Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover

Aaron Cassidy (b. 1976) is an American composer and conductor. His compositions have been presented in hundreds of performances across 27 countries by leading contemporary music specialists, including ELISION, Ensemble Musikfabrik, EXAUDI, Ensemble SurPlus, ensemble recherche, Ictus Ensemble, Talea Ensemble, Line Upon Line, and the Kairos, Diotima, and JACK string quartets.

That work has been presented at major international festivals and venues including Donaueschingen, Ultraschall, Warsaw Autumn, Huddersfield, Darmstadt, Gaudeamus, Dark Music Days, Mixtur, Bludenz, Bendigo (BIFEM), Tage für Neue Musik Zürich, Monday Evening Concerts, ISCM World Music Days, Southbank Centre, Merkin Hall, and Miller Theatre, and has been supported through grants, stipends, and commissions from the Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung, Südwestrundfunk, American Music Center, British Council, PRS Foundation, Arts and Humanities Research Council, New York Foundation for the Arts, Haupstadtkulturfonds Berlin, Yvar Mikhashoff Trust, allerArt Bludenz, RMIT Gallery, and the London Cultural Olympiad 2012. Recordings of his work are available on 12 commercial CD releases from Kairos, NEOS, NMC, HCR, and New Focus Records.

As a conductor, Cassidy has appeared with Ensemble Musikfabrik, ELISION, Schola Heidelberg, Ensemble Proton Bern, Ensemble Interface (then as IEMA), International Contemporary Ensemble, and the Northwestern University Contemporary Music Ensemble. From 2008–13 he served as conductor of the University Symphony Orchestra and New Music Ensemble at the University of Huddersfield. Notable recent performances include appearances at the Berlin Philharmonie for Musikfest Berlin, the Musikfabrik im WDR series at the WDR Funkhaus, and at the Munich Biennale, with forthcoming releases on the Kairos, Wergo, and HCR labels.

Cassidy taught at the University of Huddersfield (UK) as Professor of Composition from 2007–22, and was Director of the university’s Centre for Research in New Music (CeReNeM) from 2017–22. He joined the staff of the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover in October 2022. He holds a PhD in Composition from the University at Buffalo (SUNY), where he studied principally with David Felder as a recipient of a Presidential Fellowship.