Recent Alumni (1999 - 2005) of the Graduate Composition Program: Current Activities

Yoshiko Ando (JAPAN) studied electro-acoustic and interactive computer music with Cort Lippe in the M.A. program in Composition. She previously studied computer music with Takayuki Rai and Erik Oña at the Sonology Department of the Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo, Japan, where she completed the Bachelors Degree.  Her primary interest is in sound design, which coordinates sound space with various timbres using computer technology. 

Her music has been performed at a number of festivals and conferences around the world, including the June in Buffalo Festival 1999, Southeast Asia's First Conference on Music Technology in the Third Millennium in Malaysia (3/2000), and the Australasian Computer Music Conference 2000.

Yoshiko’s interactive computer music, "Tsubasa" for soprano saxophone and Max/MSP, was performed in San Diego at the Northwest Electro-Acoustic Music Organization 4th international festival -NWEAMO 2002- in October.  Currently, she is working on tape music for upcoming concerts.

Kevin Baird (USA) continues to play in and compose for the September Question (www.septemberquestion.org) with jazz saxophonist Jason Crane. In March 2002, he traveled to Electronic Music Midwest in Kansas City to present a technical demonstration of Auditor: A tool for analysis of improvised music in Max/MSP which he co-authored with UB Professor Cort Lippe. In addition to his musical work, he serves as the volunteer webmaster for the Green Party of Monroe County (www.gpomc.org).

Kevin finished his Ph.D. in April 2005, was published in Linux Journal, and is currently working as a programmer. In October 2005, he
will give a presentation related to his dissertation work at the International Ruby Conference.

Additional information:  http://www.kevinbaird.net

Eliav Brand (Israel) currently resides in Berlin.  After completing his Ph.D. in Composition, he was awarded residencies at Akademie Schloss Solitude (Stuttgart) and at Künstlerhof Schreyahn.  He has recently been awarded an extended residency scholarship from the Minerva Foundation/Max Planck Institute for German and Israeli scholars.  His work has been performed by Ensemble SurPlus (Freiburg), trio e-vent, and others, at such venues as Fondation Royaumont, and the Darmstadt Internationale Ferienkurse für neue Musik.

Aaron Cassidy (USA) completed the Ph.D. in 2002. His work has been performed by such performers as Quatuor Diotima, ensemble recherche, Ictus Ensemble, Ensemble SurPlus, Kairos Quartett, Mieko Kanno, Garth Knox, Ian Pace, Christopher Redgate, Carl Rosman, and Peter Veale, at such venues as the Bludenzertage zeitgemäßer musik, Gaudeamus International Music Week (Jurors Prize nominee, 2002 & 2004), Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Abbaye Royaumont, British Music Information Center, June In Buffalo, the Kesselhaus of the Kulturbrauerei (Berlin), Akademie Schloss Solitude, Bienal Internacional de Musica Y Tecnologia (Mexico City), and the ISCM World Music Days (Zagreb). Current projects include new works for the ELISION ensemble, electric guitarist Daryl Buckley, and a work for oboe, clarinet, and ensemble for Peter Veale and Carl Rosman. He has received grants, stipends, and commissions from allerArt Bludenz, the Yvar Mikhashoff Trust for New Music, Haupstadtkulturfonds Berlin, New York Foundation for the Arts, Schloss Solitude Sommerakademie, and the American Music Center.

He has also active as an author, with articles in the first two volumes of New Music and Aesthetics in the 21st Century (http://www.wolke-verlag.de): "Polyphony and Complexity" and "Musical Morphology". He is presently at work on an essay for a forthcoming book on Michael Finnissy. Additionally, he has produced two recordings for the EXAUDI Vocal Ensemble on the NMC label.

He has recently joined the Composition faculty at Northwestern University. He formerly served as Visiting Assistant Professor of Music at Buffalo State College, where he taught music theory, aural skills, and composition, and was the coordinator of the Music Computer Lab.

Additional information: http://www.aaroncassidy.com

Projects for the fall of 2005 include a commission from the Kronos Quartet for a work based on Inuit throat singing. Recent composition projects included his dissertation, a fifteen minute concerto for flute and chamber orchestra, continued work with Inuit throat singing transcriptions and new works for string quartet and flute duet also based on Katajak (Inuit throat song games). As a flutist he's recently participated in the 2005 Gaudeamus Interpreters competition in Amsterdam and assisted with Pantasmagoria 2005, a festival of creative flute pedagogy at SUNY Buffalo.

additional information: http://www.charke.com

Chung Shih Hoh (Singapore) is currently the Visiting Assistant Professor of Music (Theory and Composition) at University of Redlands School of Music.

His most recent works include ‘Mountain Bright’ for 14 players performed by the members of Redlands Symphony
in California, ‘Frissons I and II’ performed by Khia-Hui Tan in Singapore, and ‘Shide Song’ by the Dragon Ensemble in Paris, France. He is currently working on a commission by the Singapore National Arts Council, a choral work for The Singers.

He is also active as a performer on the guqin (Chinese 7-string zither), recently performed with MLuM
(http://www.mlum.com) on a video-sound work, ‘Carkagu’; and will be performing at the SIGGRAPH L.A.
chapter multimedia concert at the Music Box, Henry Ford Theatre, Hollywood; and in the ‘Blue Moose Opera’
ballet at University of Redlands.

Being in Southern California, Chung Shih is slowly building up a collection of sub-tropical and semi-desert plants.

