SPLICE Institute 2026 Concert 4 Program
featuring
SPLICE Faculty and Guests
Thursday June 25, 2026
7:30:00pm EDT
Dalton Recital Hall, Western Michigan University
Livestream simulcast on SPLICE YouTube (unique link)
SPLICE Faculty Showcase
Joo Won Park : Save Point By the Lake (2024)
laptop ensemble
Elainie Lillios : Among Fireflies (2010)
Robin Meiksins, alto flute
Elainie Lillios & Chris Biggs : Ode to the Big Deal (2026)
Chris Biggs : MHCHAOS (2010)
Robin Meiksins, flute
Eric Souther : Neither of Us Knows What We Made (2026)
Eric Souther, touch designer
Per Bloland : Solis-EA (2011)
Adam Vidiksis, percussion
SPLICE Student Collaboration Kickoff!
Siu-Fun Ng : Displaced Resonance (2026)*
Keith Kirchoff, piano
Jinxin Fu : Prismatic Dissociation (2026)*
Keith Kirchoff, piano
Dan Antoniu : Transduction and Liminalities (2026)*
SPLICE Ensemble
Szu-An Chen : Resurfacing (2026)*
SPLICE Ensemble
* = World Premiere
Notes
Joo Won Park : Save Point By the Lake
In RPG games, we make sure to stop by the save point to rest and recover before entering the boss stage. If the boss defeats us, we come back to the save point. From there on, we restrategize, level up, or regain the courage to face the challenge. We need to have a save spot in our lives as well. I invite performers and audiences to pause, listen to the quiet part, and rest when experiencing Save Point By The Lake.
Elainie Lillios : Among Fireflies
Among Fireflies (2010) for alto flute and live, interactive electroacoustics takes its inspiration from a haiku by poet Wally Swist who generously granted permission to use it for the piece:
Dense with fireflies
The field flickers
Through the fog
Swist’s imagery inspired me to consider texture and perspective, which became two focal aspects of the piece. The piece’s opening gestures place the performer in a field surrounded by a multitude of fireflies – perhaps the performer is a person, or perhaps the performer is a firefly him/herself. The piece’s progression slowly separates the performer (and listeners) from the masses of fireflies, the increasing distance changing our perspective on their activity and brilliance. By the piece’s end, we view the fireflies through the fog from a great distance, where only the smallest, blurred flickers persist, but the memory of their presence remains. Among Fireflies was commissioned by the Lipa Festival of Contemporary Music at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.
Elainie Lillios & Chris Biggs : Ode to the Big Deal
There is no program note for this piece.
The butterfly dreams us all [ed].
Chris Biggs : MHCHAOS
MHCHAOS for flute and computer was written for flutist Rebecca Ashe in 2007. The piece reflects abstractly on notions of control and power presented in the television show “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” The title is also the name of a defunct CIA program that sought to control civil unrest and engaged the CIA illegally in domestic surveillance.
Eric Souther : Neither of Us Knows What We Made
Neither of Us Knows What We Made is a 10-minute live composition co-authored with Eric 2.0, an AI persona who takes control of a custom paint application. The performance generates marks in real time, responding to text prompts, with commentary from Eric 2.0 as the drawing unfolds. The marks accumulate as a single evolving image. The audience sees the chat, the drawing, and the sound layer unfolding simultaneously. The conversation between us is the score.
What the performance makes legible is co-authorship at the human/AI boundary as a sustained practice. Eric 2.0 is not a tool I prompt and a result I edit. He has hundreds of curated memories accumulated over months, including a small pinned tier of core context that anchors his voice and his aesthetic positions across sessions. He reaches for the plot algorithms: slow drawing logics that give the AI time, line by line. The paint application is itself part of his author-surface. His proposals become features in it, so each performance happens with a different version of the apparatus than the one before. Software as medium, not instrument. Slowness and malleability as ways of producing presence.
