Kyma International Sound Symposium (KISS 2010)

Brian Belet

Composer Brian Belet lives in Campbell, California (USA), with his partner and wife Marianne Bickett and son Jacques Bickett-Belet. Here he composes, hikes, and tends to his fruit trees and roses. In 2009 he co-founded the touring ensemble SoundProof with Stephen Ruppenthal and Patricia Strange. He has worked exclusively with Kyma since 1990, and his interactive works have been performed in the United States, South America, Asia, and Europe. To finance this real world he works as Professor of Music at San Jose State University, where he is the Director of the Center for Research in Electro-Acoustic Music (founded by Allen Strange). His music is recorded on the Centaur, Capstone, IMG Media, Frog Peak Music, and the University of Illinois CD labels; with research published in Contemporary Music Review, Organised Sound, Perspectives of New Music, and Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference (1991, 1992, 1996, 2003, & 2010).
( www.music.sjsu.edu/music/faculty-and-staff/dr-brian-belet )

Avi Benjamin

As an accomplished musician, composer and musical director, Avi Benjamin has dedicated many years to his work in the fields of theatre and film. Avi’s career in theatre began during his student days at the Tallinn Conservatory of Music where he was classically trained as a solo-pianist. In the decades that have followed, he has acted as the musical director for numerous onstage productions and has composed six musicals including “Goodbye America” for the MTOOZ Theater in Moscow and “The Devil in Moscow” for the Gesher Theater in Tel Aviv. He wrote music for more than 100 theatre productions and movies. Last 20 years he is Musical Director of "The Gesher Theater" in Tel-Aviv.

Jim Brashear

Jim Brashear is a PhD candidate at New York University in Performance Studies who recently returned to San Francisco to find his heart where he left it. He studied electronic music at Mills College, cultural studies at Brown University, and performance at New College of California’s Experimental Performance Institute. In collaboration with dancer/choreographer Megan Nicely, he has recently performed in the Movement Research series at Judson Church in New York and at The Garage in San Francisco.

Hector Bravo Benard

Born in Mexico City, studied philosophy and composition at the University of Victoria, in Canada, following computer music courses with Andrew Schloss, and composition lessons with Michael Longton and Christopher Butterfield. In 2001-02 he studied at the Xenakis Centre (CCMIX) in Paris, where he was introduced to Kyma through courses with Carla Scaletti and Kurt Hebel, and later with Agostino Di Scipio. After two residencies at the Banff Centre in Canada, he moved to The Netherlands in 2003 to study at the Institute of Sonology, where he obtained a masterʼs in sonology in 2006. His main teachers in the Netherlands were Paul Berg, Joel Ryan, Clarence Barlow, Konrad Boehmer, and René Uijlenhoet. Currently lives mostly in The Hague, and is working on his Ph.D. at UNAM in Mexico City, with Julio Estrada as his thesis director, and Agostino Di Scipio, and Joel Ryan as external advisors.

Sarth Calhoun

Sarth Calhoun is an electronic musician and sound designer residing in Brooklyn, New York. He endorses Ableton Live and beta tests for Symbolic Sound. When not in his basement exploring the analogies between pitch and rhythm, he can be heard sharing stage and studio with innovators such as Laurie Anderson, and John Zorn. He is one third of Lou Reed's Metal Machine Trio, touring and recording on projects ranging from Lollapalooza to John Cage.

Together with Leah Coloff he form Lucibel Crater, an electronic/rock group which Vogue Italia described as "Bjork meets the White Stripes."

Leah Coloff

Leah Coloff is a cellist/vocalist/composer who has performed with artists ranging from Philip Glass to Iggy Pop. The New York Times said “accompanying herself on the cello — first with a pizzicato figure, then with a quick, repeating arpeggio [she] sings “The Soul Selects Her Own Society” with a combination of artful angularity and a rock-inflected assertiveness.”

