"The EDGE. I would say 'on the edge' but Dorian Wallace is the edge. an autodidact, he writes from his soul, and splatters contemporary issues so that they get all over your shoes."
-- John Sanborn, media artist
Artistic Statement
My artistic practice aims to connect with other human beings through music. Music has been a vital part of our evolution since the Paleolithic era and is an integral part of our history, as we experience life through vibrations. I compose music to bring people together, encourage social, political, economic, or environmental change, facilitate healing, and illuminate human transcendence through peace and solidarity.
I organize my artistic output into three zones:
Creativity / Healing / Activism
My artistic practice aims to connect with other human beings through music. Music has been a vital part of our evolution since the Paleolithic era and is an integral part of our history, as we experience life through vibrations. I compose music to bring people together, encourage social, political, economic, or environmental change, facilitate healing, and illuminate human transcendence through peace and solidarity.
I organize my artistic output into three zones:
Creativity / Healing / Activism
Photo by Marian Szeidl
Composer, pianist, music therapist, and educator Dorian Wallace is an uncommonly forward-thinking musician renowned for his stylistic versatility, improvisational craft, and persistent confrontation against serious sociopolitical struggles through deep philosophical concepts. In addition to a successful solo career, he regularly collaborates with artists such as Bonita Oliver, John Sanborn, Paul Pinto, Pamela Z, Charlotte Mundy, Frank London, and Nicholas Finch. He has provided musical services for political figures such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jarvis Tyner, Angela Davis, Gerald Horne, Blade Nzimande, and Sing In Solidarity.
A tireless political activist, Dorian spearheaded the New Music Organizing Caucus, a labor advocacy organization confronting systemic inequities in contemporary classical music, and is a co-founding artistic director of Tenth Intervention, a progressive new music collective probing the nexus of social justice and community engagement through contemporary music. Wallace's podcast Dorian's Mode fosters discussions on music, art, creativity, politics, psychology, and philosophy. His weekly Twitch stream Socialist Psychedelia Music Hour explores the intersection of political music and spontaneous improvisation.
As an Arts Project Coordinator at Rikers Island Correctional Facility, he draws on his extensive musical experience and therapeutic expertise, covering a broad creative spectrum with the incarcerated community, including spoken word, hip hop, and free improvisation.
One of New York City's most sought-after dance accompanists, Wallace has played for Martha Graham Dance Company, Doug Varone and Dancers, Juilliard, New York University, Columbia University, and many others. He teaches Music for Dancers I & II at the Martha Graham School and is a guest teaching artist for the Mark Morris Dance Accompaniment Training Program.
Dorian received a Bachelor of Arts in Music Therapy from Montclair State University, where he studied with Drs. Brian Abrams and Michael Viega. He interned at the Mount Sinai Beth Israel Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine and the MJHS Hospice and Palliative Care and completed Level 1 training in Guided Imagery and Music from the Atlantis Institute for Consciousness and Music. Dorian facilitates music therapy and mindfulness meditation programs at Rikers Island, the American Humanist Association, About Face, Footsteps, and his practice, Mederi Music.
A tireless political activist, Dorian spearheaded the New Music Organizing Caucus, a labor advocacy organization confronting systemic inequities in contemporary classical music, and is a co-founding artistic director of Tenth Intervention, a progressive new music collective probing the nexus of social justice and community engagement through contemporary music. Wallace's podcast Dorian's Mode fosters discussions on music, art, creativity, politics, psychology, and philosophy. His weekly Twitch stream Socialist Psychedelia Music Hour explores the intersection of political music and spontaneous improvisation.
As an Arts Project Coordinator at Rikers Island Correctional Facility, he draws on his extensive musical experience and therapeutic expertise, covering a broad creative spectrum with the incarcerated community, including spoken word, hip hop, and free improvisation.
One of New York City's most sought-after dance accompanists, Wallace has played for Martha Graham Dance Company, Doug Varone and Dancers, Juilliard, New York University, Columbia University, and many others. He teaches Music for Dancers I & II at the Martha Graham School and is a guest teaching artist for the Mark Morris Dance Accompaniment Training Program.
Dorian received a Bachelor of Arts in Music Therapy from Montclair State University, where he studied with Drs. Brian Abrams and Michael Viega. He interned at the Mount Sinai Beth Israel Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine and the MJHS Hospice and Palliative Care and completed Level 1 training in Guided Imagery and Music from the Atlantis Institute for Consciousness and Music. Dorian facilitates music therapy and mindfulness meditation programs at Rikers Island, the American Humanist Association, About Face, Footsteps, and his practice, Mederi Music.