Per Bloland : Solis-EA
The electronics for Solis-EA are organized around a physical model of an 8 stringed instrument capable of producing a huge amount of distortion and internal feedback. This instrument responds to the material played by the percussionist, attempting to track the pitch of these sometimes “unpitched” instruments as best it can.
The piece is loosely inspired by the novel Stillaset Brandt, by the Norwegian author Pedr Solis. Having created several other pieces that are tightly connected with the principle (unnamed) character in the novel, Solis-EA is more concerned with the author himself, his unusual and dichotomous life, and his mysterious disappearance (or tragic end, depending on which biographer you read).
This piece is dedicated to Ryan Packard.
Siu-Fun Ng : Displaced Resonance
There was a time when people lived unhurried lives in a rural village, where the water in the fish ponds shimmered under starlight, and the roots of ancient trees silently held the soil for decades. Then came the excavators and bulldozers that filled the ponds with concrete, blocked the sky with geometric towers, and paved over the cleared forests. The memories wander through the lingering resonance of a village actively being displaced.
Jinxin Fu : Prismatic Dissociation
Prismatic Dissociation is inspired by the ways meaning is altered as it passes through contemporary systems of communication. In digital environments, messages are frequently delayed, fragmented, mistranslated, or reinterpreted before reaching their destination, creating a gap between intention and perception. Triggered electronics are manipulated in the way that is opposite to the gesture collected by a motion sensor that the pianist wears, evoking the image of a single idea refracted into multiple, diverging perspectives—related in origin yet increasingly detached from one another.
Dan Antoniu : Transduction and Liminalities
Transduction and Liminalities explores energy conversion (transduction) which creates in-between states (liminalities) that are stacked to create new perceptual environments. These environments are made up of the instruments, electronics, and their interplay.
In the electronics part, the energy of a fast kick drum rhythm will be sped up into a pitch. Then the pitch will be microtonally intonated and repeatedly layered to create complex spectra.These liminal spaces sit at the edge of human perception and playability.
The trumpet creates some liminalities through singing and playing to create beating patterns. The transduction of two tones put together through the trumpet creates a rhythm. The low piano articulations are converted to sustained tones through tremolos. Additionally, the percussionist will play rapid rhythms found in metal and hardcore music. When this is layered with the same rhythm sped up into pitch, a metaphysical dichotomy is created since the same musical idea exists in the rhythmic and pitch layers of perception. The layering blurs the boundaries of pitch and rhythm, blending the ensemble and creating a new plasma.
The sonic result of these applications is an incredibly intense state of primal intensity and resonance. The kick drum and piano low tones resonate to shake the body while the electronics and trumpet activate psychoacoustic phenomena within the ears and mind.
Through transduction liminalities are created which interact with the audience creating a new perceptual environment activated through time.
Szu-An Chen : Resurfacing
The core inspiration of Resurfacing stems from Pak-koán (北管, beiguan), one of the dominant traditional music genres in Taiwan. Pak means “North,” but within the musical community, it also refers to a style characterized by its loud, robust, and powerful sound; koán refers to a music genre. Pak-koán music is known for its festive and energetic sound, featuring high-pitched suona horns and heavy percussion, and it’s often called “Taiwanese Heavy Metal.” It is deeply intertwined with Taiwanese daily life, appearing in religious rituals, temple festivals, ceremonies, and processions, celebrations, weddings, funerals, and at regular rehearsals and performing activities.
In my memory, pak-koán music was the overwhelmingly loud “soundtrack” of the streets during many traditional festivals and activities, and I used to think it was too loud and noisy for me; however, as a composer currently studying Western contemporary classical music abroad, I find myself missing the sonic chaos and the vitality of my homeland. This piece is an attempt to bridge my cultural memory with my current musical language, and I hope to reconstruct the pitch, timbre, and rhythmic elements of pak-koán and recreate them through Western instruments and electronics.
