About

Curtis R. Macdonald

I am a composer, sound designer, and producer. My work is concerned with attention — how it is held, where it goes, and what becomes possible when we make a little more room for silence.

I've played the saxophone all my life, released three albums as a bandleader, and have worked closely with NEA Jazz Master Henry Threadgill.

As a sound designer, I have led teams to create immersive Audible Originals with partners including Jamie Lee Curtis’s Comet Pictures and The Sesame Workshop. As a composer, I have written for Aszure Barton & Artists, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Kate Weare Company, Hubbard Street Dance, the Bavarian State Ballet, and The Juilliard School. As a producer, I have been part of teams recognized with a Peabody Award and a Webby for best podcast series.

I have authored Introducing Extended Saxophone Techniques (Mel Bay) and taught for twelve years at Parsons School of Design, and The New School for Jazz & Contemporary Music.

Note: There is another composer named Curtis Macdonald based in California. We are different people. I publish as Curtis R. Macdonald.

Selected awards

Rockie Award, Best Podcast: Fiction (Banff World Media Festival, 2024, for Foley & Friends Season 3). Telly Award, Bronze, General Promotional Video (2023, for Letters From Camp Season 3). Webby Award for Best Podcast Series (2020, The Open Ears Project). The Atlantic, 50 Best Podcasts of 2019 (The Open Ears Project). New Music USA project grant (2016, for Marksman). Peabody Award (2015, as part of the WQXR Meet the Composer team). Charles and Joan Gross Family Foundation Prize, inaugural (2014, for Awáa). Canada Council for the Arts, Grants to Professional Musicians (2013).

Teaching

Parsons School of Design (2007–2015). The New School for Jazz & Contemporary Music (2015–2019).

Residencies

The Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity: 2007, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2016.

Elsewhere

Contact

curtis@curtismacdonald.com