Composer and filmmaker William Kersten at work on an experimental concept design
Films at YouTube
Music at YouTube
Sheet music at SMP Press
Music at Amazon
Music at Apple Music
Contact: wkerstenmusic@gmail.com
WORKS:
Stop Motion Animation, 15 minutes
Fourth in a series of animated films set in the world of Althyria.
Stop Motion Animation, 16 Minutes
Third in a series set in the metaphysical world of Althyria, the film depicts lost toys in a desolate landscape attempting to find their way home. It was partly inspired by the reports of certain dreams experienced by scientists and philosophers which seemed nonsensical but actually led to new discoveries.
1 The Call of Cthulhu
2 The Music of Erich Zann
3 The Forest Ritual
4 Cracked Organ
5 Hesperia
6 Flutes in Nameless Paws
7 Nightmare Horde
8 Strange Colors
9 White Ship
10 Return of Cthulhu
A fantasy in 10 movements for large orchestra, inspired by the writings of H. P. Lovecraft
Stop Motion Animation, 17 minutes
The second animated film set in the metaphysical world of Althyria. It began as a meditation on the block universe but morphed into a stream-of-consciousness approach - though one that was very long and drawn out by the process of animation.
Stop Motion Animation, 15 minutes
A stop-motion animation film using handmade puppets, miniature sets and props, inspired by the works of Giorgio de Chirico, Ives Tanguy and the Brothers Quay. An earlier version of the film premiered at the International Surrealist Film Festival 2010, and Zero Film Festival Los Angeles 2010, but it was later withdrawn and developed into what became "The Metaphysician's Dream." Only a few scenes of the first version were used in the later film, but the main puppet became its "star." The film features a music score composed for flute, harp, celesta, musical glasses, viola, bass and analog synthesizer.
March for Concert Band
"Althyria" (2018)
Feature Film 4k Digital Video, 90 minutes
Starring Zakotah Sevon and Ryan Costello
"Althyria" is a feature length psychological mystery starring Zakotah Sevon, filmed in a low-key black and white style inspired by the subtle horror films of Val Lewton in the 1940s. Shot in 4k digital video, it is the story of a woman searching for her identical twin sister, an artist who believes her dreams of another world called "Althyria" are real. The music score is composed for orchestra in the "Leitmotiof" style of the studio films of the 40s with a symphonic development of separate themes for the various characters and situations. It was completed in 2018 and the premiere of the film was at Reno Little Theater on November 26, 2018.
A complete recording of the soundtrack music is available at Amazon Music.
Symphonic poem for large orchestra
Trio for Flute, Horn and Harp
Oddlibet, Op. 55 (2016)
A quartet for Strings and Piano originally inspired by "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak.
A production music library composed and orchestrated in the style of 50s Sci-Fi B-movies
Production library music composed and orchestrated in a "traditional" horror movie style for full orchestra
Illusions of Time, Op. 52 (2015)
Analog Synthesizer Score for the Lumia Production by George Stadnik
1 The Troubador, Op. 36
2 The Quest, Op. 37
3 The Old Country, Op. 38
4 Idyll, Op. 39
5 Ride to the Castle, Op. 40
6 Dance of the Fay, Op. 41
7 Legion of Darkness, Op. 42
8 Kingdom of Sorrows, Op. 43
9 Path to the Mountains, Op. 44
10 Temple of the Warriors, Op. 45
11 Battle Fury, Op. 46
12 Death of a Hero, Op. 47
13 Chivalry, Op. 48
Empyreum, Parts 1-4 (2012-2013)
Video, Abstract Video, 17 minutes
Metaphysical Toymaking (2010)
Video, Puppet animation, 12 minutes
Premiered at the International Surrealist Film Festival 2010, and Zero Film Festival Los Angeles 2010
1 Late Afternoon, Op. 25
2 Come Darkness, Op. 26
3 Dolore, Op. 27
4 Night Walk, Op. 28
5 Fragments, Op. 29
6 The Haunted Mind, Op. 30
7 Foreshadows, Op. 31
8 Elegy, Op. 32
Metaphysical Composition No. 2 (2008)
Video, Abstract Video, 8 minutes
Lumia Constructions (2007-2013)
Video, Abstract Video, 9 hours
Bacchanale for String Quartet, Op. 23 (2005)
Metaphysical Composition No. 1 (2003)
Video, Abstract/Animated Video, 10 minutes
The Problem of Knowledge (2003)
Video, Puppet animation, 3 minutes
Fantasia on Amazing Grace, Op. 22 (2003)
First recorded with Sierra Highlanders Pipe Band, Reno Nevada, 2003
March for Military Band, Op. 21 (2000)
Experimental Abstractions (1999)
Abstract Video, 16mm, 12 minutes
Feature Film, 16mm, 88 minutes
with Anastasia Woolverton, Hannah Cooper, Patricia Mathews, George Randolph
Originally shot on 16mm in 1996-97, the film is now distributed by Bleeding Skull, partnering with Vinegar Syndrome. The film was entered into festivals, and won Best Sci-Fi at Madhouse Movies 2017 as well as being an Official Selection of the Bloody Horror International 2017 and 13Horror.com 2017 festivals. It has since been shown at Spectacle Theater in Brooklyn and other independent film venues across the US. A new multi-disc edition of the film, with 4K Blu-ray and many special features, was released in January 2025.
