BIO

Garry Eister: BIO

Eister's music has been performed in Austria, Germany, Holland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, France, Belgium, Italy, Japan, Poland, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Canada, Iran and in various cities in the United States, and in many prestigious venues including The Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, and Wigmore Hall in London
Eister's music has been broadcast on CBS television, NPR, PRI and various national radios in Europe.
Sony Classical- His "Quintet for Glass and Strings" was recorded by Dennis James and the Emerson String Quartet for "Cristal: Glass Music Through the Ages," an album of music for instruments made of glass, produced by Linda Ronstadt and John Boylan for Sony Classical.
Other of his compositions and/or performances are available on Archer Records, the SFGQ label, the Glass Duo label, Cold Blue Records and his own Eister Music label. In 2012, Eister was nominated for a Grammyª as a soloist in the category of Best Classical Compilation for his work with the group Partch on the album "The Complete Music of Harry Partch, vl. 1; Bitter Music"
In addition to his concert music activities, Eister's efforts as a film maker have been rewarded with a showing of his documentary short, "Timo's Face," at the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival. Other media activities have included a five-episode series of 30 minute radio theater pieces called "The Pictures in My Head Radio Theater," which were broadcast in the United States and Australia. Eister has also worked closely with visual artist Mark Bryan on a number of sculptures which include soundtracks.
Other musical activities have included teaching at both the elementary school and college levels, various popular music gigs -on a boat, in cocktail lounges, at a dinner theater and in coffee houses- including a two-year stint as music director/piano player at The Great American Melodrama, a family theater that presents melodramas, comedy and vaudeville revues in Oceano, CA. In 2001, Eister made an electronic soundscape to accompany Dennis James' organ score for the silent film, Metropolis for its 2001 screening at The San Francisco International Film Festival.
Eister is a featured artist for the National Reso-Phonic Guitar Company
Eister's work has been written about in Classical Guitar magazine and in the second edition of John Schneider's THE CONTEMPORARY GUITAR, Rowman and Littlefield, 2015.
Eister studied composition with Gordon Crosse, Edward Applebaum, Peter Fricker, Emma Lou Diemer and considers Daniel Lentz to be his mentor. During their association in Santa Barbara in the 1970's, he performed with Lentz's groups on the West Coast and on four European tours.
Eister's music is published in Europe by www.inter-note.com
Eister has a Ph.D. in music composition from the University of California at Santa Barbara.
Eister was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1952. He lives in Arroyo Grande, CA with his wife Mary Lockwood Eister to whom has been married since 1988. His son, Michael Eister, was born in 1982 to Eister's first wife, Carol.
send e-mail to garryeister1@gmail.com