Music Technology and Interactivity: Voices of the Edge (Web Conference)
May 28 and 29

Web Conference Zoom link: https://ucsb.zoom.us/my/tatcat76

VIII Sonic Convergences:
Music, Technology, and Interactivity: Voices of the Edge
Location: Department of Music, classroom #2215 (Xenaki’s Studio)

The Sonic Convergences is a well-established series of conferences led by Professor Cassia Carrascoza at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil. The event highlights the diversity of thought within these fields, showing, as the name suggests, how musical sounds converge while also individualizing themselves across various inspirations and trends. This edition is partnered with UCSB to promote closer ties among artists from various countries who develop work with different technologies, prompting us to rethink these practices, our perception, and our emotional connections.

PROGRAM

May 28 – Music at the threshold

California / New York / São Paulo

12:00 / 15:00 / 16:00          João Pedro Oliveira (Dept of Music/UCSB, USA)

13:00 / 16:00 / 17:00          Iracema Andrade (CENIDIM, Mexico)
Embodied and Situated Practices in Mixed Electroacoustic Music 

13:30 / 16:30 / 17:30          Trio Janela, telematic music
                                               (New York, Toronto, Sao Paulo
                                               Memories - Collaborative telematic composition
                                               inspired by Pauline Oliveros

14:00 / 17:00 / 18:00           Gustavo Sol (ECA/USP, Brazil
                                               From Opera to Physical Theater, from the Score
                                               to Biosignal-Driven Performance                      

14:30 / 17:30 / 18:30           Constantin Basica (Stanford, USA)
                                               The Last Piece: Musical AI for an Immersive
                                               Syncretic Concert

15:00 / 18:00 / 19:00          Helen Bledsoe  (Ensemble Musikfabrik, Germany/USA)
                                              Art as an Act of Tulpamancy

15:30 / 18:30 / 19:30          round table

May 29 – New technologies, new thoughts, new paths

California / São Paulo

12:00 / 16:00                       JoAnn Kuchera-Morin (Dept of Music/MAT/UCSB, USA)
                                              Music and Technology at UCSB: 40 years of history
                                              (CREATE/MAT)

13:00 / 17:00                       Celeste Betancur (Stanford, USA)
                                              Blurring boundaries between body and interface

13:30 / 17:30                       Marcus Bastos – (PUC - Sao Paulo, Brazil
                                              Events, from live audiovisual performance to artificial intelligence

14:00 / 18:00                       Yifeng Yvonne Yuan (Dept of Music/MAT/UCSB, USA)
                                              Glitch Breath: Real-Time Neural Deconstruction of Vocal Meaning

14:30 / 18:30                       Felipe Ribeiro – (UNESPAR – Paraná, Brazil
                                              How has technology affected musical language                       
 15:00 / 19:00                      round table

May 30 – CCS: conferences about the concert program from May 23^rd with Switch Ensemble (TBD): Composition Processes

California / São Paulo

 14:00 / 18:00                   Andrew A. Watts (CCS/UCSB)
                                           Saturation Triplex (2025-2026) 

 14:30 / 18:30                   Julie Herndon (Cal Poly)
                                           Mud (2025) 

15:00 / 19:00                    Igor Santos (Cornell University)
                                           mirror scenes (2025)
                           
15:30 / 19:30                    Jason Thorpe Buchanan (Hybrid Music Lab,  Dresden)                        
                                           & Chris Chandler (Union College)
                                          GRIDS (2025)

ABOUT THE RESEARCHERS AND ABSTRACTS

João Pedro Oliveira holds the Corwin Endowed Chair in Composition for the University of California at Santa Barbara. He studied organ performance, composition, and architecture in Lisbon. He completed a Ph.D. in Music at the University of New York at Stony Brook. He has

received over 70 international prizes and awards for his works, including the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in 2023, the Bourges Magisterium Prize, and the Giga-Hertz Special Award, among others. His publications include several articles in journals and a book on 20th century music theory.      