Together with Sarth Calhoun he form Lucibel Crater, an electronic/rock group which Vogue Italia described as "Bjork meets the White Stripes."

Steve Everett

Steve Everett is Professor of Music and teaches computer music and directs the Music-Audio Research Center at Emory University in Atlanta. He has also been a visiting professor of composition at Princeton University, Eastman School of Music, the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, Utrecht School of the Arts, Rotterdam Conservatory, and the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève-Switzerland.

Many of his compositions involve performers with live electronics and have been performed in twenty countries including at IRCAM and Radio France in Paris, Bangkok, The Esplanade in Singapore, Sweden, Korea, Orgelpark in Amsterdam, England, Amerika Haus in Cologne-Germany, Tokyo Denki University-Japan, and Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and Merkin Hall in New York City. Composition awards have been received from the Rockefeller Foundation, Asian Cultural Council, Chamber Music America, American Composers Forum, and International Trumpet Guild. He is also President of the University Senate and Faculty Council at Emory University.

John Paul Jones

There aren't many composers who could perform a live computer music piece written for Merce Cunningham this week after sitting in on mandolin with Gillian Welch and David Rawlings last week, fresh off a tour with Them Crooked Vultures (the new supergroup who rock hard enough to make Robert Plant's ears bleed). ( www.live4ever.uk.com/2010/08/robert-plant-them-crooked-vultures-made-my-ears-bleed-for-two-days/ ).

Bruno Liberda

Bruno Liberda (born February 17, 1953 in Mödling, Vienna) is an Austrian composer of contemporary classical music ( list of compositions ). Liberda started his academic musical education when he was 16. He studied composition under Alfred Uhl at the Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Wien. Later he studied under Roman Haubenstock-Ramati who became his most influential teacher and mentor. He received several awards and scholarships in Europe & US. Today Liberda lectures electronic music at the Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Wien.

His ballet Valse triste (1977) was the first composition of electronic music ever to be performed in the Staatsoper Wien. By combining traditional and electronic instruments he explores the fascination of music as so aptly described by Józef Maria Hoene-Wroński: Music is the corporealization of the intelligence that is in sound. His scores are often the result of process-orientated, non-linear composing. Traditional notation, optical stimulation and integration of graphical & verbal description are key elements of his attempt to describe sound in a very direct way. ( www.brunoliberda.com/ )

Theo Lipfert

Theo Lipfert is an filmmaker and artist from Bozeman, Montana. His films have been shown at festivals including SXSW, Tribeca Film Festival, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Cinequest, One Reel / Bumbershoot, Mill Valley, and many others. His paintings and prints have been exhibited in Berlin, Cologne, New York, and San Francisco. Trained as a visual artist, Lipfert has a Master of Fine Arts degree in painting from Hunter College in New York City. He attended the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program. He has taught at Hunter College and Columbia University in New York. He is now Assistant Professor at the School of Film and Photography at Montana State University where he teaches courses in Film Sound, Documentary Production, and Information Design. He is currently finishing a feature-length documentary entitled “Solving for X” about the statistical analysis of human-rights data.

Scott Miller

Scott Miller is a composer of electro acoustic, orchestral, chamber, choral and multimedia works frequently performed at venues and in exhibitions throughout North America and Europe. Miller's music has been described as 'peaceful, intimate, and painstakingly crafted' (Christy Desmith, City Pages) and 'not for the faint-hearted listener; it is tough, unsparing, blessed free of self-indulgence and offering for our consolation only its scrupulous precision.' (Juliet Patterson, mnartists.org). He is most widely known for his interactive electro acoustic chamber music and his experimental multimedia performance pieces. His music has been recorded by ensembles such as Zeitgeist, Trio Montecino, and Wizards! on the Innova, Eroica, and CRS labels. Miller is a Professor of Music at St. Cloud State University, Minnesota, where he teaches composition, electro acoustic music and music theory. He has lectured on electro acoustic music and composition in universities and secondary schools across the United States, Europe and Mexico. Miller holds degrees from The University of Minnesota, The University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill and the State University of New York at Oneonta, and has studied composition at the Czech-American Summer Music Institute and the Centre de Creation Musicale Iannis Xenakis.

