Terry Pender holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in composition from the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. For 23 years Terry worked at the Computer Music Center at Columbia University where he was  the Associate Director.

 For six years, he was the editor of Mandolin Quarterly, an internationally distributed journal, and his music is published by NL Publications, Inc.

 Pender is a composer and musician whose interests range from contemporary multimedia-based works to jazz mandolin.  His music has been performed in countries around the world, including Japan, China, Portugal, Italy, Canada and Greece, as well as across the United States.  He has composed for NPR, national network television, film and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Background and Aspirations in Composition

My musical life began when I was in my early teens.  I discovered that I had a passion for traditional American music and for the sound and complexities of playing the acoustic guitar and mandolin.  After graduating from college, I found myself in New York City, living the life of a professional musician in the downtown music scene.  Even then, my musical tastes were eclectic.  One of my bands was more rock oriented while another was purely acoustic and experimental, utilizing poly-rhythms, improvisation and world music influences and appearing on concerts with Philip Glass and other avant-garde musicians of the 1980’s.  I was commissioned by the Whitney Museum of Art to write a piece based on Jackson Pollock’s painting “Number 27.  I also composed music for National Public Radio and for use on several daytime dramas, including “The Guiding Light,” “The Search for Tomorrow” and “As the World Turns.” 

For several years, I collaborated with Paul Kaiser and the members of the OpenEnded Group, and our work has resulted in several major digital public art pieces, some of which have been exhibited in a number of the world’s greatest museums, galleries and public spaces.

Terry was a member of PGT (Pender, Garton, Taylor), an innovative trio consisting of mandolin and two laptop computers. 

 Terry is currently a member of Chelsea Strings and performs in New York City.