Iracema de Andrade Brazilian cellist, researcher, and creator based in Mexico, Iracema de Andrade has developed an internationally recognized career in contemporary and electroacoustic music. She holds a Doctorate in Music from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, where she graduated with honors and received the Alfonso Caso Medal for Academic Excellence. She also pursued postgraduate studies in England at the University of West London and the London College of Music, following her professional training at the University of São Paulo, Brazil. She is currently a researcher at the National Center for Music Research, Documentation, and Information “Carlos Chávez”, a member of Mexico’s National System of Art Creators, and recipient of the 2024 First Prize for Academic Research Achievement awarded by the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature.

Embodied and Situated Practices in Mixed Electroacoustic Music

Abstract: Mixed electroacoustic music has increasingly become a space for questioning traditional hierarchies between body, technology, composition, and performance. explores performer-led artistic practices grounded in intermediality, corporeality, and critical feminist decolonial perspectives. Through contemporary electroacoustic performance, the presentation examines how the body operates not as a neutral vehicle of interpretation, but as a situated site of agency, memory, and knowledge production. 

Trio Janela (Viv Corringham - voice, electronics; Cássia Carrascoza - flute,  ; Diane Roblin - piano, keyboards)  is a group of three professional women musicians who are based in three different countries. We came together during the pandemic specifically to make contemporary work for the internet and related technologies. Working collaboratively we create, develop, and perform music live via the platforms of Jacktrip and Zoom, accepting and working within their latency and the properties of the virtual environment. The music draws from our various backgrounds in classical music, improvisation, multimedia, electronics and jazz. As an international group we use our different skills to create music telematically through the tools and possibilities of live, network-based online performance. We have performed at the University of Sao Paulo Brazil, Now Nets Conferences domestic and abroad as well as at Earth Day Conference celebrations.  Trio Janela celebrates community and connection.  

Viv Corringham  (voice, electronics, field recordings) is a US based British vocalist and sound artist, who has been described as “a vital force in improvised music since the late 1970s” (BBC Radio 3) and “a vocalist of stunning virtuosity” (The Wire). Her definitive contribution to sound art practice is the 20 year ongoing “Shadow-walks”, which have occurred in 18 countries, are taught in sound art classes and have been the focus of many articles.

Cássia Carrascoza (flute and technological support for network art) is a Brazilian flutist, improviser, educator, and researcher. She is professor at the Department of Music of the University of São Paulo (USP). She regularly engages in virtual performances with transnational ensembles and publishes research on telematic music. She also coordinates the Telematic Ensemble LaFlauta, a student-led group from USP's Department of Music.

Diane Roblin (piano, keyboards) is an International Songwriter Competition winner. Her diverse compositions and expressive keyboard style blend technical agility with a deep commitment to the connective power of music. As a composer, pianist, keyboardist, improviser, and bandleader, Diane’s spirited, genre-crossing work has led to collaborations with artists ranging from avant-garde improviser Charles Gayle to the iconic rock band Rough Trade. Diane’s collaborations span an impressive range of international jazz and experimental musicians including telematic music. Diane Roblin’s dynamic career has earned her a place among Canada’s most respected women in jazz. Known for her powerful compositions. 

Gustavo Sol (Dr. Gustavo Garcia da Palma) is a Brazilian artist, researcher, and director working at the intersection of performance, artificial intelligence, and biosignal interaction. He holds a PhD in Performing Arts from the University of São Paulo (ECA-USP), with research focused on neurophysiological processes in performance and digital dramaturgy. His work explores hybrid ecologies between human and non-human systems, integrating EEG, EMG, and AI into live audiovisual creation. He is currently a professor at the Belas Artes University Center in São Paulo, where he leads the VOXEL Research Group on Neurocomputing of Performativity, and a postdoctoral researcher at the University of São Paulo, focusing on relationships between artificial, artistic, and organoid intelligence in live performative contexts.