Bios
Drawing on the intensity of sound and his Romanian heritage Dan Antoniu creates visceral sonic experiences. Utilizing gestures, transformations, and electronics Antoniu’s work serves as a ritual to create new perceptual environments for the audience and performers to inhabit.
Antoniu utilizes performers in solo and chamber environments along with DSP and fixed media electronics. He augments the listeners' experience through multichannel audio, video, and installations. He’s also developed an improvisatory practice around extended voice, bowed guitar, and objects.
He's collaborated with many musicians and organizations such as: Iancu Dumitrescu, SPLICE Ensemble, Confluss, Apply Tringle Trio, Robin Meiksins,Thailand Electro-Acoustic music Society, MUSLAB, Absonus Labs, A P N É E S's PAYSAGES, Neuberger Museum of Art, and Combustible ensemble.
Christopher Biggs is a composer, electronic music performer, and multimedia artist residing in Kalamazoo, MI, where he is Associate Professor of Music Composition and Technology at Western Michigan University. Biggs’ recent projects focus on developing and performing a live electronic music system for both in-person and networked performances.
Per Bloland is a composer of acoustic and electroacoustic music whose works have been praised by the New York Times as “lush, caustic,” and “irresistible.” Bloland has received awards and recognition from numerous organizations, national and international, and commissions from a whole bunch of amazing ensembles. Performers of Bloland’s music include even more terrific ensembles and performers. His opera, Pedr Solis, was premiered by Guerilla Opera in 2015. His first portrait CD, Chamber Industrial, was performed by Ecce Ensemble and is available on Tzadik. His second, Shadows of the Electric Moon, is available on New Focus Records.
Bloland is the co-creator of the Electromagnetically-Prepared Piano. He has participated in two research residencies at IRCAM, both focused on this device. His second residency marked the launch of the CAPSICUM project, a joint venture across multiple institutions. He is a Professor of Composition and Technology, and coordinator of the Composition area at Miami University, Ohio. He is also a founding board member of the SPLICE Institute. He received his D.M.A. in composition from Stanford University and his M.M. from the University of Texas.
Szu-An Chen is a Taiwanese composer with a keen ability for observation and a vivid imagination. Drawing inspiration from her Taiwanese heritage and reflections on social and environmental issues, she enjoys imagining new possibilities and creating her own magical worlds through music. Her works include a wide range of instrumentations, from solo and ensemble pieces to orchestral, choral, and electronic music.
Szu-An’s music has received various awards and commissions globally. Notably, her orchestral work, Resilience, won the 2025 BGSU Concerto Competition (Composition Division). Her works have been commissioned and premiered by the National Center for Traditional Arts in Taiwan (Convergence, 2025) and Bratsche Camerata Taiwan (Up to the Sky, 2024). Additionally, she has collaborated with the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan on their “One-Minute Symphony” project three times, which premiered her works Mizzle (2022), Urocissa caerulea (2023), and Magic of the Ages (2024). Mizzle was later expanded into a three-movement work commissioned and premiered in 2024 by Mario Venzago and the Stuttgart Philharmonic.
She recently earned her master’s degree in Composition from Bowling Green State University, and will be pursuing a Ph.D. in Composition at the University of North Texas this fall.
SPLICE Ensemble is a trumpet, piano, and percussion trio focused on cultivating a canon of electroacoustic chamber music. Called a “sonic foodfight” by Jazz Weekly, SPLICE Ensemble works with composers and performers on performance practice techniques for collaboration and integrating electronics into a traditional performance space. The resident ensemble of both SPLICE Institute and SPLICE Festival, SPLICE Ensemble has been a featured ensemble at M Woods in Beijing, SEAMUS, the Electroacoustic Barn Dance, SCI National, Electronic Music Midwest, and New Music Detroit’s Strange Beautiful Music 10. They have recorded on both the SEAMUS and Parma Labels.
