Matthew Burtner (born 1970,
Naknek, Alaska
Naknek ( esu, Nakniq) is a census-designated place located in and the borough seat of Bristol Bay Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2020 census, the population of the CDP was 470, down from 544 in 2010.
Naknek is located on the no ...
) is a contemporary
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and Defi ...
. His most recent work at the University of Virginia includes MICE, the mobile interactive computer ensemble.
Life and music
Born into a fishing family, Burtner heard music in the ice and snow melting as well as other nature sounds. Once into grade school, he began learning the saxophone, playing in jazz bands, school bands and performance groups throughout his young years.
In college, he studied philosophy, composition, saxophone and computer music at St. Johns College, Tulane University (BFA 1993),
Iannis Xenakis
Giannis Klearchou Xenakis (also spelled for professional purposes as Yannis or Iannis Xenakis; el, Γιάννης "Ιωάννης" Κλέαρχου Ξενάκης, ; 29 May 1922 – 4 February 2001) was a Romanian-born Greek-French avant-garde ...
's
UPIC Studios, the Peabody Institute of JHU (MM 1997), and Stanford University's
CCRMA
Stanford University has many centers and institutes dedicated to the study of various specific topics. These centers and institutes may be within a department, within a school but across departments, an independent laboratory, institute or center ...
(DMA 2002). At Stanford he studied and worked closely with
Max Mathews
Max Vernon Mathews (November 13, 1926 in Columbus, Nebraska, USA – April 21, 2011 in San Francisco, CA, USA) was a pioneer of computer music.
Biography
Mathews studied electrical engineering at the California Institute of Technology and the Ma ...
,
Jonathan Harvey,
Brian Ferneyhough
Brian John Peter Ferneyhough (; born 16 January 1943) is an English composer. Ferneyhough is typically considered the central figure of the New Complexity movement. Ferneyhough has taught composition at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg and ...
and Jon Berger.
Burtner is currently Professor of composition and computer music at the University of Virginia where he is Associate Director of the VCCM Computer Music Center and the Chair of the University of Virginia's Music Department. He was an Invited Researcher at
IRCAM
IRCAM (French: ''Ircam, '', English: Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music) is a French institute dedicated to the research of music and sound, especially in the fields of avant garde and electro-acoustical art music. It is ...
/Centre Pompidou in Paris in 2005, an Artist in Residence at the Cite International des Arts in Paris, as well as Composer-in-Residence at Musikene in San Sebastian, Spain.
There are many works by Burtner, including music and sound art for instrumental ensembles, digital sound and multimedia, as well as pieces that he performs on the Metasax. Excerpts of his music can be heard in the "Listening Room" on his website.
They are also available on several published recordings.
Metasax
Burtner developed the Metasaxophone in 1999.
The Metasax, an acoustic tenor saxophone retrofitted with an onboard computer microprocessor, and an array of sensors that convert performance data into independent continuous control messages for a computer. It is also with a unique microphone system allowing for detailed control of the amplified sound. While maintaining full acoustic functionality, the metasax is a versatile computer controller and an electric instrument.
Ecoacoustics
Musical Ecoacoustics is an approach to embedding environmental systems into musical and performative structures using new technologies. It draws on techniques of sonification,
acoustic ecology
Acoustic ecology, sometimes called ecoacoustics or soundscape studies, is a discipline studying the relationship, mediated through sound, between human beings and their environment. Acoustic ecology studies started in the late 1960s with R. Murr ...
and soundscape composition (
Truax,
Westerkamp, Keller and others). The data from nature may be audio information from wind or ocean waves, or it may be some measurable parameter such as temperature, geological change, etc.
Burtner's instrumental and electroacoustic music draws environment into the musical structure, and attempts to decentralize human notions of time and form, searching for more universal, ecology-centered forms.
Works
*Electroacoustic theater and new media opera:
**"Kuik" (2003–2006) for voices, percussion, computer sound, dance/movement, theater, video and interactive media
**"Windcombs/Imaq" (2005) for mixed instrumental ensemble, computer sound, video, dance/movement, voices and theater
**"Ukiuq Tulugaq (Winter Raven)" (1998–2002) for mixed ensemble, computer surround sound, voice, theater, dance/movement, video
*Instrumental compositions:
**"Pulling in the Light" (2006) for mandolin, Yup'ik drum and mixed ensemble
**"Windprints" (2005) for Chinese Sheng and mixed ensemble
**"Prismic Generations" (2004) for struck and bowed pitched instruments, computer sound and video
**"Broken Drum" (2003) for automobile brake drum and computer
**"Polyrhythmicana" (2002) for flute, cello, guitar, percussion and 4-channel computer-generated click track
**"Snowprints" (2001) for flute, cello, piano, snow, and computer sound
**"Animus/Anima" (2001) for voice, extended resonators and computer sound
**"Signal Ruins" (2000) for piano, bass drums, noise generators and computer sound
**"Portals of Distortion" (1999) for nine tenor saxophones
**"Incantation S4-X" (1998) for saxophone quartet and computer-generated sound
**"Sikuigvik (the time of ice melting)" (1997) for piano and ensemble
**"Ricercare" (1991: earliest published composition) for violin scordatura and large bass drum
*Computer music sound art:
**"Spectral for 0" and "Spectral for 60" (2006) for
polyrhythmicon and nWinds
**"That which is bodiless is reflected in bodies" (2004) for Tibetan bowl and 8-channel computer-generated surround sound
**"Glass Phase" (1999) for polyrhythmicon
**"Fern" (1997) for computer-generated sound
**"Mists" (1995) for computer noise generators and stones
*Metasaxophone compositions:
**"SXrAtch" (2006)
**"Endprint" (2004)
**"S-Morphe-S" (2002)
**"S-Trance-S" (2001)
**"Noisegate 67" (1999)
**"Split Voices" (1998)
**"Incantation S4" (1997)
References
External links
Matthew Burtner at Arcane Candy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burtner, Matthew
1970 births
Living people
American male composers
21st-century American composers
American experimental musicians
Musicians from Alaska
People from Bristol Bay Borough, Alaska
21st-century American inventors
21st-century American male musicians