Rodney Waschka II is an American composer known for his algorithmic compositions and his theatrical works.
Waschka studied at Brooklyn College, at the Institute of Sonology, then newly part of the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, and earned his doctorate at the University of North Texas. [1] His teachers include Larry Austin at the University of North Texas, Charles Dodge (composer) at Brooklyn College, and Paul Berg, Clarence Barlow, Joel Ryan and George Lewis (trombonist) at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. He also studied with Robert Ashley.
His music has been performed throughout the world including numerous instances at the annual International Computer Music Conference, [2] at the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the US festival, at the World Saxophone Congress in Montreal, and various other venues including Merkin Concert Hall in New York, the Sheremetev Palace and Glinka Hall in St. Petersburg, Russia, the International Review of Composers in Belgrade, the Purcell Room in London, Hong Kong City Hall, and the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid. [3]
Currently, Rodney Waschka II is Director and Professor of Arts Studies at North Carolina State University [4] and he is the director of the North Carolina Computer Music Festival. [5] [6]
Waschka's performances and recordings are regularly reviewed in Computer Music Journal (MIT Press), [7] [8] the Classical Voice of North Carolina [9] and Fanfare. Reviews have appeared in Journal SEAMUS, [10] Technology Review , [11] and other journals. A lengthy interview with Waschka appeared in 21st-Century Music, in December, 2007, conducted by Tom Moore. [12]
Waschka has written articles on techniques used in his music and on other topics. Explanations of his notable work on composing with genetic algorithms appear in the book, Evolutionary Computer Music. [13] He has performed music by Allen Strange, Pertti Jalava, Mansoor Hosseini, himself, and others. [14]
Riding with Phil, "Teth", Phasma Records, 2021. [15]
A Tuesday with Rodney, Jeff Morris, composer; Waschka, performer, “Hearing Voices: Human Sounds, Digital Ears”, Ravello Records, 2020. [16]
Considering Jupiter, Olga Kleiankina, piano, “...Our Passage To The Stars...”, Blue Griffin Records, 2019. [17]
Au Revoir, Svetozar, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, “Live From Prague”, Ablaze Records, 2017. [18]
Belgrade Overture, Brno Philharmonic Orchestra, Mikel Toms, conductor, “Orchestral Masters”, Ablaze Records, 2013. [19]
Winter Concerto, London Schubert Players chamber orchestra, Huw Morgan, trumpet soloist, “A European Odyssey”, Nimbus Records, 2013. [20]
Singing in Traffic, Jonathan Kramer, cello, “CHASS Creates”, North Carolina State University, 2012. [21]
Winter Concerto, the London Schubert Players chamber orchestra, Huw Morgan, trumpet soloist, “As You Like It”, RMA, 2013. [22]
Reminded of Dickens, “60x60 2006-2007”, Vox Novus, 2008.
String Quartet: Laredo, Six Folksongs from an Imaginary Country (viola alone), Xuan Men (violin alone, Russian version), Ravel Remembers Fascism (cello alone), and String Quartet: Ha! Fortune. The Nevsky String Quartet, "Music for Strings" Capstone Records, 2007.
Singing in Traffic, Steve Duke, saxophone, "Evolutionary Computation", Springer, 2007.
Summer Concerto, Phillip Barham, sax soloist, and the Tennessee Tech Symphony Band, Joseph Hermann, director, Arizona University Recordings, 2007.
Saint Ambrose (opera), Steve Duke, saxophone, Capstone Records, 2002.
Still Life with Castanets, "Presence III", PeP, 2002.
Visions of Habakkuk, Centaur Records, 1996.
Xuan Men, Bruce Berg, violin, Centaur Records, 1994.
Help Me Remember, Waschka, soloist, Centaur Records, 1993.
Last Night, Phillip Barham, sax, Yumi Mayama-Livesay, piano; Centaur Records, 1992.
A Noite, Porem, Rangeu E Quebrou, George Dimitri, string bass, Centaur Records, 1991.
More Adult Music and This Is Music As It Was Expected, Composer: Antonio Ferreira; Text: Waschka and Ferreira. Waschka (voice), "LOW FIDELITY MUSIC", Ama Romanta Records, 1988. Rereleased on Plancton Records, 2002.
Euwe Suite and Runes, "Cartography". IRIDA Records, 1986.
Larry Don Austin was an American composer noted for his electronic and computer music works. He was a co-founder and editor of the avant-garde music periodical Source: Music of the Avant Garde. Austin gained additional international recognition when he realized a completion of Charles Ives's Universe Symphony. Austin served as the president of the International Computer Music Association (ICMA) from 1990 to 1994 and served on the board of directors of the ICMA from 1984 to 1988 and from 1990 to 1998.
David “Dave” Cope is an American author, composer, scientist, and Dickerson Emeriti Professor of Music at UC Santa Cruz. His primary area of research involves artificial intelligence and music; he writes programs and algorithms that can analyze existing music and create new compositions in the style of the original input music. He taught the groundbreaking summer workshop in Workshop in Algorithmic Computer Music (WACM) that was open to the public as well as a general education course entitled Artificial Intelligence and Music for enrolled UCSC students. Cope is also co-founder and CTO Emeritus of Recombinant Inc., a music technology company.
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Evolutionary music is the audio counterpart to evolutionary art, whereby algorithmic music is created using an evolutionary algorithm. The process begins with a population of individuals which by some means or other produce audio, which is either initialized randomly or based on human-generated music. Then through the repeated application of computational steps analogous to biological selection, recombination and mutation the aim is for the produced audio to become more musical. Evolutionary sound synthesis is a related technique for generating sounds or synthesizer instruments. Evolutionary music is typically generated using an interactive evolutionary algorithm where the fitness function is the user or audience, as it is difficult to capture the aesthetic qualities of music computationally. However, research into automated measures of musical quality is also active. Evolutionary computation techniques have also been applied to harmonization and accompaniment tasks. The most commonly used evolutionary computation techniques are genetic algorithms and genetic programming.
Phillip Wayne Barham is a classical and jazz saxophonist was the professor of saxophone at Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, Tennessee until October 2018.
Leonard Candelaria is an American trumpeter and educator residing in Birmingham, Alabama. Until Fall 2009, he served as Professor of Trumpet and Artist in Residence at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Prior to his appointment at UAB, Leonard was, for 28 years, professor of trumpet at the University of North Texas College of Music, where he was eventually named Regents Professor of Music in the College of Music. He is recognized internationally as a teacher and performer, and has been a featured soloist in numerous concerts all over the world. He has often been praised for his high level of musicianship and artistry.
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