Christopher Tignor

Christopher Tignor (born March 15, 1976) is an American composer, musician, software engineer, and lecturer based in New York City. In addition to releasing music under his own name, he is a founding member of post-rock acts Slow Six and Wires Under Tension. Primarily a violinist, he has also composed and recorded string arrangements for notable acts including This Will Destroy You,[1] John Congleton, Keith Kenniff, and Lymbyc Systym.[2]

Christopher Tignor performing at National Sawdust in Brooklyn, May 5, 2017.

Early life and career

Tignor was born in Morristown, New Jersey. After moving to New York in 1998 he received a Bachelor of Arts in creative writing from Bard College where he also studied electronic music under Richard Teitelbaum,[3] with poet John Ashbery serving as his advisor[4]. Tignor formed the band Slow Six in 2000, eventually expanding the act to eight members[5]. In 2003 he received a Master of Science degree in computer science from New York University. He received a PhD in music composition from Princeton in 2018.

While living and studying in NYC Tignor worked as a bike messenger and assistant to LaMonte Young and Mariana Zazeela,[6] in addition to running live sound and stage-managing for the club CBGB[7]. He was sound engineer and then technical director for the New York New Music festival Music at the Anthology from 1999 to 2008, produced by Philip Glass.

Combining a cross-disciplinary facility for through-composed scores, live electro-acoustic performance, and software design[8], Tignor performs and lectures on his work internationally including at the 2017 SOU Festival in Tbilisi, Georgia,[9] the 2018 International Computer Music Conference in Daegu, Korea,[10] the Victor Hugo theater in Havana, Cuba,[11] Carnegie's Zankel Hall in New York City,[12] and numerous other venues over the last two decades. He has composed music for, performed alongside, and recorded with numerous eminent ensembles including The Knights,[13] A Far Cry string orchestra,[14] and Brooklyn Rider string quartet.[15] As an interdisciplinary collaborator he has worked with contemporary dance troupes,[16] video artists, and poets, including a collaboration with his former advisor John Ashbery.[17]

Christopher Tignor, backstage at the Royal District Theater in Tbilisi, Georgia, 2017
Christopher Tignor performing live with A Far Cry string orchestra at Merkin Hall, NYC as part of the Ecstatic Music Festival, 2012

As a result of his performance technique using tuning forks, Tignor is a sponsored artist of the German tuning fork maker Wittner[18]. Likewise, audio software maker Antares sponsors Tignor for his application of Auto-Tune as a "chorale" violin harmonizer.

Tignor has worked as a software engineer for Google since 2011. He creates most of the software he uses for live performance, much available freely from his website.[19]

Recorded work

In addition to his solo work, Tignor was the composer and bandleader for the groups Wires.Under.Tension and Slow Six.

Solo
  • Along A Vanishing Plane (2016), Western Vinyl
  • Thunder Lay Down in the Heart (2014), Western Vinyl
  • Core Memory Unwound (2009), Western Vinyl

Wires.Under.Tension
  • Replicant (2012), Western Vinyl
  • Light Science (2010), Western Vinyl

Slow Six
  • Tomorrow Becomes You (2010), Western Vinyl
  • Nor'easter (2007), New Albion
  • Private Times in Public Places (2004), Western Vinyl

With various artists
  • Together into this Unknowable Night (appears on Seven Steps; In a Circle Records, 2012)
  • Secret Assignation (w/ poet Lewis Warsh; appears on Five Borough Songbook; GPR Records, 2011)
gollark: They do? Neat.
gollark: You can harvest them, you just might not be allowed to privacywise.
gollark: The Stanley Parable had some great ones.
gollark: They don't contain information, so it would totally work.
gollark: I wanted to automate presentations with a language model and a bunch of formatting templates but never got round to actually doing it.

References
  1. "Tunnel Blanket – This Will Destroy You | Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved June 26, 2018.
  2. "Christopher Tignor | Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved June 26, 2018.
  3. Fischer, Tobias. "15 questions | Interview | Christopher Tignor | Unpathed Waters". 15questions.net. Retrieved June 26, 2018.
  4. "John Ashbery Reads "A Boy"". The Paris Review. The Paris Review.
  5. "Snowed In With Slow Six". NewMusic USA. Retrieved January 20, 2020.
  6. Fischer, Tobias. "15 questions | Interview | Christopher Tignor | Unpathed Waters". 15questions.net. Retrieved June 26, 2018.
  7. "Snowed In With Slow Six". New Music USA.
  8. "Christopher Tignor: Risk and Reward". Ableton.com.
  9. "კრისტოფერ ტინორის კონცერტი თბილისში | ვიდეო | Rustavi2". Rustavi2 (in Georgian). Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  10. "Concerts – ICMC 2018". icmc2018.org. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  11. "Portal Cubarte – Christopher Tignor ofrecerá concierto en Casa Víctor Hugo / Por: Maritza Mariana Hernández". cubarte.cult.cu (in Spanish). Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  12. Kozinn, Allan. "Brooklyn Rider at Zankel Hall – Review". Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  13. "MATA " A Little More Knights Music". matafestival.org. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  14. "Thunder Lay Down in the Heart – A Far Cry, Christopher Tignor | Song Info | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  15. "Seven Steps – Brooklyn Rider | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  16. "History from old site (archive) | Anemone Dance Theater". anemonedance.org. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  17. Vinyl, Western (April 20, 2014), Christopher Tignor – "A Boy" (featuring John Ashbery), retrieved August 14, 2018
  18. "#3894: With Christopher Tignor". newsounds.org.
  19. "Software Instruments". wiresundertension.com. Retrieved September 12, 2018.


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