Elainie Lillios: Composer

NEWS

loudspeakerUpcoming Appearances/ Performances

Pianist Nathanael May talks about Nostalgic Visions at the Kansas & Missouri State Convention of the Music Teachers Association
Friday, June 11, 2010
10 am, McIntire Recital Hall. His paper is entitled: Piano Innovations in the Computer Age: Highlights from 1980-2010.

ICMC 2010 (International Computer Music Conference) Includes Nostalgic Visions performed by Shiau-uen Ding. Tuesday, 02 June, 8:00pm at the Miller Theatre, New York City.

International Double Reed Society Conference includes the world premiere of Fireflies for English horn, bassoon and live electronics. Performed by Jackie Leclair and Nate Zeisler. Tuesday, 22 June, 2:00pm, Oklahoma University. Inspired by haiku written by Wally Swist.

Guest Composer, Lipa Festival of Contemporary Music this October in Iowa. Stay tuned for more info!

Selected Recent Performances

2BTextures is Iota Center's Clip of the Week! Check it out here!

Guest Composer, Oklahoma University New Music Festival 24-25 March 2010. Diffusion workshop, 24 March, time TBA; concert featuring works by Lillios and Michael Thompson, 24 March 8:00pm; composer seminar presentation, 25 March 2:30pm.

Steve Duke at Indiana University. Concert 25 March 2010. Includes Veiled Resonance.

SEAMUS 2010 at St. Cloud State University, Minnesota. 07-09 April 2010. Includes 8-channel version of the Ambisonic piece Listening Beyond..., Saturday 09 April 7:30pm concert.

Intermedia Festival 24-25 April 2010, Indianapolis, Indiana. Includes Nostalgic Visions, performed by Thomas Rosenkranz.

Guest Composer, UNCGreensboro New Music Festival, Sep. 29-Oct. 1. Lecture Tue. 29 Sep., Concert Tue. 29 Sep. 7:30pm, includes Listening Beyond...

Kalamazoo Animation Festival International, Kalamazoo, MI, May 14-18. Includes the premiere exhibition of Inhabitants, a collaboration with Bonnie Mitchell.

Recently Completed...

VST (Very Slow Tribute) Deep Listening improvisation piece for Pauline Oliveros

...in Progress

Fireflies for English horn, bassoon and live electronics for Jackie Leclair and Nate Zeisler. Inspired by the haiku "illuminating" by Wally Swist.

Untitled trumpet and live electroacoustics piece for Stephen Ruppenthal.


First Prize, 2009 Concours Internationale de Bourges

Veiled Resonance for soprano saxophone and live, interactive electroacoustics won First Prize in the 2009 Concours Internationale de Bourges. The BGSU Monitor included a featured news article about the prize.

Larry Austin comments on Lillios's Ambisonic piece, Listening Beyond...

"Listening Beyond... is beautiful! So spacious, such an elegant time continuum.
I truly "...hear infinity..." You're a poet of sound."

Lillios with Austin, 2007
Lillios with Austin in Bowling Green, 2007.

Electroacoustic Composition/Sound Art

The majority of my research and composing focuses on music for fixed media, both stereophonic and multi-channel. Removing live performers from the musical paradigm focuses all attention on sound, making it the most important aspect of electroacoustic composition. In my opinion, every sound that exists can be musical and serve as an element in a composition. I collect these “sound objects” via recording, process them using various software tools, and then combine them to create musical structures.

Sound Diffusion

Sound diffusion is the performance practice of electroacoustic music. Electroacoustic music is frequently presented in concert on a sound system with numerous loudspeakers surrounding the audience. When diffusing a piece, I distribute sound to various combinations of loudspeakers, creating a real time surround sound environment. By moving sounds through the listening space I’m able to exaggerate specific moments, outline the formal structure of a piece, and create virtual spaces within the physical confines of a performance hall. I learned the art of sound diffusion from Jonty Harrison via the BEAST system at The University of Birmingham.

Deep Listening®

Critical listening is essential to my compositional approach and performance skills. I employ focused listening in every aspect of composing and develop an intimate connection with my sound materials. To expand and refine my listening awareness, I've acquired Deep Listening Certification under the guidance of Pauline Oliveros, Ione, and Heloise Gold. I'm now able to conduct Deep Listening activities and workshops. Contact me for more information.

Ambisonics

My research into multi-channel audio focuses on eight-channel and Ambisonic compositional techniques. Ambisonics, the three-dimensional representation of sound in space, employs a Soundfield microphone containing a tetrahedron-shaped array of microphone capsules to record source materials. Four channels of recorded audio, representing vectors left-right (X), front-back (Y), up-down (Z), and the point-source distance between the microphone and the sounding object (W), are encoded through an external device and sent to the computer for further processing, mixing, and mastering. My projects Encounter(s) and Listening Beyond... employ first order Ambisonics.