Suzanne Ciani
Encyclopedia
Suzanne Ciani is an Italian American
Italian American
An Italian American , is an American of Italian ancestry. The designation may also refer to someone possessing Italian and American dual citizenship...

 pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...

 and music composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 who found early success with innovative electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...

.

Education

She received classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...

 training at Wellesley College and obtained her M.A.
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...

 in music composition in 1970 at University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

 where she met and was influenced by the synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...

 designer, Don Buchla
Don Buchla
Don Buchla is a pioneer in the field of sound synthesizers, releasing his first units months after Robert Moog's first synthesizers...

. She studied computer generated music with John Chowning and Max Mathews at Stanford's Artificial Intelligence Labs in the early 70's.

Career in music

In 1974 she formed her own company, Ciani/Musica, and, using a Buchla Analog Modular Synthesizer, composed scores for television commercials for corporations such as Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...

, Merrill Lynch
Merrill Lynch
Merrill Lynch is the wealth management division of Bank of America. With over 15,000 financial advisors and $2.2 trillion in client assets it is the world's largest brokerage. Formerly known as Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., prior to 2009 the firm was publicly owned and traded on the New York...

, AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...

 and General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...

. Besides music, her specialty was reproducing sound effects on the synthesizer that recording engineers had found difficult to record properly; the sound of a bottle of Coke being opened and poured was one of Ciani's most widely recognized works, and was used in a series of radio and television commercials in the late 1970s. Such was the demand for her services that at one point she was doing up to 50 sessions a week. Her sound effects also appeared in video games (the pinball game Xenon featured her voice). In 1977, Ciani provided the sound effects for Meco
Meco
Meco is an American record producer and musician, as well as the name of a band or production team based around him...

's disco version of the Star Wars soundtrack
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (soundtrack)
John Williams' score for Star Wars was recorded over eight sessions at Anvil Studios in Denham, England on March 5, 8–12, 15 and 16, 1977. The score was performed by the London Symphony Orchestra with Williams himself conducting...

, which was certified platinum
RIAA certification
In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...

. Ciani scored the Lily Tomlin
Lily Tomlin
Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin is an American actress, comedienne, writer, and producer. Tomlin has been a major force in American comedy since the late 1960's when she began a career as a stand up comedian and became a featured performer on television's Laugh-in...

 movie The Incredible Shrinking Woman
The Incredible Shrinking Woman
The Incredible Shrinking Woman is a 1981 science fiction/comedy film, starring Lily Tomlin, Charles Grodin, Ned Beatty, John Glover and Elizabeth Wilson, and directed by Joel Schumacher. The film was written by Tomlin's longtime life partner and frequent collaborator, Jane Wagner. The original...

distinguishing her as the first solo female composer of a major Hollywood film, Lloyd Williams
Lloyd Williams
Lloyd W. Williams was an officer in the United States Marine Corps who served and died in World War I.A famous saying is attributed to Captain Williams, who was serving as a company commander in the 5th Marines...

's 1975 experimental film Rainbow's Children and a 1986 documentary about Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa , born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu , was a Roman Catholic nun of Albanian ethnicity and Indian citizenship, who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India, in 1950...

, as well the TV daytime serial ("soap opera") One Life to Live
One Life to Live
One Life to Live is an American soap opera which debuted on July 15, 1968 and has been broadcast on the ABC television network. Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature racially and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social...

. She also composed and perhaps best known for the Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...

 and Columbia Pictures Television
Columbia Pictures Television
Columbia Pictures Television was the second name of the Columbia Pictures television division Screen Gems . The studio changed its name on September 4, 1974.-1974-1982:...

 theme jingles. Her music, renowned for its romantic, healing, and aesthetic qualities, has found a worldwide audience, and her performances include numerous benefits for humanitarian causes. She has toured throughout the United States, Italy, Spain, and Asia.

In 1982 Ciani began to record albums in the New Age
New Age music
New Age music is music of various styles intended to create artistic inspiration, relaxation, and optimism. It is used by listeners for yoga, massage, meditation, and reading as a method of stress management or to create a peaceful atmosphere in their home or other environments, and is often...

 genre, characterized by a mix of electronic and traditional instruments. Her first album, Seven Waves was first released in 1982 in Japan, and was later released in her native US in 1984 through Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...

. Her 1986 album The Velocity Of Love, released by RCA Records
RCA Records
RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...

, featured Ciani's best known song, the title track. In 1987 she signed to the Private Music
Private Music
Private Music is a United States record company founded in 1984 by experimental musician Peter Baumann, as a home for instrumental music. Initially signing such artists as Yanni, Suzanne Ciani, Patrick O'Hearn, and Baumann's former bandmates Tangerine Dream, the record label specialized in New Age...

 label, which released a number of albums from 1988 to 1992, including re-issues of her first 2 albums. Although emphasising electronic music in her recordings, her solo piano album Pianissimo, from 1990, became her best-selling album. Ciani ended her contract with Private Music with the compilation The Private Music Of Suzanne Ciani, in 1992.

