Curtis Macdonald | expertise in original music & sound design
Curtis (Robert) Macdonald is a saxophonist, multi disciplinary composer, sound designer, and Peabody award-winning radio and podcast producer.He is also Associate Producer of Production at Audible, where he handles the sound design team's continued growth in 3D audio and impactful storytelling for Audible Originals where he works closely with key business partners and clients such as Jamie Lee Curtis’ Comet Pictures and The Sesame Workshop.As technical director and sound designer, Curtis has supervised productions with budgets ranging from $3k to $3M. With his extensive expertise and attention to detail, Curtis is a complete production solution when the timeline is tight and the stakes are high.Curtis’ skill and experience have garnered him numerous industry nominations and awards. In 2015, Curtis worked as a producer for New York Public Radio where he received a Peabody award for his work on Meet the Composer. In 2018 he co-wrote, produced and scored two documentaries on social justice and civil rights, Leonard Bernstein’s Black America, and Making Harry Belafonte (WNYC) which received record-reaching audience engagement. In 2019 he co-created The Open Ears Project (WNYC Studios), a daily music appreciation podcast which was named one of the 50 Best Podcasts of 2019 by the Atlantic Magazine and was honored for Best Podcast series at the 24th Webby Awards.As a composer, Curtis has won commissions from Aszure Barton & Artists, The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Kate Weare Company, Hubbard Street Dance, The Bavarian State Ballet, Larry Keigwin & Co., and The Juilliard School. In 2014, he was co-awarded the inaugural Charles and Joan Gross Family Foundation Prize for his collaboration with Aszure Barton on the dance Awáa. In 2016 he received a New Music USA grant for his collaboration with Kate Weare in Marksman. In suit, Curtis’ original theatrical scores have been performed across several modern dance and ballet tours worldwide.Curtis has also worked closely with American composer, NEA Jazz Master and Pulitzer Prize laureate Henry Threadgill serving as his conductor, copyist, and soloist in his ensembles where he has performed on three of his albums on Pi Recordings.Curtis has authored Introducing Extended Saxophone Techniques (Mel Bay, Inc.), and was faculty at The Parsons School of Design and The New School for Jazz & Contemporary Music for 12 years.Curtis has released three albums as a bandleader, Community Immunity (Greenleaf Music, 2011), Twice Through The Wall (2013), and Scotobiology—the study of darkness, inspired by the effects of artificial light on living beings.