Donald J. Metz

Don Metzis a musician, composer, and arts administrator. He has worked at the Burchfield Penney Art Center since 1995, serving as Acting Director from 1996-1998 and as Director of Administration from 1995-2003, today serving as Associate Director and Head of Public Programs. Throughout his career he has curated a variety of media arts exhibitions and interdisciplinary performances, and from 1982-95 he served as the Music Director at Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center. He has held a variety of administrative positions with the Buffalo Philharmonic Choir, June In Buffalo, and the North American New Music Festival.

An active musician, Metz has been composing and performing since completing his studies at the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1977. His music has been performed by the S.E.M. Ensemble, Percusso Argaro from Brazil, the Composers Alliance of Buffalo, the U.B. Percussion Ensemble, the New Jazz Orchestra of Buffalo, Los Caribes, various solo artists, and Buffluxus, among others. In 1978, Metz formed the East Buffalo Media Association, creating Inter-Media presentations with writers and artists from the Western New York area.  Over the past 30 years he has worked with artists including Andrew Topolski, John Toth, Fred Ciminelli, Andrew Deutsch, Peer Bode, writers Jeff Filipski and Michael Basinski, and actor Paul Schmidt. As a guitarist, Metz has performed the music of John Cage, Earl Brown, Petr Kotik, Lucas Foss, Jon Gibson, John Bacon Jr., Jackson MacLow, Phil Niblock, LaMonte Young, Michael Colquhoun, and others.