"Indebted to David Lynch's ERASERHEAD, Ed Wood's PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE, and Frank Henenlotter's BRAIN DAMAGE, DISEMBODIED is a cinematic acid trip that blurs the line between horror and experimental art. The story follows Connie Sproutz, a gothed-out scientist who checks into the decrepit Grand Hotel to continue her experiments . . . and turn people into slime before eating them. Shot in Reno by director Willam Kersten on gritty 16mm film, this D.I.Y. passion project is filled with stop motion effects, gory body horror, and surrealist visuals. Bleeding Skull is honored to present a new 4K restoration of the original, uncut version of DISEMBODIED on disc for the first time ever—complete with a science lab full of extras and multiple versions of the film."
I Moderato
II Adagio Dolore
III Scherzo
IV Finale
"In the Romantic Symphony (Symphony No. 1 Op. 17) Kersten has provided no obvious program. Still it moves where the spirit moves him as though following the action of a drama, not where strict attention to musical form once demanded, but to where heart's desires and instincts demand. Kersten knows what many of his contemporary composers don't evidently know, or at least don't care to express: that contemporary music can reflect its time and still be accessible to listeners who want to be thrilled by modern sounds adorned with lovely melodies, without being pummelled by extraordinarily gritty dissonance. The symphony has power and drama. It also has rapture and radiance. Bright-hued with touches of foreboding throughout, every theme singing smoothly, every development integrated and effortless, the work defies neat classificiation other than to say that at its most profound (the first movement) it's theatrical and exciting, at its most lyric (the second movment) it's poignant and richly textured, at its most exotic (the third movment) it's exhilirating and enticing, and at its most noble (the fourth movement) it's powerful and spirited and engulfs the listener with a unabashed adrenalin rush as it forges ahead to its triumphant conclusion. From its misty Mahlerian beginnings to its final burst of Wagnerian splendor, Kersten's Romantic Symphony captures a restless urge that propels this expressive and richly varied work in an inspired and engaging way.
- Jack Neal, 2003
"Cries of righteous despair replete with filmic imagery bring about a highly portentous, resolute theme containing fragments of narrative commitment, which is in turn interrupted by penetrating, inescapable anguish that the composer must brave and tame in order to dive into the first movement - and the symphony - proper, where we have a chance to explore the musical and psychological implications of those fierce introductory eruptions. All this happens during the first ninety seconds of the work. The listener embarks upon a personal musical disclosure of events, while receiving the full range and impact of the emotional content of those events, not necessarily in a linear or traditional formal fashion - for which the title of ‘Symphony’ may be misleading unless one’s conceptions and traditional expectations are left behind on this very personal journey. The apparent absence of traditional formal cornerstones doesn’t weaken the larger structure, as the skeletal interweaving of themes and an abundance of dramaturgy and personal dictum, shift the educated audience’s conventional expectations of balance in a large work to the composer’s discretionary points of structural centres, as motivic/harmonic growth, orchestration, style, and even long-range musical targets, all defer to the composer’s own hierarchical system in this work, and serve his narrative and psychological struggles - perhaps ‘Symphonie Fantastique’ or ‘Sinfonia Narrativa’ could be alternative titles. In fact, the narrative intent is so much stronger than the rich musical material, that the movements could easily be perceived as sections of an instead monolithic musical epic, seen through the eyes and expressed in the singular voice of an individual witness. We never become privy to the composer’s story without the intentionally undisclosed literal programme, and that draws us deeper into the work in search of that fascinating story - the very emphatic musical material suggests strong feelings of loss, despair, love, battle, religion, and triumph. Technically, the composer feels secure in his uninhibited use of some Herrmannian, Tchaikovskyan, and Beethovenian devices, and a degree of stylistic eclecticism from different periods, as his own strong and original voice is ubiquitous and assimilating. As one becomes more familiar with this and other works of W. Kersten, one is incrementally allowed greater insight into his mysterious and expansive world - a natural outcome over repeated hearings (a surprisingly welcome venture in the contemporary music world). And it is these repeated hearings that tell us that the work is worthwhile, when we discover something new about it every time; new layers, new elements, or new connections between those elements, etc. W. Kersten’s music is as generous in these respects, as it is inspired. Most of all, it is honest; an almost extinct quality these days, especially in music composition."
