Amy X Neuburg (born

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

) is an American composer, vocalist, and electronic musician.

Education and career

She holds a B.M. degree in voice from the

Oberlin Conservatory of Music The Oberlin Conservatory of Music is a private music conservatory in Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. It was founded in 1865 and is the second oldest conservatory and oldest continually operating conservatory in the United States. It is one of ...

, a B.A. in linguistics from

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...

, and an M.F.A. in electronic music from

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University is a private college in Oakland, California and part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was ...

, where she studied with

Pauline Oliveros Pauline Oliveros (May 30, 1932 – November 24, 2016) was an American composer, accordionist and a central figure in the development of post-war experimental and electronic music. She was a founding member of the San Francisco Tape Music Center ...

and

David Rosenboom David Rosenboom (born 1947 in Fairfield, Iowa) is a composer-performer, interdisciplinary artist, author, and educator known for his work in American experimental music. Rosenboom has explored various forms of music, languages for improvisation, ...

. Her solo works combine her singing and speaking voice with electronic loops and samples triggered with electronic drums. Her multi-layered compositions incorporate musical styles including

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

, rock,

Medieval music Medieval music encompasses the sacred and secular music of Western Europe during the Middle Ages, from approximately the 6th to 15th centuries. It is the first and longest major era of Western classical music and followed by the Renaissance ...

, and world music. For ten years she led the experimental band Amy X Neuburg & Men. Neuburg's live-looping works incorporate voice and digital instrument samples, and draw upon compositional traditions such as

acousmatic Acousmatic sound is sound that is heard without an originating cause being seen. The word ''acousmatic'', from the French ''acousmatique'', is derived from the Greek word ''akousmatikoi'' (ἀκουσματικοί), which referred to probationary p ...

voice and the

posthuman Posthuman or post-human is a concept originating in the fields of science fiction, futurology, contemporary art, and philosophy that means a person or entity that exists in a state beyond being human. The concept aims at addressing a variety of ...

vocal subject. More recently Ms. Neuburg's compositions have focused on chamber and vocal ensembles, often with electronics and her own voice as soloist. She has composed for and sung with the

Paul Dresher Paul Joseph Dresher (born January 8, 1951 in Los Angeles) is an American composer. Dresher received his B.A. in music from the University of California, Berkeley and his M.A. in composition from the University of California, San Diego, where he st ...

Ensemble, Solstice vocal ensemble,

Del Sol String Quartet The Del Sol Quartet is a string quartet based in San Francisco, California that was founded in 1992 by violist Charlton Lee. Del Sol has commissioned and premiered thousands of works from a diverse range of international composers, including Terry ...

, Robin Cox Ensemble,

Present Music The present (or here'' and ''now) is the time that is associated with the events perceived directly and in the first time, not as a recollection (perceived more than once) or a speculation (predicted, hypothesis, uncertain). It is a period of ...

, and

Pacific Mozart Ensemble Pacific Edge Voices (formerly The Pacific Mozart Ensemble (PME)) is a volunteer choral organization based in Berkeley, CA. The group was formed to provide a chorus of professional quality for highly skilled and experienced singers who did not wi ...

. From 2005 to 2010 Amy led the Cello ChiXtet, a group she established to perform her song cycl
The Secret Language of Subways
Neuburg lives in

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Discography

Neuburg's recorded output reflects a polystylistic approach to singing/songwriting.

Solo

* The Secret Language of Subways * Residue —2004 (Other Minds) * Sports! Chips! Booty! * Utechma * Songs 91 to 85

References

External links

Amy X Neuburg web pageAmy X Neuburg page from IS Productions siteAmy X Neuburg performs ''Six Little Stains'' for solo voice and electronics (2002)
at the Other Minds 9 festival, Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, San Francisco, March 6, 2003 American women composers 21st-century American composers British emigrants to the United States Living people Oberlin Conservatory of Music alumni Avant-garde singers American women in electronic music 21st-century American women musicians Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century women composers {{US-singer-stub