Peter Van Zandt Lane (b. 1985) is a composer whose music thrives at the intersection of expressive lyricism, rhythmic intrigue, and the immersive possibilities of emerging technology. Acclaimed for his ability to bridge contemporary concert music with the evolving landscape of digital sound, Lane’s work explores themes of embodiment, memory, and the shifting boundaries between physical and virtual experience in a technology-driven world. His output spans chamber, orchestral, and wind ensemble works, electroacoustic compositions, multimedia collaborations, music for dance, and installation. Upon receiving the Charles Ives Fellowship, the American Academy of Arts and Letters remarked “At every turn, his propulsive, incisive work is beautifully and confidently made. . . Lane's music is as inviting as it is sophisticated.”

 

Recent concert works include Coastal Portrait: Cycles and Thresholds, for orchestra and spatial electronics work composed in collaboration with marine scientists; Piano Quartet: The Longitude Problem commissioned by Atlanta Chamber Players (available on Innova Recordings); Chamber Symphony, commissioned by the Barlow Endowment for EQ Ensemble (Boston). Several of his works for wind ensemble –including Hivemind, Astrarium, and his trombone concerto for NY Phil legend Joseph Alessi, Radix Tyrannis– have become celebrated additions to the American wind ensemble repertory. Lane’s music often tackles questions of how we engage the world and each other through technology, directing his unique blend of contemporary classical with touches of minimalism, modernism, rock and electronica towards a uniquely 21st-century brand of humanism. 

 

Peter’s music for contemporary dance created in collaboration with acclaimed choreographer Kate Ladenheim has also garnered international attention, with their 2013 exploration of cyber-activism in the form of an evening-length ballet, HackPolitik, being praised by the New York Times for “explor[ing] identity and anarchy in a refreshingly relevant way” and their second collaboration, GLASS, being dubbed a top-10 work of 2018 by Dance Magazine. He continues to be active as a bassoonist specializing in contemporary chamber and electroacoustic music, premiering dozens of works by living composers. Recordings of his compositions can be found on New Focus Recordings, PARMA, Mark Records, New Dynamic Records, and Innova Recordings.

 

Peter Van Zandt Lane is Professor of Composition and Director of the Roger and Phyllis Dancz Center for New Music at the University of Georgia Hugh Hodgson School of Music. He holds degrees from the University of Miami Frost School of Music and Brandeis University, where he studied composition with Lansing McLoskey, David Rakowski, Eric Chasalow, and Melinda Wagner. He lives in Athens, Georgia with his wife, two kids, and two cats.