From Opera to Physical Theater, from the Score to Biosignal-Driven Performance

Abstract: This presentation explores the influence of the notion of the score as a dramaturgical marker in physical theater and its evolution into biosignal-driven performances within my creative process. The research investigates the transition from traditional models of scenic composition — such as opera and fixed score-based structures — toward performances integrating physical theater, digital dramaturgy, artificial intelligence, and living organisms. Building on experiments with EEG, biological sensors, and the slime mold (Physarum polycephalum), the project develops hybrid systems in which bioelectrical variations directly interfere with dramaturgy, movement, and the temporal organization of the scene. In dialogue with bioart, neurocomputing of performativity, and perspectives from Digital Dramaturgy, the research proposes real-time creative processes in which body, environment, algorithms, and biological systems collectively shape the performance.

Constantin Basica is a Romanian composer who creates music that is deeply intertwined with video and performance.He completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at Stanford University's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) in California, where he also earned his doctorate in Composition. Before this, he obtained a master's degree from the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg in Germany and bachelor's degrees in both Composition and Conducting from the National University of Music Bucharest in Romania. In recent years, he has collaborated with other researchers on the development of systems for co-creativity between humans and artificial intelligence. Constantin is currently a Lecturer at CCRMA / Stanford University, where he teaches composition and interdisciplinary courses.

_The Last Piece_: Musical AI for an Immersive Syncretic Concert

This presentation introduces an AI-based system that merges brain–computer interfacing with generative audio synthesis in the context of an immersive syncretic concert. Designed for two performances at the 2025 George Enescu International Festival, the project enables composer Constantin Basica to generate new music through imagined sounds captured via EEG. Recordings are made with an EMOTIV EPOC X headset equipped with 14 sensors, and a custom seven-layer convolutional neural network processes the resulting 512 × 14 channel input. The model classifies the imagined sounds and retrieves audio excerpts from Basica’s complete catalogue of recorded works. These excerpts function as prompts for a second AI pipeline, which produces audio that reimagines the composer’s style, effectively turning thought into sound. The concert environment situates this process within an immersive audiovisual setting, where neural activity, personal memory, and machine creativity interact in real time. Beyond its premiere performance, this system contributes to broader discussions on AI, creativity, and human–machine collaboration. The project will also be the subject of a forthcoming Routledge book chapter (2026), offering a more detailed account of its technical development and artistic implications.

Helen Bledsoe is a flutist, educator, composer and researcher. As a member of Cologne's Ensemble Musikfabrik, she has premiered works by numerous composers. She is guest faculty for the Lucerne Festival and Grafenegg Academies. In September 2026, she will begin her PhD research titled: "The Embodied Interface: Assembling Alife Systems for Musical Performance" at the Orpheus Institute, Ghent and the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp. She been published by Tempo and the Contemporary Music Review, and her blog on contemporary flute, composing, and creative coding has been a basis of research for flutists and composers.

 Art as an Act of Tulpamancy

Abstract: This talk will introduce my PhD research project "The Embodied Interface: Assembling Alife Systems for Musical Performance", addressing concepts from post-humanism and artificial life research from the performer's perspective. It will also touch the importance of techno and AI-fluency for performers (especially female and non-binary), and present an audio-visual work-in-progress.

JoAnn Kuchera-Morin is a composer, Professor of Media Arts and Technology and Music, and a researcher in multi-modal media systems, content and facilities design. She created, built, and designed the Center for Research in Electronic Art Technology and is the Center Director since its inception in 1986. Her years of experience in digital media research led to the creation of a multi-million dollar sponsored research program for the University of California, the Digital Media Innovation Program. She was Chief Scientist of the Program from 1998 to 2003. In 2000 she began the creation, design, and development of a Digital Media Center within the California Nanosystems Institute. The culmination of her design is the Allosphere Research Laboratory, a three-story metal sphere inside an echo-free cube, designed for immersive, interactive scientific and artistic investigation of multi-dimensional data sets. A composer of mixed media works, she received her Ph.D. in 1984 from the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester. Her current music research is focusing on a general purpose interface for control of digital information through natural performance gesture. A composer of primarily electro-acoustic works, her music has been performed throughout the United States, Europe and Asia.

