College of Music

Andrew May is a composer and computer music researcher whose music has been performed in Japan, Korea, Singapore, Greece, Switzerland, Germany, England, and throughout the United States. He recently joined the composition faculty at the University of North Texas, where he is also director of the Center for Experimental Music and Intermedia (CEMI). Born and raised in Chicago, May received his PhD from University of California at San Diego, where he studied composition with Roger Reynolds, computer music with Miller Puckette and improvisation with George Lewis. He has also studied composition with Mel Powell and violin with Laura Kuennen-Poper at the California Institute of the Arts, where he received his MFA in composition and violin performance; and with Jonathan Berger, John Sichel, and Deniz Ulben at Yale University, where he received his BA in music (summa cum laude). He studied computer music at the Stage d'Informatique Musicale at IRCAM in 1998.

May has composed for orchestra, chorus, wind ensemble, and diverse other forces; he is best known for chamber music in which some of the performers are computer systems. May's music has been presented widely in festivals and conferences (June in Buffalo, National Flute Association Convention, Third International New Music Festival in Las Vegas, Southeastern Composers' League, Darmstadt Summer Courses, Arcosanti Young Composers' Conference), new music concert series (LA Philharmonic Green Umbrella Series, New Music Circle of St. Louis, Birmingham Art Music Alliance), and music schools (Juilliard, New England Conservatory, Peabody, Curtis, Brown, Dartmouth, Louisiana State, San Francisco State, Sookmyung University). May has presented computer music and research at such venues as SEAMUS National Conferences, International Computer Music Conferences, Third Practice Festivals, Electronic Music Midwest, and Scarborough Electro Acoustic.

May has written pieces for the EAR Unit, SONOR, Canto Battuto (voice and percussion), clarinetist F. Gerard Errante, percussionists Robert Damm, Vanessa Tomlinson, and Brett Reed, flutist Elizabeth McNutt, violinists Jonathan Dubay and Persephone Gibbs, the Third Unitarian Church Ensemble of Chicago, and the Yale Bach Society Orchestra. May's music can be heard on Music from SEAMUS Volumes 9 and 15 and on Elizabeth McNutt's solo CD pipe wrench.

Also a violinist, improviser, and conductor, May has performed in Germany and Switzerland and across the United States, and has been recorded on CRI. He is co-founder of the contemporary mic presenting organization Atomic Clock Music Events, and serves as Americas regional director, Secretary, and Treasurer for the International Computer Music Association. May's work has been supported by grants from the American Music Center, the Center for Research and Creative Work at the University of Colorado, and numerous commissions.