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Zack Browning (b. 1953) is a composer whose music is described as “way-cool in attitude…speed-demon music” (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution) and “propulsive, giddy, rocking… a rush of cyclic riffs and fractured meters” (The New York Times). The Irish Times proclaimed he is “bringing together the procedures of high musical art with the taste of popular culture”. His debut solo album Banjaxed on Capstone Records has been called “the aural equivalent of the pinball machine. Imagine sassy, brilliant bumpers with each slam of the ball sending a glitter of lights and mechanical twitters through your chest.” (American Record Guide). His recent solo albums Soul Doctrine, Secret Pulse, and Venus Notorious are available on Innova Recordings. Browning is an Associate Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois and director of the Salvatore Martirano Memorial Composition Award. (www.zackbrowning.com)

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Zack Browning (b. 1953) is a composer whose music is described as “way-cool in attitude…speed-demon music” (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution) and “propulsive, giddy, rocking… a rush of cyclic riffs and fractured meters” (The New York Times). The Irish Times proclaimed he is “bringing together the procedures of high musical art with the taste of popular culture”. His debut solo album Banjaxed (2000) on Capstone Records features music for voice, instruments, and computer sounds that has been described as “the aural equivalent of the pinball machine. Imagine sassy, brilliant bumpers with each slam of the ball sending a glitter of lights and mechanical twitters through your chest.” (American Record Guide). His solo albums Soul Doctrine (2018), Secret Pulse (2012), and Venus Notorious (2010) have also received critical acclaim and are available on Innova Recordings. Browning is an Associate Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois and director of the Salvatore Martirano Memorial Composition Award. (www.zackbrowning.com)

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Zack Browning (b. 1953) is a composer whose music is described as “way-cool in attitude…speed-demon music” (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution) and “propulsive, giddy, rocking… a rush of cyclic riffs and fractured meters” (The New York Times). The Irish Times proclaimed he is “bringing together the procedures of high musical art with the taste of popular culture”. His debut solo album Banjaxed (2000) on Capstone Records features music for voice, instruments, and computer sounds that has been described as “the aural equivalent of the pinball machine. Imagine sassy, brilliant bumpers with each slam of the ball sending a glitter of lights and mechanical twitters through your chest.” (American Record Guide). His solo albums Soul Doctrine (2018), Secret Pulse, (2010) and Venus Notorious (2012) have also received critical acclaim and are available on Innova Recordings.

Browning received his Bachelor’s Degree in music composition from Florida State University where he studied with Krzysztof Penderecki, and John Boda and his Master’s and Doctorate in music composition from the University of Illinois where his composition teachers were Benjamin Johnston, Salvatore Martirano and Paul Zonn. Browning is an Associate Professor Emeritus of Music at the University of Illinois and the director of the Salvatore Martirano Memorial Composition Award. More information is available at www.zackbrowning.com

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Zack Browning (b. 1953) is a composer whose music has been described as “way-cool in attitude…speed-demon music” (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution) and “propulsive, giddy, rocking… a rush of cyclic riffs and fractured meters” (The New York Times). The Irish Times has proclaimed he is “bringing together the procedures of high musical art with the taste of popular culture”. His debut solo album Banjaxed (2000) on Capstone Records contains eight of his original compositions for voice, instruments and computer-generated sounds and has been called “the aural equivalent of the pinball machine. Imagine sassy, brilliant bumpers with each slam of the ball sending a glitter of lights and mechanical twitters through your chest.” (American Record Guide). His recent solo albums Soul Doctrine (2018), Secret Pulse (2012) and Venus Notorious (2010) are available on Innova Recordings. The San Francisco Chronicle described Venus Notorious as “ebullient, infectiously bright” and “bouncy and exuberant - some of the music sounds like dance tracks for androids with varying numbers of feet”. New recordings include Decade of the Dragon on Starkland Records (2018) performed by the NakedEye Ensemble, Howler Back on Mark Records (2018) performed by the United States Coast Guard Saxophone Quartet, and Sol Moon Rocker on Aerocade Records (2016) performed by the A/B Duo.

Browning’s composition awards include an Individual Artist Project Grant from the Illinois Arts Council (2018); Sol Moon Rocker being selected out of 425 scores for performance by the Bold City Contemporary Ensemble (2017); finalist for the ShoutHouse Composition Contest (2016); finalist for the Apollo Chamber Player’s International Commissioning Contest (2014); Directors Choice Award from Boston Metro Opera (2013); finalist for the Portland Chamber Music Festival Composition Competition; Individual Artist Project Grant from the Illinois Arts Council (2011); and an University of Illinois FAA Creative Fellowship for research and performances in China, Taiwan, and South Korea (2010).

Browning is often invited to speak about his music and has lectured at 64 universities in 6 countries since 2009. His lectures examine the role of numbers in music through the use of golden section proportions, ancient Chinese magic squares, and feng shui in compositions by James Brown, Phil Collins, Eminem, Peter Maxwell Davies, Claude Debussy and Browning.

Active as a composer, conductor, and performer, Browning has played trumpet with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and served as co-director of the Atlanta New Music Ensemble. Browning received his Bachelor’s Degree in music composition from Florida State University where he studied with Krzysztof Penderecki, and John Boda and his Master’s and Doctorate in music composition from the University of Illinois where his composition teachers were Benjamin Johnston, Salvatore Martirano and Paul Zonn. Browning is an Associate Professor Emeritus of Music at the University of Illinois and the director of the Salvatore Martirano Memorial Composition Award. The Martirano Award is now in its 27th year. In those 27 years, 6,666 scores have been reviewed and $45,975 have been awarded to 67 composers. More information is available at www.zackbrowning.com