Scott Deal has performed throughout the world premiering solo, chamber and mixed media works, and can be heard on the Albany, Centaur, Cold Blue, SCI, and Neuma record labels. His recordings have been described as “soaring, shimmering explorations of resplendent mood and incredible scale”….”sublimely performed”. His recent recording of John Luther Adams’ Four Thousand Holes, for piano, percussion, and electronics was listed in New Yorker Magazine’s 2011 Top Ten Classical Picks.
Described as a “riveting performer” who plays with “phenomenal virtuosity”, Deal has built his work at the nexus of music performance and emerging artistic technologies. He is the founder of the Telematic Collective, an Internet performance group comprised of artists and computer specialists, and was the founder for the computer-acoustic trio Big Robot (2008-2018). In 2011, Deal and composer Matthew Burtner won the coveted Internet2 IDEA Award for their co-creation of Auksalaq, a telematic opera called “an important realization of meaningful opera for today’s world”. In 2020 he launched Earth Day Art Model Festival, a transmedia event highlighting telematic and media-enriched musical performances from around the world. Earth Day Art Model has reached audiences in over 100 countries.
Deal has received funding from organizations that include Meet the Composer, Lilly Foundation New Frontiers, Indiana Arts Council, Clowes Foundation, IUPUI Arts and Humanities Institute, ConocoPhillips, and the University of Alaska. In 2023 he was named an Indiana University President’s Arts and Humanities Fellow. He resides in Indianapolis, Indiana where he is a Professor of Music and Director of the Donald Louis Tavel Arts and Technology Research Center at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Deal was a Professor of Music at the University of Alaska Fairbanks from 1995 to 2007, where he founded the percussion and technology programs and served as Principal Percussionist of the Fairbanks Symphony and the Arctic Chamber Orchestra. He served on the faculty of the New England Conservatory Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice (Sick Puppy) from 2006 to 2022.
Early in his career he was the Timpanist/Principal Percussionist of the Miami Symphony, and taught at the New World School of the Arts, where in 1994 he was voted Teacher of the Year. As a student he was winner in the Music Teacher’s National Association Collegiate Artist Competition, the Cincinnati College-Conservatory Concerto Competition, and was a finalist in the Percussive Arts Society International Marimba Competition and the McMahon Competition. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from the University of Miami, a Master of Music degree from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cameron University. Deal is a Yamaha and Black Swamp Percussion Artist.
Photo Credit: Yuanyuan (Kay) He