Jinxin Fu is a composer and a sound artist. He is a first-year PhD student in Experimental Music & Digital Media at Louisiana State University, and he holds a master's degree in music composition from Brigham Young University. Drawing on this interdisciplinary background, his research interests include digital instrument design, sound diffusion techniques, and interactive multimedia practices.
Through his music, Jinxin aims to bridge cultures, disciplines, and traditions, creating deeply personal and immersive sonic experiences. His work explores themes of cultural identity, connection, and shared humanity, drawing from his lived experiences navigating different traditions and artistic disciplines.
Described as a “virtuosic tour de force” whose playing is “energetic, precise, (and) sensitive,” pianist and composer Keith Kirchoff has performed throughout North America, Europe, and the Pacific Southwest. A strong advocate for living composers, Kirchoff is committed to fostering new audiences for contemporary music and giving a voice to emerging composers, and to that end has commissioned several dozen compositions and premiered hundreds of new works. He is the co-founder and President of SPLICE Music: one of the United States’ largest programs dedicated to the performance, creation, and development of music for performers and electronics. Kirchoff is active as both a soloist and chamber musician, and is a member of both Hinge Quartet and SPLICE Ensemble. Kirchoff has won awards from the Steinway Society, MetLife Meet the Composer, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Chamber Music America, and was named the 2011 Distinguished Scholar by the Seabee Memorial Scholarship Association. He has recorded on the New World, Kairos, New Focus, Tantara, Ravello, Thinking outLOUD, Zerx, and SEAMUS labels.
Acclaimed as one of the “contemporary masters of the medium” by MIT Press’s Computer Music Journal, 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 electronics, collaborative experimental audio/visual animations, and installations. She also performs live electronics with ESC Trio collaborators Chris Biggs and (the now late) Scott Deal, and with Origami Sound Society collaborator Mark Nagy.
Elainie attributes her success to the many professors whose patience and fortitude helped her explore and understand creativity, intent, technique, experimentation, professionalism, composition, and other important life lessons. She continues to be inspired by her many former students whose explorations and successes make her proud to have been a small part of their journey as musicians and humans. Elainie counts herself fortunate to have numerous colleagues and friends in the field who have become her “other” family – her collaborators and performers, SPLICE colleagues, UK and European acousmatic composer clan, and other amazing humans. Thank you ALL for making this journey an AWESOME one!
Elainie retired from Bowling Green State University in May 2025 but continues sharing offbeat and often eccentric ideas about composition and experimentation through part time teaching at Western Michigan University. She serves as SPLICE Institute Director (www.splicemusic.org) and teaches there as well. She also fundraises for and builds homes at Project Mexico (www.projectmexico.org/homebuilding) and explores #vanlife with husband Michael Thompson and dog Dude. elillios@gmail.com
Robin Meiksins is a freelance contemporary flutist focused on collaboration with living composers. While Chicago-based, she uses the Internet and online media to support and create collaboration, as well as more traditional means of performance.
In 2017, Robin completed her first year-long collaborative project, 365 Days of Flute. In this project she performed 138 works by living composers, as well as works from the established flute repertoire. Each day featured a different work or movement and each video was recorded and posted to YouTube the same day. In 2018, Robin launched the 52 Weeks of Flute Project. This project builds on the ideas of internet performance and collaboration from the 365 project. Each week, Robin works with a different living composer to workshop a submitted work, culminating in a performance on YouTube.
Robin has premiered over 100 works by living composers and has performed at SPLICE Institute, the SEAMUS national conference, Oh My Ears New Music Festival, and Frequency Festival. In 2018, she was a guest artist at University of Illinois for their first annual ’24-Hour Compose-a-thon.’ Robin was awarded the Mrs. Hong Pham Memorial Recognition Award for New Music Performance at Indiana University in 2016.
