Described by The Reader as “precise, engaged, welcoming," and "unafraid of deep ambiguities," Shi-An Costello (世 安) is a composer, arranger, educator, and recording artist of film, video and concert music. They are currently a session pianist for IFC Films and various independent Chicagoland projects. Shi-An has also recorded four solo albums, and have contributed to the soundtracks of Flight of the Butterflies, Softly - A GIANT STEP and Are You Happy With The Answer?. Shi-An is currently staff accompanist at DePaul University and Musical Pathways at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and has formerly served similar roles at IMAX Films, McGill University, and Interlochen Arts Center. His current initiative is Alloy, a scrappy project dedicated to the art and craft of “prepared piano.” Shi-An is an American of Taiwanese, Chinese, and Irish descent, and lives on the unceded land of Miami, Kaskaskia, Potawatomi, Kickapoo and Peoria tribes, popularly known as Chicago, Illinois.
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PRESS BIOS
Pronunciation: SHEE-AHN or SHR-AHN (世 安)
Pronouns: they/them/theirs or he/him/his
Pianist Concise Bio:
Described as “…a tour de force…” (Boston Musical Intelligencer), pianist Shi-An Costello has trailblazed a path truly unique, with repertoire that spans the aesthetic sensibilities of four centuries, from J.S. Bach to Franz Schubert, from Chopin to Brian Ferneyhough, to include "speaking pianist" repertoire, and the most current of musical styles. Costello currently works as a session pianist for IFC Films, IMAX Films, and independent Chicagoland productions, and in the classical/contemporary classical realm, has performed with members of Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Toronto, Minnesota, Milwaukee, Winnipeg, Honolulu, and Thunder Bay Symphonies, the Lyric Opera Orchestra of Chicago, Fulcrum Point New Music Project, Dal Niente and Sound Icon. Shi-An is currently staff pianist for DePaul University and the Musical Pathways Initiative of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, among others. In his youth, Costello was a piano and theory student under Vladimir Leyetchkiss, one of the last pupils of the Heinrich Neuhaus, and a trombone student under Richard Schmitt, former principal of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. A graduate of McGill University and Columbia College, and formerly faculty of Boston Conservatory at Berklee and New Music School, Costello currently teaches an audition-based private studio in Chicago.
Composer Concise Bio:
Shi-An Costello (b. 1987) has been described as “in such spare textures and hushed dynamics, the smallest development seems seismic” (Chicago Classical Review), Costello's music tends towards the idea of ‘transcription,’ real and imaginary, as a failed attempt to recover lost or forgotten sound. The notion of transcription-as-a-failed-attempt is essential to Shi-An's aesthetic. His music addresses larger, thematic ideas like existentialism, race/ethnicity/class, biological evolution, and the natural world. Costello's music has been premiered, commissioned or featured in recent years at Asian American Jazz Festival of Chicago, Tribeca New Music New York, Contemporary Arts Center (Cincinnati), Alliance Française de Chicago and has been programmed by groups both nationally and internationally.
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