Prof. Mike Vaughan      - BIOGRAPHY  [Compositions]  [Performances]  [Articles]
	Professor, studied at Dartington College of Arts and Nottingham University, and was awarded a Ph.D. in composition in 1989 for composition work based on the use of general compositional algorithms. In 1988 he was awarded an Arts Council bursary to continue research in compositional strategies for solo instrument and tape at Birmingham University and in 1994 was nominated for a major Arts Foundation award. From 1987 he worked as a freelance composer and lecturer in composition and Music Technology before moving to Keele in 1991 to help develop and launch the first undergraduate programme in Electronic Music. Since then, his research activities have consisted almost exclusively of various related and ongoing composition ‘projects’, each with its own particular focus. For example:
Developing a compositional technique that combines both formal (algorithmic) and informal (intuitive) systems Using both non-Western instruments (e.g., the shakuhachi and koto) and ‘early’ instruments (the harpsichord, and more recently the recorder) in musical contexts which exploit their particular timbral richness but within a musical discourse which attempts to redefine the ‘idiomatic’ in various ways Combining of ‘live’ instruments with various forms of electronic processing and recorded sound where the gestural richness offered by electroacoustic resources is matched by a complementary approach to instrumental writing   In addition to a number of solo and ensemble instrumental works these compositions include a wide range of electroacoustic works, particularly for instruments and tape or live processing. These have been performed or broadcast in the UK and worldwide and have received recognition in the form of prizes in a number of international competitions, including the Bourges festival of electroacoustic music (1987 and 1991), the Prix Ars Electronica (1992 and 1994) as well as programming in international events including the International Computer Music Conference (1990, 1993, 1996, 1997 and 2001) and the Festival Internacional de Music Electroacustica (Havana). They have been performed by a variety of well-established ensembles, soloists and organisations including Lontano, L’itineraire, Elision, Yoshikazu Iwamoto, Gianpaolo Antongirolami, Susanna Borsch, Mieko Kanno and Jane Chapman. Recent works include Silence...(dissolved) for two harpsichords and multiple CDs, commissioned by the Brighton Festival 2000 and Infinite Skies.., commissioned by the Australian ensemble Elision who included it in their programme for the 2001 Queensland Biennale Music Festival, conducted by Pierre-André Vallade. Current projects include a cycle of works for soloists, mixed ensemble, tape and live electronics, which form a tribute to the jazz musician Eric Dolphy. This is part of a broader project which looks at the use of short passages of improvisation as a seeding mechanism for defining a context for sequences of structural tendencies, gestural archetypes and characteristic textures in which a composition might be realised, as well as using the output of this research to develop strategies for ‘improvised’ interactive musical performance using MAX/MSP.

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