Christopher Cerrone, Mannes Faculty Member, Writes Bold, Original Operas
A subway station in Brooklyn. A brutalist bridge in Italy. An oil tanker in Scotland. These are just a few of the unique places and spaces that have inspired Christopher Cerrone, a faculty member at the Mannes School of Music, and one of the most celebrated composers working today.
“I have an obsession with forms that are somehow machine-like and process-oriented,” he says. “Most of all, there is a preoccupation with looking inside sounds (often using technology) and mining the listening and observation process for dramatic and emotional results. It’s also often collaborative – I love the possibilities that this kind of process can create when reflected on other artists.”
Recently, Cerrone debuted “In a Grove” at the prestigious Prototype Festival in New York City, an annual showcase of experimental theater and opera. The New York Times called Cerrone’s show “the highlight of the festival,” where all five performances were sold out.
Cerrone shares that receiving glowing reviews for his newest piece is “…an honor — an enormous amount of work went into both writing and the planning of the project, and to have it come to my home city was truly a labor of love. So to receive love in return is incredible. Hopefully, the reception means that more people will know about the work.”
In addition to “In a Grove,” Cerrone is also a 2025 Grammy nominee for the album “Beaufort Scales.” Alongside the Lorelei Ensemble and conductor Beth Willer, Cerrone was nominated in the Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance category. It’s his third album to be nominated for a Grammy, and was his first as a producer and performer of electronic music.
As a composer, Cerrone aims to make his work legible and understandable to audiences, which has earned him a devoted following.
“More than anything else, I want to always be clear, it gives someone without historical knowledge or training hopefully some kind of access to the work, while a more experienced listener can also appreciate the layers of reference. I think also my connection to other artforms gives people an opening via visual art or words.”
Cerrone is not the only faculty member in the composition department at Mannes to make headlines recently. David T. Little, Chair of the composition department, also debuted a piece at the Prototype Festival in January, “Black Lodge,” which received rave reviews. Little has a deep history with the popular festival, debuting pieces in the first iteration of the festival, as well as subsequent editions. Faculty members Huang Ruo, Kamala Sankaram, and Mary Kouyoumdijan have also shared work at the festival, while Kouyoumdijan’s new adaptation of Atom Egoyan’s “Adoration” recently had its West Coast premiere in Los Angeles.
For Cerrone, his work at Mannes gives him the opportunity to surround himself with a community of working artists. Through his teaching style, he seeks to emphasize the practical rather than the ideological so that students understand how their work operates in the real world.
“That forces me to conceptualize these kinds of ideas in my own work as well — I practice what I preach and I love when students challenge me to refine my ideas.”
Looking ahead, Cerrone is currently promoting “Don’t Look Down,” his new album with Sandbox Percussion, Ensemble-in-Residence at Mannes and Conor Hanick, a faculty member at Mannes. “Beaufort Scales,” his Grammy-nominated album, will be presented at the Long Play festival, as well as new works for The Crossing choir in collaboration with Present Music in November, 2025, and a new violin cello double concerto, which will premiere with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in 2026.