Crispin Swank

Crispin Swank is a guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter who specializes in early and contemporary music. Crispin teaches classical guitar, directs the early music ensemble NeumeMusic, manages the Oberlin Classical Guitar Association, and frequently performs as a freelance guitarist and vocalist.

In the last several years, he performed Bill Morrison and Michael Gordon’s Decasia in New York with Oberlin’s Contemporary Music Ensemble, premiered many student compositions, wrote and recorded an album, and toured Minnesota with a self-directed small early music ensemble to raise money for Doctors Without Borders. He has also volunteered for Equality Maine and Oregon United for Marriage.

In December of 2012, Crispin was awarded the Conservatory Initiative Grant Supporting Imagination and Excellence (CIGSIE) by Oberlin Conservatory to finance an independent research project in York, United Kingdom. While in the UK, Crispin worked with faculty at the University of York to create modern performance editions from early music manuscripts with special attention to paleography and music philology.

Crispin strives to communicate music with clarity, humanity, exuberance and self-awareness. Crispin studies classical guitar performance and politics at Oberlin College and Conservatory.