Isaac Schankler is a composer, pianist, accordionist and electronic musician living in Los Angeles.  An expert on interactions between music and technology, he is a research consultant for the Music Computation and Cognition laboratory (MuCoaCo) at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, and co-director of People Inside Electronics, a concert series for live electroacoustic music.  His chamber opera Light and Power, with libretto by Jillian Burcar, will be premiered by the Boston Opera Collaborative and Juventas New Music Ensemble in Spring 2011.

Isaac's concert music tends toward textures of high intensity and intricacy.  His work often explores elements of other genres, encompassing new wave synthpop, klezmer and Balkan folk music, Weillian cabaret, experimental jazz, mystic minimalism, Oulipo, and more.  As a performer he is an active member of various groups including: The Shpil (klezmer), AK and Her Kalashnikovs (gypsy swing), Paula Kelley Orchestra (chamber pop), TempWerks (electroacoustic quartet) and Killsonic (jazz-punk collective).

His recent honors include the Sadye J. Moss Composition Prize (2010), an Associate Artist residency at the Atlantic Center for the Arts (2009),  and the Damien Top Prize in the ASCAP/Lotte Lehmann Foundation Art Song Competition (2007).  He has also been a theory instructor and director of the new music chamber ensemble Itch at Brevard Music Center (2006-2007).

A variety of ensembles and venues have featured Isaac's work, including the International Computer Music Conference (ICMC), the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS), the IEEE International Conference on Multimedia & Expo (ICME), Le Centre Artistique de Piégon (France), Juventas New Music Ensemble, University of Southern California Contemporary Music Ensemble, University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra, Florida Electroacoustic Music Festival, Midwest Composer Symposium, Threshold Electroacoustic Music Festival, Brevard Music Center, Boston Conservatory, and the University of Arizona, where he was a guest composer at the Global Perspectives symposium in 2005.  He has also appeared on recordings by klezmer group Into the Freylakh and jazz quartet Anagram Ensemble.

In May 2010, Isaac completed his doctoral studies in composition at the USC Thornton School of Music.  He also holds degrees in composition (Master of Music, Bachelor of Music, magna cum laude) and a degree in English (Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude) from the University of Michigan.