Composition/flute faculty member Elizabeth McNutt recently performed contemporary compositions at the National Flute Association Convention in San Diego, CA on 11-14 August 2016. She performed solo and ensemble pieces on the John Fonville Tribute concert, performed short commissioned works for flute and piano, and performed in an "all-star" flute choir for a Katherine Hoover surprise event.
About the Program
The composition program at the University of North Texas is one of the largest and most diverse in the nation, with approximately 70 composition students and seven faculty members representing a variety of compositional aesthetics and approaches. Regular guest composer residencies, visiting new music specialists, and dozens of events each year provide students with a rich educational and artistic experience.
An interdisciplinary center within UNT’s Division of Composition Studies, the Center for Experimental Music & Intermedia (CEMI) provides a unique environment for the exploration of time-based arts and is internationally renowned for its long history of innovation, particularly in the realm of electroacoustic music. Students, faculty, guests, and collaborators from a variety of disciplines engage in research, creation, and performance in CEMI’s six production studios and the Merrill Ellis Intermedia Theater.
Music Now is the weekly composition departmental meeting, an open forum for the exchange of ideas and information about the creation, performance, and understanding of recent music. These forums, which are typically scheduled Mondays at 11:00-11:50 am, feature presentations by UNT faculty and students as well as visiting composers, scholars, and interpreters of new music.
Nova is the new music ensemble of the University of North Texas. In keeping with its mission to present a diversity of musical, aesthetic, and cultural experiences, Nova’s repertoire ranges from 20th century classics to works that incorporate the latest musical innovations. Students in the ensemble have opportunities to work with faculty and guest composers and are occasionally joined by faculty and guest performers. Performances and workshops have included music by composition students as well.
The Spectrum concert series features new solo and chamber works for instruments and voices, often utilizing new technologies and intermedia. These programs are presented throughout the fall and spring semesters, and are listed in the calendar section of this website.
The Composers Forum is a student organization devoted to coordinating performances and bringing new works to public attention. The organization was formed to foster the spirit of collaboration between composers, performers, and artists of all kinds throughout the UNT community.
The Initiative for Advanced Research in Technology and the Arts (iARTA) is an interdisciplinary research cluster represented by faculty from across a wide spectrum of the arts, engineering and sciences. iARTA activities include scholarship, creative research and technical development at the leading edges of emergent media practice; the resulting research areas are represented by diverse forms such as telematic performance, immersive installation, robotic sculpture, mobile networks, and art-science collaboration. The cluster also publishes the MOEBIUS Journal, which explores the intersection of theory and practice in electronic arts.
2016-17 Guest Artists
Upcoming Events
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Aug28Music Now
- Introductory Meeting and CEMI Open House
- Merrill Ellis Intermedia Theater
- 11:00am
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Sep07Student Evaluation
- Senior Recital Hearings, etc.
- Merrill Ellis Intermedia Theater
- 12:30pm
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Recent Division News
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Alumnus composer Sam Melnick (BM 2015) was selected as one of eight finalists (out of over 60 submissions from 13 countries) in Novus New Music, Inc's first annual call for scores (2016).
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Alumnus composer Greg Dixon (PhD 2012) received a commission from the Instruments India Composition Commission, sponsored by Liverpool Hope University and Milapfest, Britain’s leading Indian arts development trust. The commission grants Dixon exclusive access to a sound library of traditional Indian instruments that he will use to create new music.
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Alumnus composer Eli Fieldsteel (MM 2010) has accepted a tenure-track position as Assistant Professor of Composition-Theory at The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he will serve as the Director of the Experimental Music Studios and teach courses in electroacoustic composition and engineering.
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Electroacoustic works Contemplating Larry by alumna composer Elainie Lillios (DMA 2000) and Regression by graduate composer Bihe Wen were two of thirteen prizewinners selected from a pool of 109 composers from 25 different countries in the Concours de Composition Acousmatique Métamorphoses 2016.
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Landscape Series: 1 by alumnus composer Chaz Underriner (PhD 2016) is one of five works selected (out of 288 submissions from composers in 36 countries) as a finalist for the prestigious 2017 Gaudeamus Award in Composition. His work will receive a performance at the Gaudeamus Muziekweek in September 2017, at which time the award winner will be announced.
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Doctoral composer Seth Shafer presented his paper titled "Performance Practice of Real-Time Notation" at the Second International Conference on Technologies for Music Notation and Representation in Cambridge, UK in September 2016. His electroacoustic work, Hookean Elastics, was performed at the 2016 Sound and Music Computing Conference in Hamburg that same week.
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Seven UNT-affiliated composers were selected to participate in the SEAMUS 2016 Conference at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, GA, 11-13 February 2016: faculty composer Andrew May; student composer Timothy Harenda; and alumni composers Elainie Lillios, Chapman Welch, David Gedosh,
Graduate composer Bihe Wen's composition Regression was selected as a finalist in MÉTAMORPHOSES 2016. The program will take place on 19 October 2016, during the international festival "L'ESPACE DU SON" in Brussels, Belgium.
Faculty Composer Andrew May’s composition Abstraction with Reference has been selected for performance on 10 March 2017 in the Open Space Festival of New Music at the University of Northern Colorado (Greeley, CO).