I care if you listen calls the music of Fredrick Gifford (b. 1972) “a world of characters and colors that explode from the stage.” His music explores different kinds of openness to create pieces that are never the same twice. It has been performed in concerts and radio broadcasts in Europe, Asia and the Americas, performed by groups including International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Kairos Quartett, Ensemble dal Niente, Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble, Spektral Quartet and Collect/Project. Festival appearances include soundSCAPE, Darmstadt Ferienkurse, Resonant Bodies, Bludenzer Tage zeitgemäßer Musik, FIMC(Mexico), ANODE, Aspen, Omaha Under The Radar, and Ear Taxi.

Commissions, grants and support for performances have come from institutions including: Arts Council of Illinois, Art Institute of Chicago, AMPO (Portugal), Chicago Academy for the Arts, Harris & Wyatt Funds, Juilliard School and Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, Chicago. Recent and upcoming projects include the ongoing “mobile” series, respirateur; the multimedia collaborations: Wood feeds the fire that consumes it (2019) with Hasco; Difficult Grace, with Seth Parker Woods (2019); and 100 Not-songs for JOHN CAGE, with Tony Arnold & Ross Karre (2017). Gifford’s music has been recorded on Numérica (2012), by Hasco Duo (2014) and Mabel Kwan (2015).

Gifford has taught on the faculties of the Schools of Music at DePaul and Northwestern Universities in the United States and the Escola Superior de Música e das Artes do Espectáculo, Portugal. His work as a musical producer received the Prize of the Society of Portuguese Authors, 2010 (Best Classical Recording).