ben hackbarth composer
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biographical info

    The music of Ben Hackbarth focuses on combining instruments and electronic sound in new and novel ways. His electro-acoustic compositions revolve around the timbres, gestures and acoustical properties of western instruments. Through mapping notions of instrumental tradition, technique, virtuosity and identity onto electronic sound, he seeks to create a hyper-extended instrumental space emphasizing the perception of boundaries to create friction and form.
    He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. at the University of California, San Diego where he studies composition with Roger Reynolds. At UCSD he has also worked with Philippe Manoury, Miller Puckette and obtained a master's degree while studying with Chaya Czernowin. He has a bachelor's in composition from the Eastman School of Music where he studied with Allan Schindler, Bob Morris, Martin Bresnick, Steven Stucky and Christopher Rouse.
    Ben is a researcher at the Center for Research and Computing in the Arts where he writes software for using acoustic sound to guide the synthesis of electronic textures. There he has collaborated with other artists to create multimedia installations with realtime graphics, sound, computer vision and motion tracking.
    He has had premières and performances by the Arditti String Quartet, Ensemble SurPlus, the Collage New Music ensemble and the Kenners. His Music has been presented at Akademie Schloss Solitude, the SEAMUS festival, the Florida Electro-acoustic Music Festival, SIGGRAPH, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, E-Werk Grosser Saal, the San Diego Museum of Art, the Ingenuity Festival and the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery. Ben's music can be heard on CD releases by SEAMUS and Carrier Records.

Upcoming Peformances

· 5/27/2010 -- crumbling walls and wandering rocks will be performed by the Wet Ink Ensemble in New York, NY.

· 3/11/2010 -- open end will be performed by Brian Archinal in Tempe, AZ.

· 12/9/2009 -- String Quartet no. 1 will be played by Ensemble SurPlus in E-Werk Grosser Saal, Freiburg, Germany.

· 9/11/2009 -- disjointed movements will be played at the Contempuls Contemporary Music Festival in Prague.