Host: Elainie Lillios, Director of Composition Activities
Panelists:
Brittany J. Green, guest panelist
Dana Jessen, 2018 featured guest performer
José Martínez, guest panelist
Bahar Royaee, guest panelist
Panelists:
Brittany J. Green is a North Carolina-based composer, creative, and educator. Described as “cinematic in the best sense” and “searing” (Chicago Classical Review), Brittany’s music is centered around facilitating collaborative, intimate musical spaces that ignite visceral responses. The intersection between sound, movement, and text serves as the focal point of these musical spaces, often questioning and redefining the relationships between these three elements.
Her research and creative interests include mapping aural gestures to gestural recognition technology and exploring virtual reality platforms as a tool for experiencing immersive, intimate musical moments. Her music has been featured at concerts and festivals throughout the United States and Canada, including the SCI National Conference, NYCEMF, SPLICE Institute, West Fork New Music Festival, and EABD Festival. She has presented research at the North Carolina Music Educators Association Conference, East Carolina University’s Research and Creative Arts Week and the Intersection@ Art and Science Symposium on gestural technology and K-12 electronic music education. From 2018-2019, Brittany served as composer-in-residence for the PCS/ECU Young Composers Project. Brittany is currently pursing a PhD in composition at Duke University. http://www.brittanyjgreen.com
Praised for her diverse talents, bassoonist Dana Jessen is active as a soloist, chamber musician, improviser and new music specialist. Dana is the co-founder of Splinter Reeds and has performed with the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Ensemble Dal Niente, Anthony Braxton's Tri-Centric Orchestra, and the Rushes Ensemble among others. Her tireless commitment to expand the modern bassoon repertoire through collaborations with composers has led to dozens of new solo, chamber and electroacoustic works. In 2009, Dana spearheaded the consortium commission for Rushes, an hour-long composition for seven bassoons by composer and Bang On a Can co-founder, Michael Gordon. Her solo program, Carve, features pieces for bassoon and electronics that blur the lines between composition, interpretation, and improvisation with works by George Lewis, Paula Matthusen, Sam Pluta, Peter V. Swendsen, and Kyle Bruckmann. Her debut album, of the same title, was released in January 2017 through Innova Recordings. She can also be heard on Cantaloupe Records, RIOJA, Oberlin Music, Evil Rabbit and New World Records. https://www.danajessen.com
José Martínez’s music incorporates a wide range of influences from Colombian folk tunes to contemporary composition techniques, while borrowing from Latin music, heavy metal and audio sampling techniques. His works range from solo pieces with electronics to orchestral works, passing through chamber ensembles, electroacoustic pieces, and interdisciplinary collaborations. Among others, his music has been performed by groups such as Alarm Will Sound, Wild Up, Grammy award-winning quartet Third Coast Percussion. An alumnus in percussion and composition of the National University of Colombia, he studied composition at the University of Missouri and UT Austin. José was Visiting Professor at East Carolina University, and recently was appointed Visiting Professor at the New College of Florida.
His music has also been presented by Spanish ensemble Taller Sonoro, LA based Piano duo Hockett Duo, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s from New York City, Grupo de Cámara de Bogotá, and Austin based percussion ensemble Line Upon Line, among others. He has participated in institutes and festivals such as Banff Ensemble Evolution program, DeGaetano, Splice , SEAMUS, Missouri International Composer Festival, Line Upon Line Winter Composer Festival, ClarinetFest, and VIPA.
He is a recipient of the 2008 National Composition Prize for Young Composers, the 2011 “Ciudad de Bogotá” Composition Award, and the 2013 National Cultural Prize. In the US has received the 2013 Sinquefield Composition Prize and the 2019 Rain Water Grant for Innovation. He is part of the C3 Collective and also artistic director of the concert series Stack Overflow that creates opportunities for composers interested in electronics. https://josegmartinez.com
Born and raised in Iran, Bahar Royaee is a composer of concert and incidental music. The Boston Arts Review praised Bahar's "haunting sound design" in her work with live theater. In 2017, Bahar was awarded a prize at the Krourian Electroacoustic Competition in Iran, and the Roger Sessions Memorial Composition Award from the Boston Conservatory. https://soundcloud.com/bahar-royaee
Host:
Acclaimed as one of the “contemporary masters of the medium” by MIT Press’s Computer Music Journal, electroacoustic composer Elainie Lillios creates works that reflect her fascination with listening, sound, space, time, immersion and anecdote. Her compositions include stereo, multi channel, and Ambisonic fixed media works, instrument(s) with live interactive electronics, collaborative experimental audio/visual animations, and installations.
Her work has been recognized internationally and nationally through awards including a 2013-14 Fulbright Award, First Prize in the Concours Internationale de Bourges, Areon Flutes International Composition Competition, Electroacoustic Piano International Competition, and Medea Electronique “Saxotronics” Competition, and Second Prize in the Destellos International Electroacoustic Competition. She has also received awards from the Concurso Internacional de Música Electroacústica de São Paulo, Concorso Internazionale Russolo, Pierre Schaeffer Competition, and La Muse en Circuit. She has received grants/commissions from INA/GRM, Rèseaux, International Computer Music Association, La Muse en Circuit, NAISA, ASCAP/SEAMUS, LSU’s Center for Computation and Technology, Sonic Arts Research Centre, Ohio Arts Council, and National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts. She has been a special guest at the Groupe de Recherche Musicales, Rien à Voir, festival l’espace du son, June in Buffalo, and at other locations in the United States and abroad. http://elillios.com