In the 1990s Ciani founded her own music label Seventh Wave, from which she has released all her subsequent albums, which have been more classically oriented than her previous recordings. 1994's Dream Suite was recorded in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

 with the Young Russia Orchestra, and was Grammy-nominated. 1999's Turning featured her first composition with lyrics, in the title track, sung by Taiwanese artist Chyi Yu
Chyi Yu
Chyi Yu , is a Taiwanese singer. She is also the older sister of Taiwanese singer songwriter Chyi Chin, and is best known for her 1979 hit, "The Olive Tree" .-Discography:*1979 橄欖樹 *1982 祝福*1983 你是我所有的回憶*1984 有一個人...

.

In early 2006, Ciani's Silver Ship won in The 5th Annual Independent Music Awards
The Independent Music Awards
The Independent Music Awards is an international program that honors top-ranked independent artists and releases in more than 50 Album, Song, Music Video and Design categories....

 for Best New Age Album. Ciani was also an inaugural member of the Independent Music Awards'
The Independent Music Awards
The Independent Music Awards is an international program that honors top-ranked independent artists and releases in more than 50 Album, Song, Music Video and Design categories....

 judging panel to support independent artists.

Five of Ciani's albums have been nominated for Grammy awards.

Discography

  • Seven Waves – 1982
  • The Velocity of Love – 1986
  • Neverland – 1988 (Grammy nominated)
  • History of My Heart – 1989
  • Pianissimo – 1990
  • Hotel Luna – 1991 (Grammy nominated)
  • The Private Music Of – 1992
  • Dream Suite – 1994 (Grammy nominated)
  • Pianissimo II – 1996 (Grammy nominated)
  • A Very Green Christmas – 1997
  • Suzanne Ciani and The Wave Live! – 1997 (Indie nominated)
  • Turning – 1999 (Grammy and Indie nominated)
  • Pianissimo III – 2001
  • Meditations for Dreams, Relaxation, and Sleep – 2002
  • Pure Romance – 2003
  • Silver Ship – 2005 (Indie award winner)

DVD releases

  • Suzanne Ciani and The Wave LIVE! DVD – 1997
  • Natura Poetica – Re-released 2008
  • Galapagos: A Musical Odyssey – 2008

Publications

  • Piano Books of Ciani's Original Compositions

  • "The Best of Suzanne Ciani" – 2007, Hal Leonard Corporation
  • "Suzanne Ciani: Turning" – 1999, Hal Leonard Corporation
  • "Suzanne Ciani: Dream Songs" – 1995, Hal Leonard Corporation.
  • "Suzanne Ciani: New Age Piano" – 1991, Hal Leonard Corporation.

Film Scores

  • "Mother Teresa: The Legacy" – 2001 (Petrie Productions) – Feature documentary on the life, death, and legacy of Mother Teresa.
  • "Mother Teresa" – 1986 (Petrie Productions) – Feature documentary on the life of Mother Teresa. Winner of the Moscow Peace Prize.
  • "The Incredible Shrinking Woman" – 1981 (Universal Pictures) – Comedy feature film with Lily Tomlin and Charles Grodin.

Awards and recognitions

  • 2006 – American Federation of Independent Music (Indie) Winner – Silver Ship
  • 2001 – MacDirectory Top Ten Award in recognition of Outstanding Vision, Leadership and Performance
  • 2000 – National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Award for Excellence (Grammy) Nominee – Turning.
  • 1998 – American Federation of Independent Music (Indie) Nominee – Turning
  • 1998 – American Federation of Independent Music (Indie) Nominee – Suzanne Ciani and The Wave: LIVE!
  • 1997 – Lifetime Achievement Award (Granny) by the Women in Audio Section of the Audio and Engineering Society.
  • 1997 – National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Award for Excellence (Grammy) Nominee – Pianissimo II.
  • 1996 – National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Award for Excellence (Grammy) Nominee – Dream Suite.
  • 1992 – Keyboard Magazine Best New Age Keyboardist.
  • 1991 – National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Award for Excellence (Grammy) Nominee – Hotel Luna.
  • 1988 – National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Award for Excellence (Grammy) Nominee – Neverland.
  • 1987 – National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (New York Chapter) Most Valuable Synthesizer Player Award.
  • 1985 – International Advertising Film Festival (Cannes) Bronze Lion Award for Excellence in Advertising.
  • 1977–89 – Numerous Clios (Awards for Excellence in Advertising).
  • 1980 – Ciani is the first woman hired to score a major Hollywood feature, The Incredible Shrinking Woman.
  • 1980 – Ciani designs sounds for Xenon Pinball and becomes the first human female voice in a game
  • 1976 – National Endowment for the Arts Composer Grant.
  • 1975 – New York Creative Artists Public Service Grant.
  • 1972 – Ford Foundation Grant through the Mills College Center for Electronic Music.
  • 1968–70 – Hertz Memorial Fellowship in Music.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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