Jason Anthony Allen (born January 18, 1978) is an American composer and producer. His career has focused on electronic music and concert music. Allen’s works have been presented on national and international stages. In 2014 he was a quarter-finalist for the Grammy Foundation Music Educator Award, he founded Slam Academy in 2011, and he has been a college music educator at numerous colleges and universities.
Career
Allen is an American composer, producer, songwriter, engineer, and entrepreneur. He sat on the board of the American Composers Forum. He is an orchestra composer, with works for the Minnesota Orchestra as well as electronic artist, with works developed for film, TV, and radio. Most recently, he has focused on producing music for video games, and on UX (user experience) sound design.
Allen’s work has been experienced throughout the United States, where it has been called "a study in ominous sound and motion," “An aural hallucinogen,” and “A beautiful and engaging use of technology.” His music has also been heard across Europe, including Denmark, the Netherlands, Hungary, the Czech Republic, France and Italy.
Allen’s work in electronic music is influenced by his early training in classical and avant-garde music. He has presented at the International Computer Music Conference, and Society for ElectroAcoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS) national conferences, Society of Composers (SCI) national student conference, Electronic Music Midwest festivals, Spark Festivals of Electronic Music and Art, (Minneapolis), Music at the Anthology festival (MATA Festival, New York City), June in Buffalo Festival, and the Aspen Music Festival and School, for which he received the Susan and Ford Schumann Award in 2004 and 2005. Allen has also worked in electronic performance, performing extensively both as a guitarist and on a set of “glove” controllers, which he has designed, built, and programmed by himself. He has performed at the Guitar Foundation of America National Conference, given numerous solo concerts and recitals, as well as professional studio work. He has performed on electronic devices on several occasions including performances with members of the Zeitgeist Contemporary Music Ensemble, in New York City at the MATA festival, Miami, Florida, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has also given numerous performances with the group Ballet Mech, of which is one of the founders.
Allen has many collaborative outlets. Currently, his primary collaborative vehicle is the group Ballet Mech; this trio of producers recently released “Graveyards,” which remixes Jeremy Messersmith’s “The Reluctant Graveyard.” Allen is also in leadership roles in organizations dedicated to electronic music and education: he was conference director for SEAMUS 2013, and he was the assistant director and lead producer of the Spark Festival of Electronic Music and Art from 2003 to 2009. Allen taught sound design and composition at McNally Smith College of Music in St. Paul, MN, and he is currently on the faculty of Augsburg University where he teachers music, media, and management. He is founder and owner of Slam Academy, a multimedia educational space in downtown Minneapolis where he also teaches courses on Ableton Live, Max for Live, and other software.