© Michelle Clement

Paul Dresher is an internationally active composer noted for his ability to integrate diverse musical influences into his own coherent and unique personal style. He pursues many forms of musical expression, including experimental opera and music theater, chamber and orchestral composition, live instrumental electro-acoustic chamber music performances, and scores for theater, dance, and film. His performances utilize progressive contemporary music technology and the theatrical works use the resources of experimental theater to examine diverse issues in contemporary American culture. As Artistic Director of the Paul Dresher Ensemble, he has guided the creation of the American Trilogy, a set of music theater works which address different facets of American culture, in collaboration with writer/performer Rinde Eckert.

Dresher is a fellow in the Asia Pacific Performance Exchange at UCLA where he is collaborating with Chinese director and singer Chen Shi Zheng in the creation of the experimental opera/dance theater work The Myth of The Hero. Dresher's commissions have included works for the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Spoleto Festival USA, Kronos Quartet, the San Francisco Symphony, Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, ODC San Francisco, and the American Music Theater Festival. Recordings of Dresher's works have been released on the Lovely Music, Music and Arts, New Albion labels, New World and Minmax labels. Born in Los Angeles in 1951, Dresher received his B.A. in Music from UC Berkeley and his M.A. in Composition from UC San Diego where he studied with Robert Erickson, Roger Reynolds, Pauline Oliveros, and Bernard Rands. His long-running interest in the music of Africa and Asia led him to study Ghanian drumming with C.K. and Kobla Ladzekpo, Hindustani classical music with Nikhil Banerjee, as well as Balinese and Javanese music.