BIO & RECENT PERFORMANCES

 
Thom Blum (b. 1954, Columbus, Ohio  USA)  has been composing electroacoustic and computer music since 1972.  His works have been presented in concerts, festivals and radio broadcasts internationally. He studied composition at California Institute of the Arts (1972-74), where his teachers included James Tenney, Ingram Marshall, and Curtis Roads. He established a curriculum in computer applications to music at The Ohio State University,  under the mentorship of Thomas Whitney, Charles Csuri, and Thomas Wells (B.S., 1977). He is a Co-founder of the International Computer Music Association (1977), and served as Associate Editor for M.I.T. Press Journals Computer Music Journal (1987-1996). Residing in San Francisco since 1978, he has worked as an audio software engineer for LucasFilm/DroidWorks, a researcher and software architect for Yamaha Music Technologies, and is a Co-founder of Muscle Fish, a sound analysis and processing software company.  In 2001, he joined the five person collective known as the New San Francisco Tape Music Center (2001), which also includes composers Matt Ingalls, Joseph Anderson, Cliff Caruthers, and Kent Jolly.  In 2002-2003,  he was named Artist for Lake Technology, Inc. (Australia) and was awarded a Huron sound spatialization system for his personal use in composing.

 
March 28 & 29, 2008 - Sound Installation - The Long Hall - along the entry corridor of Cowell Theater, Fort Mason, San Francisco, California, in conjunction with Deborah Slater Dance Theater's performance of "The Desire Line".
January 10, 2008 - Contributed sounds for work-in-progress performance and benefit of Mordake, an opera by Erling Wold, starring John Duykers. Intersection for the Arts in San Francisco, California.
May 24, 2007 - performing with film-sound band EPIC [abridged], in the "Music by the Eyeful" series, presented by Outsound.org at The Luggage Store, San Francisco.
March 30, 2007 - Cycle presented by EAR - new music collective (Dublin, Ireland), in collaboration with The San Francisco Tape Music Collective, at Project Arts Centre, Temple Bar, Dublin 2, Ireland. More info here.
February 25, 2007 -- Three Studies for Pedal Steel presented at GodWAFFLE Noise PANCAKES, San Francisco.
January 26, 2007 -- nomen plaid presented at the 2007 San Francisco Tape Music Festival at ODC Theater, San Francisco
November 3 - 4, 2006 -- Cycle (a.k.a. bog dance, with video by Mark Bartscher), choreographed by Alyssa Lee Wilmot and group A dance company, presented at at CounterPULSE, in San Francisco.
July 11, 2006 -- Squelch, Medi(t)ations - Australasian Computer Music Conference - hosted by Elder Conservatorium of Music, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia.
May 18 - June 3, 2006 -- Brushes with Satie - a suite of electroacoustic orchestrations of Erik Satie's Gymnopedies, produced specifically for Deborah Slater Dance Theater's "Furniture Dances". Presented at CounterPULSE in San Francisco.
January 28, 2006 -- Squelch was presented at 2006 San Francisco Tape Music Festival
November 10 - 13, 2005 -- Cycle was presented at 2005 Seoul International Computer Music Festival.
June 3-19, 2005 -- Japanese Postcard, Maroc, and Note from Patzcuaro (audio postcards) was presented within the SOUNDSCAPEpgh at Pittsburgh, PA's Three Rivers Arts Festival on Penn Avenue.
April 28-30, 2005 -- Brushes with Satie - a suite of electroacoustic orchestrations of Erik Satie's Gymnopedies, produced specifically for Deborah Slater Dance Theater's "Furniture Dances". Presented at ODC Theater in San Francisco.
November 18, 2004 -- Cycle -- presented at San Jose State University Concert Hall, co-sponsored by SJSU's Center for Research in Electro-Acoustic Music and Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS) as part of Electroacoustic Music Month. San Jose, CA.
August 24, 2004 -- Untitled -- a piece for 9 dancers choreographed by Deborah Slater Dance Theater involving live mix of field recordings projected in the Yerba Buena Gardens. Summerfest, Yerba Buena Gardens, San Francisco, CA
July 23-24, 2004 -- Trio -- a piece for 3 dancers choreographed by Deborah Slater Dance Theater with music composed by Erling Wold and Thom Blum. Performed at ODC Theater, San Francisco, CA
May 1, 2004 -- Japanese Postcard -- Presented at The University of Edinburgh presents Soundings, Reid Hall, Bristo Square, Edinburgh, Scotland.
April 17, 2004 -- Cycle -- Choreographer Alyssa Wilmot and group A, 21 Grand, Oakland, CA.
February 21, 2004 -- Cycle -- New San Francisco Tape Music Center Festival, CELLSpace, San Francisco, CA.
October 23, 2003 -- Note from Patzcuaro -- Strictly Ballroom concert series, CCRMA, Stanford University, Stanford, CA.
July 27, 2003 -- nomen plaid -- San Francisco Electronic Music Festival, SomArts, San Francisco, CA.
May 29-June 1, 2003 -- soundtrack for Deborah Slater Dance Theater's   Survival of the Fit Enough: The Galapagos Project v.2 -- Dance Mission, San Francisco, CA.
February 24-March 10, 2003 -- on XStreamRadio 'top ten' list --  XStreamRadio.
February 14-18, 2003 -- Things Frankie Heard, J-Wake, Parker -- XStreamRadio webcast, Clichy, France.
January 4, 2003 -- Things Frankie Heard and Maroc -- Bobo Teatre, Sao Paolo, Brazil.
August 17, 2002 -- Things Frankie Heard -- Tranparent Tape Music Festival,  sponsored by the New San Francisco Tape Music Center, Berkeley, CA.
August 10, 2002 -- Japanese Postcard and Maroc -- Field Effects 6, Space 964 Natoma, San Francisco, CA.
May 18, 2002 -- interview broadcast and webcast -- Quiet Please on KFJC, San Jose, CA.
January 12, 2002 -- J-Wake -- Tranparent Tape Music Festival,  sponsored by the New San Francisco Tape Music Center, Berkeley, California.
December 21, 2001 -- five haiku -- La Cucina, Barcelona, Spain.
September 26, 2001 -- five haiku -- broadcast and webcast -- "art @ radio" with Steve Bradley, WMBC, Baltimore, MA.
November 16, 2000 -- five haiku -- Lotte Lebmann Concert Hall, sponsored by the Dept. of Music, Media Arts & Technology, and CREATE, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA.

 
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