Composition Forum: Pamela Z

Pamela Z, composer/performer and media artist, will be presenting "The Interdisciplinary Composer," in which she will share details about her work and her process, and will discuss the increasingly blurred lines between disciplines in her practice. Open to the public, this forum serves as the inaugural event for her Denning virtual visiting artist residency. 

Pamela Z works primarily with voice, live electronic processing, sampled sound, and video. A pioneer of live digital looping techniques, she processes her voice in real time to create dense, complex sonic layers. Her solo works combine experimental extended vocal techniques, operatic bel canto, found objects, text, digital processing, and wireless MIDI controllers that allow her to manipulate sound with physical gestures. In addition to her solo work, she has been commissioned to compose scores for dance, theatre, film, and chamber ensembles including Kronos Quartet, Eighth Blackbird, the Bang on a Can All Stars, Ethel, and San Francisco Contemporary Music Players. Her interdisciplinary performance works have been presented at venues including The Kitchen (NY), Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (SF), REDCAT (LA), and MCA (Chicago), and her installations have been presented at such exhibition spaces as the Whitney (NY), the Diözesanmuseum (Cologne), and the Krannert (IL). Pamela Z has toured extensively throughout the U.S., Europe, and Japan. She has performed in numerous festivals including Bang on a Can (New York), Interlink (Japan), Other Minds (San Francisco), La Biennale di Venezia (Italy), Dak’Art (Sénégal), and Pina Bausch Tanztheater Festival (Wuppertal, Germany). She’s a recipient of numerous awards including the Rome Prize, United States Artists, a Robert Rauschenberg Foundation residency, the Guggenheim, the Doris Duke Artist Impact Award, Herb Alpert Award, an Ars Electronica honorable mention, and the NEA Japan/US Friendship Commission Fellowship. She holds a music degree from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Read about "Times3 (Times x Times x Times)", a world premiere sonic journey through Times Square – past, present, and imagined, created by Pamela Z and theater artist Geoff Sobelle in the New York Times.

Photo: Shawn Harris

Please note that you will need to register in advance for this meeting. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting via Zoom.