More information on Chung Shih can be found at http://chungshih.info

Evan Johnson (Ph.D. 2006) is increasingly active as a composer on the international stage, with recent and upcoming performances in Wellington, Auckland, Los Angeles, Chicago, London, Moenchengladbach (Germany), New York, and elsewhere by performers including 175 East, EXAUDI, musikFabrik, Red Light New Music, Gareth Davis, Richard Haynes, Mark Menzies, etc. He is currently at work on a piece for toy pianist Isabel Ettenauer and a large-scale concerto for bass/contrabass clarinet and ensemble for Gareth Davis. He is also in demand as a writer on music, with contributions to Tempo, Music Theory Spectrum, NewMusicBox and other publications; he will also contribute the booklet essay to an upcoming Mode Records release of Peter Ablinger's 33-127. More information is available at http://www.evanjohnson.info.

He lives in Providence, Rhode Island, with his wife (a doctoral student in Modern Culture and Media at Brown University) and their two cats.

His recent compositions include Guitar Etudes 2&3 (prepared guitar and Max/MSP; April 2002); Cutting the Corners of a Multi-Art Environment (2-channel processed audio; October 2001); III for Computer, Voice, and Tap Dancer (improvisation with Max/MSP; April 2001); Orbits (dance piece created for Choreographer’s Workshop by Monica Karwan; April 2001); I miss knowing that there is no silence around me (2-channel processed audio; October 2000); From There to Here (string quartet; May 2000)

An ongoing interest in free-improvisation led Brett to the formation of the BWO (Baird Wind Octet) in the winter of 2001. The BWO has performed for collaborative performance art projects, ensemble recitals, name and Ferrum Wheel magazine poetry readings, and anyone who’s willing to spend a few hours listening to us. Brett is also a member of the interdisciplinary performance art group named RANT.
RANT productions include Teloscope: devices for gaining an end (funded by UB Honors Department grant—Big Orbit’s Sound Lab; June 2001); Spring RANT: A Multi-Art Environment (UB Alumni Arena; May 2001); 13 Angles (Rust Belt Books; June 2000)
Interpreting Dreams (with Richard Mennen—Nitechze’s; May 2000); Through Windows (UB Alumni Arena; March 2000); Music & Mushrooms (John Cage’s Songbooks selections —UB CFA Black Box; November 1999)

Apart from composition, Sam was actively involved in a research project concerning the archives of the music department, from the 1960s onwards.

Sam completed the Ph.D. in February 2003 and is currently living in London.

Erik Oña (Argentina) is currently on the faculty at Musik-Akademie der Stadt Basel in Switzerland where he teaches composition and live electronic music.  His commissions include Ensemble Intercontemporain-IRCAM (Paris), Nieuw Ensemble (Amsterdam), Nouvel Ensemble Moderne (Montréal), ZKM (Karlsruhe), Stuttgarter Oper (Stuttgart), and European Music Days (Basel), and he has conducted more than 150 premières with ensembles and orchestras in Europe and the Americas.  He has recorded for Mode Records (New York) and WERGO.  He regularly conducts the Thürmchen Ensemble and is published by Thürmchen Verlag.

http://www.esbasel.ch/Informationen/erikLebenslauf.html

J.T. Rinker (USA) is a composer, performer and maker. He writes acoustic music and computer music, creates interactive environments and works with other media including film, video, machine vision and robotic arts.

J.T. received his B.M. in Music Composition from East Carolina University where he studied with Mark Taggart and Otto Henry. In 1999 he received a M.M in Music Composition from North Texas, studying with Joseph Klein, Jon C. Nelson and Phil Winsor and worked at the Center for Experimental Music and Intermedia (C.E.M.I) J.T. recently received a Ph.D. in music composition from the University at Buffalo. His teachers included Jeff Stadelman, Cort Lippe and Marc Bohlen.

J.T. is currently the Managing Director for the Center for 21st Century Music and an adjunct instructor in the Department of Media Study at UB
where he teaches media robotics.

Pedro Rivadeneira (Argentina), graduated from the Ph.D. Program in Composition at UB in 2005. He was taking courses at the Institute for Sonology at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in den Haag, Netherlands.

Alejandro Rutty (Argentina) completed the Ph.D. in 2001.  He is currently an Assistant Professor at Hartwick College in Oneanta, NY.  Recent professional activities include the premieres of "Witchcraft Recipes # 9 and 9b" by the Amherst Saxophone Quartet, "Witchcraft Recipes # 10" by the Beaufleuvian Players; a three-day artist residence at Bates College (Maine) and other performances in Boston, and Bridgewater, MA with the ensemble Lake Affect. Activities as a guest conductor include the Orpheus Theatre Company, Cooperstown, NY; Hartwick College Summer Music Festival Orchestras, and Hartwick College Choral Festival. Also scheduled is the release of a CD with interactive work between professional artists and community members in Oneonta, NY.

http://users.hartwick.edu/ruttya

Ryan H. Torchia (USA) is a byproduct of the San Francisco Bay Area. He received a BA in 1993 and an MA in 1998 in Electro-Acoustic Composition from San Jose State University. He completed his Ph.D at the University at Buffalo studying with Cort Lippe.

Recent compositions include the in-progress dissertation, We Were Just outside of Barstow, for amplified chamber ensemble and live MSP processing in four channels, Photos from the Steven Giguere, Jr. Memorial Petting Zoo for 4-channel tape, ...and then eventually, 10^-43 seconds later... for 8-channel digital tape, and The Machine That Goes 'Ping!' for electro-acoustic band. He also recently co-authored a paper titled Techniques for Multi-Channel Real-Time Spatialization Using Frequency-Domain Processing with Cort Lippe, which has been presented at conferences worldwide.

Ryan presented the paper again at the SEAMUS national convention in San Diego in March. He had works performed at the SCI Student National Conference in Iowa City in April, and at Music at the Anthology in New York City in May, 2004.