands, bluegrass groups and improvising ensembles, and his playing appears on labels including Six Degrees, Plug Research, City Slang and Arhoolie.

In the Right Hands he played bass beside Laurie Lewis, Tom Rozum on mandolin and Patrick Sauber on banjo. The Hazel and Alice Sessions, on Spruce and Maple, was the band’s tribute to the songs of Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard, with Gerrard herself, Linda Ronstadt and Aoife O’Donovan among the guests; it was nominated for Best Bluegrass Album at the Grammys in February 2017.

As a composer he has written for new-music ensembles including the International Contemporary Ensemble, Yarn/Wire and Earplay. As a Millay Arts Fellow he wrote two album-length works based on Northern California folk music of the late 1930s, released as Field Reports (New Focus Recordings, 2019) and Song Collector (Bot Cave Records, 2020). He has also played guitar for the clarinetist Ben Goldberg, including on Goldberg’s Symphony No. 9 (2020), and writes on music theory and its teaching.