Staff Personnel
 |
CEMI Director Andrew May is best known for his interactive computer music; he also writes many purely acoustic works. His compositions have been performed in at least a dozen European and Asian countries and throughout the United States. He has performed internationally as a violinist, conductor, and improviser. Website. |
 |
Ermír Bejo is a contemporary troubadour, a composer-errant. He chanced upon his present occupations after attending classes in world cultures and art history at the United World College of the Adriatic (Duino, Italy). Subsequently, after completing his B.A. (Saratoga Springs, NY) he pursued a master's degree in composition with Marc Satterwhite and Krzysztof Wolek (Louisville, KY), receiving additional lessons and guidance from James Dillon. Since September '13 he is pursuing doctoral studies (Ph.D.) in composition at the University of North Texas. Website. |
 |
Timothy Harenda is a pianist and composer of both acoustic and electro-acoustic music. He received his B.M. in Composition from Cedarville University, having studied composition with Steven Winteregg and Roger O'Neel, and piano with John Mortensen. He received his M.M. in composition at Bowling Green State University, studying with Burton Beerman, Andrea Reinkemeyer, Marilyn Shrude, and Christopher Dietz. Mr. Harenda is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of North Texas. Prior to that, he held a position as an adjunct instructor at Bowling Green State University. His compositions have premiered at festivals such as SEAMUS, ICMC, and EMM, the World Saxophone Congress, and others. His work has been featured in concerts by groups such as VERGE ensemble and the Tuscaloosa New Music Collective. In 2012, he was awarded grand prize by the Tuscaloosa New Music Collective in their composition competition. Website. |
 |
Joseph Lyszczarz is a composer whose music combines traditional aspects of form, narrative, and hierarchy with the extended harmonic possibilities of the present day. He strives to meld a rich gestural language with clear motivic development in a way that is simultaneously engaging, challenging, and accessible. Most recently, his work his work has been heard at the VIII International Saxophone Festival in Szczecin, Poland, and the 2011 Region II North American Saxophone Alliance Conference in Las Vegas. Lyszczarz was a recipient of a BMI Student Composer Award in May, 2012 for his work Tracing Shadows. He holds a BM from SUNY Potsdam and MM from Bowling Green State University, where he has studied with Mikel Kuehn, Elainie Lillios, Christopher Dietz, Gregory Wanamaker, and Paul Siskind. Website |
 |
Seth Shafer is a native of Southern California with interests in traditional composition, film scoring, and interactive electronic music. His music was recently performed in the 2013 La MaMa Spoleto Open Festival in collaboration with South Korean director Byungkoo Ahn. His sound installations have been shown at the Long Beach Museum of Art’s Pacific Standard Time Exhibit and the Long Beach Soundwalk. Seth previously taught courses in music technology, audio production, and film scoring at Cypress College, and he holds a BM and MM from California State University, Long Beach. His other interests include astronomy, modular synthesis, and backpacking with his wife in the Sierra Nevadas. Website. |
 |
Qi Shen born and raised in China, is currently a doctoral composition student at the University of North Texas. She has earned degrees from Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the University of Montana, where she studied Composition and Music Technology with Yao Zhuang, Charles Nichols, and Simon Hutchinson, and Music Theory with Xiaoge Ma, Zhengya Zhou, and Nancy Cooper. At Jiangsu Institute of Education, she taught the college level classes in Computer Music. She composes acoustic and electronic music, for large and chamber ensembles, and fixed media, accompanying animation, interactive music. Her works have been presented at conferences and festivals, such as the International Computer Music Conference, the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States National Conference, Oregon Bach Festival Composers Symposium, MUSICACOUSTICA-BEIJING festival, Mountain Computer Music Festival. |
 |
Michael Sterling Smith is a composer and guitarist based in Denton, Texas. He holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of Delaware and a Master of Music from the University of Florida. His works have recently been performed by the Quanta Quartet on their Australian tour, at the SCI conference at EKU, the NASA conference, the International Saxophone Symposium, the Westfield New Music Festival, and by the Dissonart ensemble in Greece. In 2010 he was awarded with an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Delaware Division of the Arts. Michael also maintains an active performing career, consisting heavily of contemporary music. Michael has studied composition under Jennifer Barker, Paul Richards, James Sain, and Paul Koonce. He is currently pursuing his doctoral degree at the University of North Texas. Website. |
 |
Zachary Thomas draws on his training as performer, theorist, and educator as well as his experience as programmer and technician to explore the consequences of diverse philosophical positions and psychological states in (primarily musical) media with a methodology heavily informed by J.T. Fraser's chronosophical paradigm, the musico-semiotic tradition initiated by E. Tarasti, and contemporary advancements in acoustics and computation―a plethora of influences that explain his extensive use of stochastic processes, algorithmic schemes, extended instrumental/notational techniques, and alternate tuning systems; his interest in multimedia installations; and, above all, his dedication to electroacoustic composition. Mr. Thomas received his MM (2012) and BM (2010) in Theory from the University of Louisville while studying composition with Krzysztof Wolek and musicology with Jean Christensen, with additional lessons and masterclasses from Esa-Pekka Salonen, Per Nørgård and Louis Andriessen. Website. |
 |
Mark Vaughn is a composer of acoustic and electronic music currently seeking a Master’s degree in Music Composition from the University of North Texas. Originally from Southwest Montana, he studied composition and technology with Dr. Jason Bolte and Dr. Linda Antas, graduating with highest honors in 2014 with a B.A. in Music Technology. In his music, he often seeks to explore the ground between language and music, overarching cyclical rhythmic and formal structures, the deployment of counterpoint as a metric, melodic, and harmonic determinant, and the inclusion of multiple perspectives of creating meaning. His music has been performed throughout Montana and Texas and he has performed throughout the U.S. as an electric bassist.Website |
 |
Jinghong Zhang is a very enthusiastic composer, conductor, singer and dancer who created his own unique multi-media interactive computer music and dance art form. Because of the unique and intuitive beauty of his arts, he calls himself ‘Human Perception Engineer/Artist’. He is currently a Ph.D student of Composition at the University of North Texas. He studied composition and computer music in Wuhan Conservatory of music back in China for 5 years before he went to U.S. in 2013. At the same time, he received the Artistic Excellence Fellowship from Jacobs School of Music and finished his Master Degree of Computer Music Composition there in 2015. Within the first two years of his graduate career in U.S, his creative multi-media computer music have been performed in Jacobs School of Music, Buskirk-Chumley Theater, SEAMUS, New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, IRCAM, ICMC and Electronic Music Midwest. Website. |
