Aleksei Reuben Stevens
http://www.alekseistevens.com
Aleksei Stevens is a composer, sound artist, laptop musician, and creator of computer-mediated live performance works incorporating instrumental performance, found sound, and real-time signal processing. Recent installations include Suspended Sounds (created in collaboration with Joan La Barbara, Alvin Curran, and others), at the 2006 Ear to the Earth Festival in New York City; and 40°45′ North, 73°59′ West, at the 2007 Tevereterno Festival in Rome. In March 2007, his work Cirrus, for flute and electronics, was premiered at Carnegie Hall. Other recent NYC performances include The Stone, Symphony Space, and The Monkey. His compositional interests include aleatoric techniques, algorithmic computer improvisation, musique concrete, and multimedia performance.
In April 2007, Aleksei exhibited his invention, the SoundBall, at Sony Wonder Labs in New York City. The SoundBall is a foam ball with a motion sensor inside, which communicates wirelessly with a computer, so that sounds and music can be created through dance and/or play. The project was developed in pursuit of Aleksei’s interest in new interfaces that interpret physical motion sonically, giving dancers and other performers the opportunity to interact musically in real time with traditional instrumentalists, making possible new paradigms for musical and theatrical performance.
Aleksei received a Master of Music degree in composition from Manhattan School of Music in 2006, where important mentors included Nils Vigeland and Joel Chadabe. He received a Bachelor of Arts in music from Connecticut College in 1999, where he studied composition with Noel Zahler. Other important mentors include Dalit Warshaw and Philip Lasser.
He is currently an associate professor of digital audio and new media performance at Long Island University. He also curates and produces concerts for Electronic Music Foundation, teaches piano and composition privately, and composes with whatever time he has left.
He is participating in
SoundLAB – sonic art project environments
2007
SoundLAB – Edition V
soundStory – sound as a tool for storytelling
curated by Melody Parker-Carter