BIOS
GRADUATE STUDENT COMPOSERS
Daniel Brown – is a Doctoral candidate in Algorithmic Composition, at the University of California, Santa Cruz, studying under David Cope. His research is on musical applications of Artificial Intelligence, with a focus on the perception and cognition of temporal structures in music. He has a Bachelor of Science in Discrete Mathematics from Georgia Tech. His compositions have been performed in the US, Japan, Korea, India, and Latin America.
Young-Shin Choi – is a doctoral candidate (ABD) in composition at the University of California, Santa Cruz where he is studying composition with David Evan Jones, Paul Nauert, and Hi Kyung Kim and studying electronic music with Jon Appleton and Peter Elsea. Choi is striving to cultivate an aesthetic based upon a unique combination of musical elements drawn from Korean traditional music and modern Western musical idioms. Recent works were presented at the 2010 New York City Electronic Music Festival, (New York, NY) the 2009 ALEAIII International Composition Competition (Boston, MA), the 2009 Oregon Bach Festival Composer’s Symposium (Eugene, OR), the 2009 Western Oregon New Music Festival (Mammoth, OR), the 2008 SCI Region VI Conference (Huntsville, Texas), the 2008 Electronic Music Midwest (Chicago, Illinois), the Synthese 2009 Festival (Bourge, France), the 2008 April in Santa Cruz New Music Festival (Santa Cruz, CA), 2008 BluePrint New Music Ensemble Concert Series II (San Francisco, CA), Kentucky New Music Festival 2008 (Lexington, Kentucky), and numerous concerts for Korean instrument and Western instruments in Japan and Korea since 2007.
In-Kyu Kim – Mr. Kim received his Bachelor’s degree in composition from the Korean National University of the Arts, School of Music. He is currently pursuing his Master’s degree in composition from the same institution. His creative involvements include participation in the 2007 musical drama Cocktail, as well as the 2006, 2008, and 2009 NONG projects.
Jiyoung Ko – was educated at the Incheon High School of the Arts, and the Seoul National University. Her work has been performed at the 2006 Seoul Creative Music Festival, the 2006 Seoul Contemporary Music Society Competition, and the 2008 Nong Project.
Phil Lamperski – is a graduate student in composition at the University of California, Santa Cruz. His research includes building instruments that enable intelligent real time playback capabilities between human performer and machine. Specific instruments in this area built for the UCSC electronic music studios include: Reac Table, and a Hexaphonic Guitar. He works as a recording engineer for UCSC as well as an equipment manager for the Digital Arts and New Media department at UCSC. Phil uses his technical expertise in software coding and hardware development, to approach composition from a mathematical perspective, yet does not neglect the unconscious and intuitive processes in musical creation.
Seunghee Lee (b. 1980) – a composer and a pianist, earned her B.A. at Ewha Women’s University in Korea, and M.M. at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in music composition and theory at Brandeis University. Ms. Lee’s compositions have been performed in the United States, Korea, Germany, and Italy.
Andre Marquetti – Composer and Saxophonist Andre Marquetti was born in Oro Preto, Brazil, and raised in France. Marquetti’s music is an eclectic synthesis combining classical and world influences, experimental music and cybernetics. Previous musical studies have included Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, Stockhausen Summer courses in Germany. His teachers include composers George Flynn and John Eaton. He holds a Master degree in experimental composition from Wesleyan University where he studied with Anthony Braxton and Alvin Lucier. As a saxophonist he has performed widely in Chicago, the Green Mill, Empty Bottle, WNUR, Elastic Arts Foundation. Mr. Marquetti is a regular guest with the Anthony Braxton ensemble. Some of his recent collaboration with Braxton is documented in a recording set, Echo Echo House of Mirrors, soon to be released. Currently, Marquetti is a doctorate student in algorithm composition with David Cope, and an active composer of sonic landscapes with Jennifer Parker’s mechatronics group at the University of Caifornia, Santa Cruz. His music has been widely performed in Houston, Chicago, Connecticut, and New York. Ensembles included the Flux String Quartet, Wu Man, legendary Koto’s shakuhachi player Yoshio Kurahashi, Germany’s duo Ahlert and Schwab, and virtuosi pianist Amy Briggs Dissanayake.