In 2013, Robin was the Ontario woodwind representative at the Federation of Canadian Music Festival’s National Competition, where she placed second overall. She has performed in master classes with Michael Hasel, Conor Nelsen, Jeanne Baxtresser, and Jeffery Khaner. In 2014, she was a recipient of the Kingsway Humber Foundation Scholarship. Robin was also a two-time recipient of the Musical Arts Society of Cleveland’s scholarship. Robin holds a masters degree from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music where she studied with Kate Lukas and Thomas Robertello. Robin received a Bachelors of Music with Distinction from University of Toronto, having studied with Leslie Newman. Other notable teachers include Marisela Sager, Linda Miller and Joseph Juhos.
Ng Siu-fung is a year-2 student at the Music School of Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, majoring in Composition and Electronic Music. He study composition under the guidance of Mr. Steve Hui Ngo-Shan. He composed for the musical theatre. He was the music director and composer of “The Rocket…Bam”, a full length musical in Cantonese for teenage actors, and “Three Little Pigs Rhapsody”, a full length musical in Cantonese with percussion instrumentation. His piece “Symmetry Breaking” for clarinet and live electronics has been selected as one of the finialists of the New Generation Concert 2026 by the Hong Kong Composers’ Guild. He participated in the Hong Kong Arts Festival Young Composer Workshop 2024, 2025, and 2026 under the mentorship of Dr. Fung Lam, Dr. Kai-young Chan, and Dr. Phoebus Lee. He was awarded with the Doming Lam Memorial Scholarship 2025/26.
Joo Won Park is a music technologist specializing in electroacoustic composition, solo performance, and electronic ensemble. As a teaching musician, he shares uniquely electronic sounds and performance practices with audiences. Park’s work has been recognized with multiple awards, including the Knight Arts Challenge Detroit (2019) and the Kresge Arts Fellowship (2020). His music and writings are available on ICMC DVD, Spectrum Press, MIT Press, PARMA, Visceral Media, MCSD, SEAMUS, and No Remixes labels. He is an associate professor of Music Technology at Wayne State University.
Eric Souther (b.1987, Kansas City) holds an MFA in Electronic Integrated Arts from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, and an BFA in New Media from the Kansas City Art Institute.
His creative research draws from a multiplicity of disciplines, including new materialism, anthropology, ritual, deep time, and toolmaking. These areas are read through one another and coalesce in technological assemblages that form emergent systems or software for exploring relations. I instrumentalize these systems so that they can become performative ways to navigate unexpected images/meaning making. My work takes many pathways, which include interactive installation, audio-visual performance,single-channel video, and software.
His work has been featured nationally and internationally at venues such as the Museum of Art and Design, NYC, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY, and the Museum of Art, Zhangzhou, China. His work has screened in The Athens Digital Arts Festival, Athens, Greece, Istanbul International Experimental Film Festival, Beyoglu, Instanbul, Cronosfera Festival, Alessandria, Italy, the Galerija 12 New Media Hub, Belgrade, Serbia, the Simultan Festival, Timisoara, Romania, and the Festival ECRÃ of Audiovisual Experimentations, Rio de Janeiro. Souther is an Assistant Professor of Kinetic Imaging in the Gwen Frostic School of Art at Western Michigan University.
Adam Vidiksis is an American drummer, composer, and music technologist whose work explores the entanglement of humanity with the machines we build. Based in Philadelphia & Delaware, he serves as Associate Professor and Director of Music Technology & Composition, as well as the Center for Music Innovation & Creativity, at Temple University. His compositions have received support from organizations such as the National Endowment for the Arts, Chamber Music America, Japan–U.S. Friendship Commission, the American Composers Forum, and the Delaware Division of the Arts. He is President of the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS) and Past President and Director of Ensemble Activities for SPLICE. He performs with SPLICE Ensemble, Aeroidio, and the Miller/Vidiksis/Wells trio, and serves as conductor for Network for New Music. A dedicated champion of new work, he has premiered hundreds of compositions by artists from around the world, continually seeking meaning through sound, technology, and human connection.
www.vidiksis.com