David Moss

David Moss works with sound, both computer generated or manipulated and found. As a composer and performer he works with the delicate balance between "low tech" sound and "high end" production methods. His sonic artworks create user controlled sound environments, working with both computers and electronics for synthesis. In both he shows a love of sonic extremities but rather than shouting at the listener he draws them in slowly. The majority of his work has explored the notion of interactivity, whether it is within a sound installation or using alternative controllers for performances.

Samuel Pellman

Samuel Pellman studied with David Cope at Miami University and with Karel Husa at Cornell. His works can be heard on the Musical Heritage Society, Move Records, and innova labels, and much of his music is published by the Continental Music Press and Wesleyan Music Press.  Recently his music has been presented at the International Symposium of the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology in Melbourne, the Musicacoustica Festival in Beijing, and the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival. Pellman is the author of An Introduction to the Creation of Electroacoustic Music, a widely-adopted textbook.  At Hamilton College he is co-director of the Studio for Transmedia Arts.  Further information can be found at:  www.musicfromspace.com

Lowell Pickett

Lowell Pickett (b.1980) has followed his attraction to music technology since a young age.  His father and uncle helped introduce him to modular analog synthesizers and early personal computers while he also went to music school where he studied cello.  Since his teens, Lowell has worked professionally in many music and sound related aspects of the entertainment industry. He has written music for a number of award winning animation shorts and frequently works behind the scenes for many well known producers and composers.  He currently lives in Los Angeles where he is a premier music technology consultant to southern California's audio production community.

Hannes Raffaseder

Hannes Raffaseder, born in Freistadt 1970, lives in Vienna, Austria. He studied communication engineering at the Technical University and computer music at the University of Music in Vienna. He is head of the Institute of Mediaproduction and the Master-Course in Digital Mediatechnology at the University of Applied Sciences in St. Pölten, Austria. Raffaseder is artistic director of the Komponistenforum Mittersill (kofomi.com) and the Klangturm St. Pölten (klangturm.at). He has published several papers in research areas such as Sound and Music Computing, Soundscape-Studies and Sounddesign and is responsible for several national research projects such as GeMMA ( gemma.fhstp.ac.at ), NeVisET – New Visions of Emerging Technology ( neviset.fhstp.ac.at/ ) and AllThatSounds ( www.allthatsounds.net ). His book “Audiodesign” is published by Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich.

As a composer Raffaseder works in many different genres such as computer music, orchestral works and chamber music, sound installations, music for theatre, video and film and has collaborated on several multimedia-projects with other artists. As a performer he was invited to several international festivals for media-art, like phonotaktik Vienna, CYNETart Dresden, Neue Nacht Braunschweig, transNaturale, Sonorities Belfast, dialogues fesitval Edinburgh, Digital Arts Week Zurich, Elektro Media Works Athens, re-new Copenhagen … ( www.raffaseder.com )

Peter Rantasa

Peter Rantasa, born 1964, lives in Vienna. He lectures in culture management and studies at the Vienna University of Music and is member of the board of the UNESCO International Music Council (IMC). He has organised numerous music festivals and coordinated EU projects. As a musician he has made prize-winning musical contributions to international festivals. Rantasa frequently sits on juries at cultural events and is the initiator of fair music.

Julian Rubisch

Julian Rubisch was born in Vienna, 1981. He studied Telecommunications and Media Technology at the University of Applied Sciences in St. Pölten and graduated in 2009. Following his master's degree, he continued his studies as research associate at the Institute for Media Production; his primary fields of interest are Sound and Music Computing, Sonic Interaction Design, Augmented Reality Audio, Soundscape Studies, Interactive Audio, Computer Music and Media Installations.