- Errikos Vaios, Greece, 2013
First performed by Nevada Festival Ballet Orchestra, conducted by Dr. David Ehrke, March 1, 1997
Two Victorian Songs, Op. 15 (1986)
1 Mirage
2 Oh, I am very weary...
Premiered at Reno Chamber Orchestra concert, Reno, Nevada 1/26/92 with Lori Trustman, Soprano, conducted by Dr. David Ehrke. First recorded 2003
"...Kersten's music, always interesting and provocative, has become a rarity in a culture obsessed with copycat success: it has shed any hints of being derivative, and has stepped, by virture of its originality and freshness, across an important threshold into the realm of elegantly crafted, inspired art. Kersten's "Earth and Paradise" [Five Songs for Soprano and Orchestra] a song cycle of rapturously constructed songs set to the poems of Christina Rossetti, Anne Bronte, Thomas Hood and Thomas Beddoes, touchingly, dramatically, movingly underscores the breadth, the elegance, the sweetness of the poems. It is stunning orchestral and vocal writing, clearly entrenched - as the poems are - in a lush romantic ambience which ebbs and flows with the rush of ideas and words describing the mysteries of life, death and paradise, much as Debussy's "La Mer" ebbs and flows putting the morality of man against the immortal mysteries of the sea. Soprano Lori Trustman is the perfect vocal and artistic match for Kersten's songs. Her personal style, never an affectation for its own purposes, carefully intertwines singer with song while establishing a purity of pitch and tone, and an unstressed sensuality that allows vocal flights of elation to float dramatically and hauntingly over Kersten's detailed, poetic orchestral descriptions.... these are highly dramatic songs. The trick is to combine Kersten's orchestral concepts with a vocal line which is at times the center of attention, but which at other times becomes one with the orchestra - literally a part of the orchestration. The singer of these songs cannot merely perform as a soloist with an unusually rich accompaniment, but must perform as a compatriot in an integrated concerto for voice and oorhcestra. The cycle is musically exquisite and was marvelously brought off."
- Jack Neal, Reno Gazette Journal, 1/27/92
Remember Tomorrow (1989)
16mm Film, 84 minutes
with Michael Replogle, Brenda Beck
Shot over a period of two years "Remember Tomorrow" is a tragic love story involving time travel set in the mythical Harbor City, California. The actors were from the Reno area, and the sets were built by William Kersten and assistant director Robert Richardson, representing a 40 foot long 12 foot high hotel front, a piano bar, hotel corridor and numerous other interiors. Many locations were filmed including both Pyramid Lake representing an ocean beach as well as an actual Californian beach. The music was composed and recorded with a small orchestra made up of university students and was an elaborate, symphonic score in a romantic style featuring a piano solo with orchestra. The film was premiered at the Keystone Cinema in 1989, showing once. The music was recently completed (2019) in a new recording now available at Amazon and the full score and parts available at Sheet Music Plus.
Warped (1984)
Super 8mm Film, 59 minutes
with Brenda Beck, Blair Anthony
Kersten's first completed dramatic film was shot in Super 8mm and was a science fiction story about a woman scientist who attempts to travel back in time to save her mad artist sister from committing suicide. Ironically she only gets herself killed in an auto accident as a result, creating a fatal time loop. The irony is compounded by the fact that her sister was the driver, and committed suicide as a result of the trauma of killing her own sister. The laboratory was constructed in a physics room at the University of Nevada (loaned for free during the summer) with some large retro electrical machinery props built out of cardboard, masonite, dryer hoses, glass lamp shades, discarded electrical parts and a plethora of dials and light bulbs intended to depict a teleportation device that unexpectedly morphs into a time machine. The film premiered at the Scrugham Engineering lecture room at the University of Nevada Reno in 1984.
First performed by University of Nevada, Reno Orchestra, conducted by John Lenz, May 3, 1985
A large scale symphoonic poem inspired by the ancient Icelandic Grettir's Saga.
Symphonic Suite for Orchestra, Op. 10 (1982)
I Allegro con Brio
II Adagio e Dolore
III Allegro Furioso
IV Allegro Vivo
March for Brass and Percussion, Op. 9 (1980)
Part of the album by William Kersten, Chivalry
Ritual Music for Flutes and Percussion, Op. 7 (1978)
First performed at Reno Little Theater, January 6, 1979 as incidental music for the RLT Production "Royal Hunt of the Sun"
Symphony for Band, Op. 6 (1978)
I Adagio
II Interlude
III Allegro
IV Largo
First performed by University of Nevada Reno, Symphonic Winds, conducted by Dr. Roscoe Booth, May 10, 1979
Scored for symphonic band. First performed by University of Nevada, Reno Concert Band, conducted by Dr. Roscoe Booth, December 7 1978.
New performance by Rocky Mountain Wind Symphony, Kenneth P. Soper, Music Director, November 19, 2023
Songs Without Words, Op. 4 (1973)
1 Lento Dolore
2 Tranquillo
First performed at Ernest Johnson Memorial concert, February 21, 1973
Sinfonia Fantasia, Op. 1 (1972)
I Moderato
II Largo
III Moderato
First performed at Reno High School, William Kersten, Conductor, January 1972
Music and Images copyright 2003-2023 William Kersten