Celeste Betancur is a researcher at Stanford University’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA), where her research explores the intersections of music, technology, and algorithmic composition. As a composer, digital artist, and live coder, her work spans a broad spectrum—from academic concert halls to underground electronic music scenes—emphasizing real-time score generation, live coding performance, and the development of interactive audiovisual systems. 

Blurring boundaries between body and interface

Abstract: The rise of generative AI tools has sparked important questions about the creative process for artists. How do these tools affect our relationship with our creative work, our interactions with others, and our aesthetic preferences? How can we integrate them into our performances and compositions—blending them with our skills and creative language? 

Pandora’s Dream is a versatile live coding environment and an experimental playground developed for my own use to explore these questions. It serves as a platform for testing diverse approaches, algorithms, programming languages, and techniques. Rather than being designed for general use, it supports my practice across roles—performer, conductor, digital luthier, sound designer, and composer—as I navigate the complexities of live computer music. More than just a tool, Pandora’s Dream functions as a conceptual framework, continually evolving and being reimplemented with each performance.

I examine the use of Pandora’s Dream across many different iterations and use cases. Showcasing examples of audiovisual works produced with each version of the system and analyzes the creative process from the dual perspective of technician/programmer and artist/performer. Additionally, I offer insights into the project’s sources of inspiration and provide a brief conceptual and technical context for understanding its development.

Marcus Bastos is Full Professor in Communication and Arts by PUC-SP, where he is a professor in the Arts Department, since 2023, and the Intelligence Technology and Digital Design postgrade program, since 2012. His most recent projection piece was the videomapping 0802, created with german artist Alexander Peterhaensel for the Luminafest festival 2025.

Events, from audiovisual performance to artificial intelligence

Abstract:The concept of event is complex. After its appearance in stoic philoshophy, the greek materialist alternative to Plato and Aristotle, it endured a period of discredit during an epoch in which thinkers where more interested in the stability of systems, and reappeared in the end of the 1960s through a double folded impulse from Deleuze´s The Logic of Sense and the aftermath of May 68. From then on, the concept dislocated from philosophy and language studies to other fields of knowledge. From catasthrophes to performances, the concept of event became broad and diverse. This lecture will give an overview of the concept of event and analyse a performance that changes its logic, as it suggests and idea of a virtual event. With that in mind, it will end by questioning to what extent can artificial intelligence be thought of as an event.

Yifeng Yvonne Yuan converts the frequency of herself losing socks into the frequency of the pitches; she weighs raindrops to determine the weight of her noteheads. She is a composer, performer, and media artist, born and raised in Taiyuan, China, and currently resides between Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. Yvonne is currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree in Music Composition at UCSB. She is also a master's student in the MAT department. Yvonne holds a master’s degree in music composition and bachelor's degrees in Sociology and Musicology from UCLA. Yvonne draws inspiration from the ritualistic practices of early human beings. She explores the transient and vulnerable experiences inherent to human existence in her works. Sound and poetry are her primary mediums of artistic expression. 

Glitch Breath: Real-Time Neural Deconstruction of Vocal Meaning

Abstract: This paper introduces Glitch Breath, a real-time neural effect unit and aesthetic inquiry designed to deconstruct semantic speech into a non-meaning-making "glitched" vernacular. While current research in neural audio synthesis predominantly prioritizes high-fidelity replication and semantic clarity, these frameworks often erase the paralinguistic meaning and semiotic space inherent in human vocalization, such as the involuntary physiological tremors, the breathy sound, and the raw, unpolished textures of the vocal apparatus that resist linguistic organization. By utilizing IRCAM’s RAVE architecture within Max/MSP, this aesthetic research seeks to develop a real-time effect unit that transforms semantic voice to a visceral and embodied sonic output.

Felipe de Almeida Ribeiro is a Brazilian composer of instrumental and electroacoustic music. He was a student of Dániel Péter Biró, Gordon Mumma, and Cort Lippe throughout his master’s and PhD-level studies. His music has been performed in various concert halls in a number of countries, including the U.S., Germany, Hungary, Austria, England, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Sweden, and the Netherlands. Dr. Ribeiro is currently a faculty member at the Universidade Estadual do Paraná (Brazil).