Vedran Mehinovic was born in 1981 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. A gifted pianist from an early age, he, together with his musical family, helped maintain the artistic life of the city during the Bosnian war. After escaping to the United States, his focus gradually shifted from performing to composing. Mr. Mehinovic has received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in composition from the New England Conservatory, and is currently pursuing his doctorate at the University of California, Santa Cruz. In 2006, he was one of the winners of the Ziggurat Ensemble Competition, aimed at creating more new music for a unique mix of Eastern and Western instruments. The premiere of his work took place at the new Bimhuis, in Amsterdam, during the International Gaudeamus Music Week. In 2007, his piece RA was selected as one of just three orchestral works to be performed during the Gaudeamus festival, and had won an Honorable Mention at the week’s end. An enthusiast of diverse ethnic arts, Mr. Mehinovic has organized concerts of Korean, Hindustani, Uyghur, and Chinese musics in Boston. His works have been performed in Bosnia, Croatia, Switzerland, France, The Netherlands, and the United States.
Noah Gideon Meites, composer/performer, (b.1982) – Born and raised in the city of Chicago, Noah Gideon Meites is a composer and trumpet player in the Doctor of Musical Arts Composition program at the University of California, Santa Cruz. His primary teachers are Paul Nauert, Hi Kyung Kim, and David Cope. Noah’s compositions have been performed in Japan, South Korea, France, and the United States. Winner of the 2009 BMI Student Composer Award for his chamber work, bioskop, Noah was one of four featured composers at New Music Works (Santa Cruz, CA) “Night of the Emerging Composers 2010” concert in January of 2010. He was also a featured composer at the 2009 Oregon Bach Festival Composers Symposium as well as a finalist for the 2009 ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award. Noah’s concert music draws from a diversity of influences – African American popular and sacred traditions, 20th century “classical” music, electronic dance music, and a variety of “world” music cultures ranging from Korean Sanjo folk music to Afrobeat – with the goal of making creative music that is personal, honest, artistically rigorous, and (hopefully) of some value to those who hear it.
John Seales – is a Doctoral Candidate in music at the University of California, Santa Cruz. His Doctoral thesis concerns algorithms for creating tuning systems and ways of coordinating tuning systems with musical form and surface. He was recently awarded a Korea Foundation fellowship to study Korean traditional music and continue his study of tuning systems in Seoul, South Korea for one year beginning in July 2010.
Maayan Tsadka –Born in Petah-Tikva, Israel in 1982. She began piano studies at an early age, studying classical piano and later on Jazz. After her army service as an education officer in Israel Defense Force, she began her musical academic education at the Rimon school for Jazz and contemporary music, studying piano and composition with composer Oded Zehavi, and later on obtained a Bachelor’s degree in music composition from the Jerusalem Rubin Academy of Music and Dance under composers Boaz Ben-Moshe and Yinam Leef. Her compositions and songs arrangements have been performed by some of the finest musicians and leading groups in Israel such as Ankor Children Choir, Haifa Symphony Orchestra, and different ensembles from the Jerusalem Camerata chamber orchestra. Participated as a composer and arranger in several music festivals such as the Israel Music Days Festival in Haifa, Chamber Music Days in Upper Galilee, Summer Nights Music Festival in Jerusalem, and more. This is her first year as a graduate student in the world music composition Doctor of Musical Arts program at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Nicholas Vasallo (b. 1979) – Born and raised in the Bay Area, Nick Vasallo began music in high school where he picked up the electric guitar and eventually formed Antagony, an influential extreme metal band in the underground. Currently, Vasallo is a Doctoral candidate in Composition and World Music at University of California Santa Cruz where he has studied with composers: David Evan Jones, Hi-Kyung Kim, Paul Nauert, and David Cope. His internationally performed music reveals an eclectic array of influences: Death Metal, Ambient, World Music (Taiko, Gamelan), Western Art (Ligeti, Spectralism, Beethoven), and Noise. Some honors and awards include: 2009 San Francisco Choral Artists New Voices Award, The Seattle Pianist Collective 2008 Final Pick, 2008 UCSC Student Orchestral Composition Winner, 60x60 project - Pacific Rim Mix 2008-2009 selectee, The 2008 David Cope Award for Music Composition Excellence, 2005 New Jersey International Film Festival Selection "Sinful" musical score, and 2007 CSUEB Student Composers Competition. For more information on Vasallo's music please visit http://nickvasallo.com
Ching-Yi Wang is a doctoral candidate in theory and composition at the University of California, Davis. She received her bachelor and master of fine arts degrees in theory and composition from the Taipei National University of the Arts in Taiwan (TNUA). She is currently studying composition with Mika Pelo and has studied with Ross Bauer, Pablo Ortiz and Kurt Rohde. Her recent projects include a work for the One Art Ensemble and a piece for the Empyrean Ensemble. Wang has taught at the Tainan National University of the Arts. Her music can be found on the Taiwan Composer League’s Taiwan Contemporary Composers I: Chamber Music CD, released in 2007.