Howie Kenty is a Brooklyn-based composer and performer, occasionally known by his musical alter-ego, Hwarg. His music, called “remarkable” with “astonishing poetic power” by the International Compendium Prix Ars Electronica, is stylistically diverse, encompassing ideas from contemporary classical, electronic, rock, ambient, sound art, and everything in between. His works are often politically oriented, and occasionally incorporate visual and theatrical elements. Throughout all of his creations runs the idea that the experience of a piece is more than listening to the music; there is a wholeness of vision and an awareness of environment that attempts to fully draw the audience into his works.
Besides composing and performing his own works regularly, Howie is half of the hybrid opera duo Ju-eh+Hwarg, whose The Living Dying Opera has been called “a profoundly entertaining, interactive night of operatic fun” and “a uniquely 21st Century operatic experience that pushes boundaries while getting to the core of what opera is all about.” (New York Music Daily; CutCommon). He plays guitar and composes in the progressive rock group The Benzene Ring, whose album Crossing the Divide has been hailed as “a true masterpiece” and a “gorgeous piece of experimental rock/metal” (Recyclable Sounds; Progarchy). He recently earned his PhD in Music Composition from Stony Brook University, studying with Matthew Barnson, Margaret Schedel, and Dan Weymouth. He regularly collaborates with artists of all types in the NYC area, and is a faculty member of Kaufman Music Center, teaching music technology, composition, and theory.
Howie's “Scherzo; Dance.” received an Honorary Mention in Prix Ars Electronica 2008, and his “We Have Less Time Than You Think” won a first prize commission at Shanghai Electronic Music Week 2013. After performing his “An Impetuous Old Friend” in the 2013 Concert Artist Guild Competition, PUBLIQuartet was awarded the Sylvia Ann Hewlett Adventurous Artist Prize and chosen as the New Music/New Places Ensemble. Recent recognition includes residencies at the Copland House (2017), the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (2018), and the Oberpfälzer Künstlerhaus (2019), as well as first prize commission in the 2017 Null-state Chaosflöte competition, and competition winner in both the 2018 Open Space Festival of New Music and the 2018 RED NOTE New Music Festival Composition Workshop.