How has technology affected musical language

Abstract: This research was conducted between 2022 and 2025 at the State University of Paraná (Brazil), within the activities of the Núcleo Música Nova research group. We sought to understand how technology involving modular synthesizers has affected and continues to affect musical language for the electronic music artist. This study revisits the modular synthesizer as a tool for tactile instrumental practices, recovering a relationship among body, gesture, and sound creation. However, unlike other (acoustic) instruments, the modular synthesizer presents a fundamental paradox: although limited to the available modules (deterministic in character), its reconfigurable design through patching drives the artist toward the discovery of sounds not anticipated in the initial project, revealing creative dimensions through systematic experimentation. Furthermore, physical playing (the manipulation of potentiometers and cables) is not merely a performative procedure; it is constitutive of listening and sound creation in real time. This practice manifests what Simon Emmerson characterizes as “learning by doing” (2020). The study is grounded in artists’ statements and in the perspectives of embodied cognition, extended mind theory (Clark & Chalmers, 1998), and philosophy of technology (Flusser, 2002; Simondon, 2005) in order to understand the integration of body, cognition, and technology. As a result, a dedicated space was established within the Laboratory of Music, Sonology, and Audio (LaMuSA), including several acquisitions of modular Eurorack synthesizers. This made possible the offering of activities ranging from sound synthesis workshops for the broader community to undergraduate courses (“Consort of Synthesizers”) and graduate courses (“Laboratory Practices in Music and Technology”).

Julie Herndon is a composer, performer, and sound artist whose interdisciplinary work explores the relationship between body, sound, and technology. Influenced by folk, classical, and experimental pop, her electroacoustic work has been described as “truly brilliant” (Kulturpunkt), “like a signal from another world” (Tages-Anzeiger), and “blended to inhabit a surprisingly expressive space” (San Francisco Classical Voice). She has performed original work for piano and electronics at international festivals including Blaues Rauschen in Germany (2025), San Francisco Electronic Music Festival (2024), and Sonorities in Ireland (2024). Her sound installations have been awarded by the Society of American Registered Architects (2025) and featured at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Oaxaca in Mexico (2020). Her chamber works have been performed at Musica Nova Helsinki in Finland (2025), Música Estranha Festival in Brazil (2023), Music Biennale Zagreb in Croatia (2021), National Sawdust (2020) and MATA Festival (2019) in New York, and Abbotsford Convent in Australia (2018). She has collaborated with ensembles including the Decoder Ensemble, andPlay, JACK Quartet, Ensemble Dal Niente, and Kukuruz Quartet. Julie is the recipient of the Elisabeth Crothers Award for Music Composition, American Composers Forum Bay Area Residency, National Sawdust New Works Commission, George Lurcy Fellowship, Chamber Music America Commissioning Grant, and New Music USA Creator Fund Award. She has been supported by artist residencies at institutions including the Cité internationale des arts, Yaddo, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Center for Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT) at Berkeley, I-Park Foundation, and Djerassi. Herndon is currently Assistant Professor of Music Technology and Composition at California Polytechnic State University. She previously taught composition and electronic music production techniques at San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) and the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) at Stanford University. She holds a DMA in music composition from Stanford, MA in music composition from Mills College, and BA from St. Mary's College of Maryland. Her writing is published in Leonardo (MIT Press) and Organised Sound (Cambridge University Press), and her music can be found on labels such as New Focus Recordings, Infrequent Seams, and Innova Records.

Mud (2025)

Abstract: Mud is pretty magical stuff. It can transform just about anything into itself. Given enough time, it can support new life growing out of it again.

For this piece, I traced the migrations of dirt: metabolized in compost, filtered underwater by oysters, and airborne on wind and tree branches. I made field recordings underground, underwater, and on land. I analyzed and extracted pitches, textures, and rhythms to shape the musical material. I collaborated with scientist James Weiss who created video footage of microbial life in these sorts of everyday mud sources.

