"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.
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.
Live at Omaha Under the Radar 2022. Photo by Ben Semisch.
Dorian Wallace is a composer, pianist, and music therapist recognized for his stylistic versatility, improvisational skill, and unwavering commitment to sociopolitical struggles. 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.
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, with violinist, curator, and activist Hajnal Pivnick.
Alongside activist and healer DeMarisa Steeley, Dorian operates Mederi Muzik. This group takes a radical arts-based approach to healing psychological trauma, both individually and transgenerationally, involving personal and collective action to promote living with respect and dignity. Together, they facilitate music therapy and mindfulness programs at Rikers Island, H.O.L.L.A., the American Humanist Association, About Face, and Footsteps. 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. Their podcast of the same name explores the integrative effects of music and other creative practices and their therapeutic impact on the trauma of colonialism, classism, racism, mass incarceration, and culture. Dorian's Mode, his weekly Twitch stream, explores the intersection between political music and spontaneous 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 M.J.H.S. Hospice and Palliative Care and completed Level 1 training in Guided Imagery and Music from the Atlantis Institute for Consciousness and Music.
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, with violinist, curator, and activist Hajnal Pivnick.
Alongside activist and healer DeMarisa Steeley, Dorian operates Mederi Muzik. This group takes a radical arts-based approach to healing psychological trauma, both individually and transgenerationally, involving personal and collective action to promote living with respect and dignity. Together, they facilitate music therapy and mindfulness programs at Rikers Island, H.O.L.L.A., the American Humanist Association, About Face, and Footsteps. 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. Their podcast of the same name explores the integrative effects of music and other creative practices and their therapeutic impact on the trauma of colonialism, classism, racism, mass incarceration, and culture. Dorian's Mode, his weekly Twitch stream, explores the intersection between political music and spontaneous 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 M.J.H.S. Hospice and Palliative Care and completed Level 1 training in Guided Imagery and Music from the Atlantis Institute for Consciousness and Music.
