Bio
Jacob Gotlib was born and raised in Louisville, KY, and has written music for instruments, electronics, dance, and multimedia. His music is regularly played at festivals around North America and Europe, most recently at the Wellesley Composers Conference (Wellesley, MA), the Acht Brücken Festival (Cologne, Germany), Hear+Now (Louisville, KY) and June in Buffalo (Buffalo, NY). His works have been premiered by a variety of American and European ensembles, including Talujon Percussion Quartet, Ensemble SurPlus, and Ensemble Linea.
In October 2007, Jacob worked with renowned Kansas City choreographer Jennifer Medina on Innerworkings, a piece for dance and electronic sounds, which was premiered at UMKC’s 2007 Choreofest. Earlier that year, his work Embers was a finalist in the ASCAP/SEAMUS Student Commission. His work The Slow Splintering was awarded the Ossia Electroacoustic Prize in 2010. In 2012, Jacob’s percussion quartet Scape After Louise won 2nd place in the Acht Brücken Composition Competition and was performed at the Acht Brücken Festival by Schlagquartett Köln. Most recently, Jacob’s piece Portrait Sequence (Blanching Out), written for the Crossfire Percussion Duo, is a finalist for the 2013 Gaudeamus Prize.
Jacob was a co-founder of the Kansas City Electronic Music and Arts Alliance (KcEMA), whose mission was to promote electronic and experimental music of all types and genres across the Kansas City area. The group continues to be a vital force in the region’s arts community. In his current home of Buffalo, NY, he is a member of the new music collective Wooden Cities, for whom he composes, performs, and organizes events.
Jacob has studied at the Oberlin Conservatory, the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and is currently a PhD candidate at SUNY Buffalo, where he studies with David Felder.