To start a conversation with mud, I planted a garden and fed it with my compost. I learned that plants respond well to sound, so I “toned” my garden, playing frequencies into the earth and recording responses. The ground murmured back with insect life, and the plants chirped with ultrasonic voices. In the piece, performers enter this conversation by interjecting and improvising with audio and video, expanding the dialogue between mud and organic matter.

Igor Santos Described as “otherworldly and mysteriously familiar” (Chicago Classical Review), and as “exciting and clear... with a striking boldness" (Luigi Nono Competition Prize), Igor Santos’ music has been performed internationally, by leading musicians such as Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Intercontemporain,Ensemble Dal Niente, Yarn Wire, Alarm Will Sound, POING, the American Composers Orchestra, and The Florida Orchestra. His work is centered on mimetic relationships between found sounds, acoustic instruments, and recently with video, all of which is dramatized through repetition and the use of microtonal keyboards. Igor has earned degrees in Music Composition from the University of Chicago, the Eastman School of Music, and the University of South Florida. He has been awarded the Rome Prize (2022), a Guggenheim Fellowship (2023), and has won additional prizes such as the International Ferruccio Busoni Competition, the Luigi Nono International Competition, the RED NOTE Competition, the Salvatore Martirano Award, and was also awarded Best Sound Design from Theater Tampa Bay (for his incidental music). Igor is a native of Curitiba, Brazil. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Music at Cornell University.

mirror scenes (2025)

Abstract: mirror scenes explores and questions ideas of immersion, and the desire to dissolve boundaries and lose oneself. The mirror serves as a central theme—both as a tool/symbol for immersion as well as a connective thread throughout the work.  mirror scenes make use of found footage, found sounds, and mirror-like musical and visual techniques, all joined in a mimetic cycle—constantly navigating between video, sound, and live performance, as well as back and forth in historical time.

Jason Thorpe Buchanan is a tri-continentally active composer, intermedia artist, and technologist. His works explore multiplicity, causality, behavior, and the integration of live performance with technology. Since 2025, he is Professor für Komposition mit digitalen Medien at the Hochschule für Musik Würzburg, Germany, and leads the graduate program in Komposition mit Neuen Medien as director of the Studio für experimentelle elektronische Musik. He has been recognized internationally through fellowships and commissions from the Fulbright Foundation (Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg, 2010-11) as a visiting scholar, the American-Scandinavian Foundation, EMPAC, Royaumont (France, 2016 & 2017), TIME SPANS (NYC), the Mizzou International Composers Festival (MICF, 2013), the International Horn Society, Eklekto Percussion (Switzerland), Tetractys New Music (Austin), Tzlil Meudcan, the Earle Brown Music Foundation, two ASCAP Morton Gould Awards (2014 & 2015), Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung, as winner of Iron Composer (2014), the Howard Hanson Orchestral Prize (2014) and more, including selection as Artist-in-Residence at USF Verftet (Norway), the Embassy of Foreign Artists (Geneva), the Brush Creek Foundation (Wyoming), nomination for the 2015 Gaudeamus Prize, as a 2024 Aaron Copland Bogliasco Fellow (Italy), and as an SWR Experimentalstudio Fellow (Germany, 2026). His works have been described as “an unearthly collage of sounds”, “sharply-edged”, and “free jazz gone wrong—in a good way.”

 Commissions and performances have included collaborations with Alarm Will Sound, the Talea Ensemble, Ensemble Interface (DE), Ensemble Nikel (Israel), Linea (FR), Insomnio (NL), EXAUDI Vocal Ensemble (UK), Slagwerk Den Haag (NL), Eklekto Percussion (CH), the Mivos Quartet (USA), Iktus Percussion, wild Up, the Eastman Musica Nova Ensemble, TACETi (Thailand), the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, and Line Upon Line. Scenes from his multimedia opera Hunger have received performances at the Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt, The Industry’s FIRST TAKE in L.A., and MATA (NYC) with the [Switch~ Ensemble]. “Hunger is a kind of training session in mental disintegration… An ungodly opera needs ugly music, singers who produce primal sounds, an electric guitar that sounds scraped raw, a wailing orchestra effects, cuts the ear like a knife. Buchanan delivers.” – L.A. Times