John McCowen is a New York-based composer and performer. His work focuses on extending the possibilities of the clarinet family. John embraces long-form drones, difference tones, and beating harmonics as a means to extrude the dimensions within - treating the clarinet as an acoustic synthesizer.
John was an original member of the Chicago avant-rock group, Wei Zhongle, where he performed on clarinet/electronics. His discography includes releases on Edition Wandelweiser, International Anthem, Astral Spirits, NNA Tapes, and more. Performances include Le Guess Who Festival(NL), Norður og Niður Festival(IS), Hot Air Music Festival, Bowling Green New Music Festival, Supersonic Festival(ENG), Berkeley Art Museum(BAMPFA), The Stone, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, The International Clarinet Festival, and more. John was the 2017 artist-in-residence at Lijiang Studio in Yunnan, China. He received the Elizabeth Mills Crothers Award for music composition in 2016 from Mills College where he also received an MA in Music Composition.