Douglas Ovens
An active composer and percussionist, Douglas Ovens has performed his own works for solo percussion at the Akiyoshidai International Arts Village in Yamaguchi, Japan, at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, the Atlanta Arts Festival, the Black Mountain Festival, the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, Cascadia Composers Festival (Portland, OR), and many others. Ovens has written over eighty works in media ranging from orchestral compositions to electronic works for dance and has received commissions from the North/South Consonance Ensemble (NYC), the Allentown Symphony, the Asheville Symphony (NC) and the Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra.
Recent performances of his music have taken place in New York City, Denver,
Salt Lake City, Orlando, and Boston. International performances of his music have taken place in Berlin, at the International Courses for Percussion in Bydgosczc, Poland, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland and in Hiroshima, Japan.
Ovens’ recent CD, Seven Improvisations, music for solo percussion, was praised in the American Record Guide for his “…formidable mallet technique…” and “…rich sense of phrasing and line....” Percussive Notes called Ovens “…a creative composer and an excellent performer…”whose ideas…”flow easily from one instrument to the other…” The New York Times described his piece, Moving Image for piano as a work “…of special appeal…that has an almost conversational shape and pacing and some wonderful textural detail.”
Douglas Ovens is represented on four internationally-released CDs and his Largo for Violin and Piano will appear on CD later in 2011. His music has been widely broadcast both in the United States and in Japan and Brazil.
Dr. Ovens is Professor of Music and Chair of the Music Department at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA. He will also teach composition at the Accademia dell’ Arte in Arezzo, Italy during the summer of 2011.