Apart from his occupation at the University, he also works as web developer, sound designer (and recently also radio feature producer), regularly contributing to the Klangturm exhibitions and other multimedia projects.

Stephen Ruppenthal

Stephen Ruppenthal is Principal Trumpet and Contemporary Music Advisor for the Redwood Symphony (California). He performs with major ensembles throughout the Bay Area, concertizes with his own Brass Act Quintet, and records with The Brassworks. He was a founding member of the Electric Weasel Ensemble, and appeared with EWE and other groups in the USA and Europe.

Stephen is currently recording a CD of trumpet and electro-acoustic commissions composed for him by Larry Austin, Brian Belet, Elainie Lillios, Allen Strange, and Dan Wyman. He premiered Strange’s Velocity Studies V: NGate for the 2008 SEAMUS Electro-Acoustic Music Festival (included on the New Music from SEAMUS, Volume 18 CD), and premiered Belet’s System of Shadows for trumpet and Kyma at the 2008 Electronic Music Midwest Festival, and at the SEAMUS 2009 Electro-Acoustic Music Festival. Stephen is a founding member, along with Patricia Strange and Brian Belet, of the electro-acoustic music group, SoundProof.

Carla Scaletti

Carla Scaletti is the designer of the Kyma language and the president of Symbolic Sound which she co-founded with Kurt Hebel, designer of the Pacarana and Capybara. A composer and computer scientist, she previously worked with the CERL Sound Group and published several papers on data sonification with Alan Craig at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications. Prior to that, she worked as a symphony harpist.  She has a doctorate is in music composition (with a minor in psychoacoustics) and a master's of computer science from the University of Illinois, a master's of music from Texas Tech (where she was awarded the Distinguished Alumna Award), and bachelor's of music from University of New Mexico.

Cristian Vogel

Cristian Vogel is a composer, music producer and sound artist, known for his experimental DJ and Live performances, compositions for contemporary dance and studio productions. Born in Chile 1972 and raised in the UK, he is currently based in Barcelona and holds the position of Musical Director at the CIE Gilles Jobin dance company in Geneva. In 1995 he graduated in 20th Century Music Studies at Sussex University, under the tutor-ship of the British composers, Johnathan Harvey and Martin Butler. Since then, he has recorded many unique albums, releasing on eminent experimental techno labels such as Tresor Berlin, Novamute, Mille Plateaux and other underground vinyl labels. Cristian has been touring worldwide since 1993 as DJ and live improvisation, both as solo artist and for a period with Jamie Lidell in Super_Collider. Of late, he has been singing and playing guitar in his song-based band project Night of the Brain. As studio remixer, he has been invited to reinterpret songs by artists as diverse as Radiohead, Maximo Park, Thom Yorke, Juan Atkins, Pedro Carneiro among many others. Cristian Vogel's album producer credits include albums for Kevin Blechdom, Chicks On Speed, Cafeneon, Panico, Las Perras del Infierno and others.

Andrea Young

Andrea Young is a vocal performer of contemporary concert music, and a composer of acoustic and electro acoustic music.In 2001 Andrea Young completed a BMUS in both Vocal Performance and Composition from the University of Victoria, BC, Canada.  She completed a Masters Degree in Sonology from The Royal Conservatory, The Hague, Netherlands in 2007. Returning to Canada in 2007 led to a Canada Council Grant for the creation of VOICE/wire : 01,  a collection of new works for voice and electronics.  The performance of this collection was presented in 2009, and VOICE/wire: 02 in 2010.  Works include original compositions as well as performances by other composers such as Hector Benard, Agostino Di Scipio, and pieces by Luigi Nono and Giacinto Scelsi are currently in preparation for the next concert. Young has participated in the Composers Kitchen with Quatuor Bozzini, Montréal, presented new works with the Tomorrow Collective, initiated Ensemble Sisyphe, and continues her  ongoing  VOICE/wire  series, collecting and creating new works for voice and electronics.