updated 22 January 2024
© Lydia Rilling

Aaron Einbond

American composer born 20 June 1978 in New York.

Aaron Einbond studied composition with John Corigliano and Mario Davidovsky at Harvard University. At the Royal College of Music London, he studied with Robin Holloway, and at the University of Cambridge, Julian Anderson. He has participated in masterclasses and seminars such as Wellesley College’s Composers Conference, Aspen Music Festival and School, and the June in Buffalo festival. Einbond attended the Darmstadt Summer Course in 2002 and the Fondation Royaumont’s Voix Nouvelles composition lesson in 2004.

Einbond was musical assistant for the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players from 2003 to 2005 and for the Aleph Ensemble in Paris the following year. From 2004 until 2006, he taught at the University of California, Berkeley.

From 2007 to 2009, Einbond studied with Philippe Leroux and Yan Maresz as part of the program on composition and computer music at IRCAM, in conjunction with the Technical University of Berlin, thanks to a Fulbright fellowship and the University of California George Ladd Prize.

He obtained a doctorate in composition from the University of California in 2009 under the direction of Edmund Campion. While there, he also studied orchestral direction and musical perception. From 2009 to 2011, he taught at Columbia University thanks to a research grant from the Mellon Foundation.

From 2012 to 2014, he was associate researcher at the Center for Research in New Music at the University of Huddersfield in the United Kingdom and was also invited to speak at conferences at Harvard University. Since 2016, Einbond has taught music composition, sound, and technology at City, University of London.

Einbond has undertaken many artistic research residencies at IRCAM, such as in 2014-2015 (“A Factor Oracle for Timbre”), 2019-2020 (STARTS), and in 2021-2022 as part of the Acoustic and Cognitive Spaces and the Sound Music Movement Interaction teams. The latter residency, “Music and Artificial Intelligence: Building Critical Interdisciplinary AI Studies,” was supported by the University College London and the European Research Council.

Exploring the intersection of instrumental music, field recording, sound installation, and interactive technology, Einbond’s work focuses on collaboration and transcription. His creative process challenges the limits of perception between instrument, loudspeaker, stage, and place.

His works have been performed around the world by ensembles such as the Ensemble Dal Niente, the Empyrean Ensemble, Ensemble SurPlus, the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Riot Ensemble, L’Instant Donné, soundinitiative, Two New Duo, and loadbang. His music has been performed by soloists such as Maxime Échardour, Alvise Sinivia, Samuel Stoll, and Marco Fusi.

His in-situ chamber opera Hidden in Plain Sight was coproduced by the Académie du Festival d’Aix and the Opera Lab Berlin.

Einbond is artistic co-director of Qubit New Music Initiative in New York, where he produces and programs multimedia concerts.

Prizes and Distinctions

  • Grant from the Higher Education Academy, July 2022 to present
  • Guggenheim Fellowship, 2014-2015
  • Georges Tallman Ladd Award from the University of California, Berkeley, 2008-2009
  • Fulbright Scholarship, 2007-2008
  • Scholarship as part of the CIRM (Nice) French–American Cultural Exchange, 2006
  • Nicola de Lorenzo Prize in Music Composition, University of California, Berkeley, 2005, 2006, 2007
  • Berkeley Scholarship, 2002-2007 to study at the University of California
  • Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, 2005
  • BMI Composition Prize, 1994 and 2004
  • Festival International de Musique Domaine Forget (Quebec), 2003
  • Sullivan and Farrar Prize, Royal College of Music, London, 2002
  • Master’s Prize, Cambridge University, 2001
  • Hugh F. MacColl Prize, Harvard University, 2000
  • Marshall Scholarship, 2000
  • Wister Prize in Mathematics or Music, Harvard University, 2000
  • Phi Beta Kappa, 1999
  • Detur Book Prize, Harvard University, 1997
  • Winner of the Westinghouse Science Talent Search, 1996
  • First prize in Bertelsmann’s World of Expression competition, 1996
  • First prize for young composers from the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts, 1994
  • First place in Delius Prize, 1994
  • The ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Awards, 1993, 1994, 1995, and 1996, with an honorable mention in 1998

© Ircam-Centre Pompidou, 2024

Sources

Site du compositeur ; Université de Londres ; Éditions Gravis.

  • Solo (excluding voice)
    • Microtures for solo piano (2005), 8 mn, Inédit
    • elec Temper for bass clarinet and live electronics (2006), 8 mn, Inédit [program note]
    • elec ircam Ircam cursus Beside Oneself for viola and live electronics (2008), 7 mn, Inédit [program note]
    • elec Break for baritone saxophone and live electronics (2008), 10 mn, Inédit
    • elec Starting Over for Paetzold contrabass recorder and live electronics (2009), 7 mn, Inédit
    • elec Silent Screen for amplified steel-string guitar and electronics (2011)
    • elec Resistance for bass clarinet and live electronics (2012), 9 mn, Edition Gravis
    • elec Cartographies for piano with two performers and live electronics (2014), 16 mn, Edition Gravis
    • elec Xylography for cello and electronics (2015), 10 mn, Edition Gravis
    • elec Central Park version for solo trombone and electronics (2017)
    • elec Cosmologies for piano and three-dimensional electronics (2020), 16 mn
    • elec Prestidigitation for percussion and three-dimensional electronics (2022), maximum 13 mn
  • Chamber music
    • Leaping Lizards percussion duo (2005), 8 mn, Inédit
    • Allusions for clarinet / bass clarinet, double bass and piano (2007), 10 mn, Inédit
    • elec Passagework for two pianists, two percussionists, and live electronics (2010), 12 mn, Edition Gravis
    • Paläontologie for four baroque instruments and four modern instruments (2011), 22 mn, Edition Gravis
    • Post-Paleontology for contrabass clarinet, violin, percussion, piano (2011)
    • elec Minuteman Trail for bass flute, saxophones, viola, percussion, piano, and electronics (2014)
    • elec String Trio with field recordings for violin, viola, cello and optional electronics (2015), 14 mn
    • elec The Kind of Problem a City is for two percussionists, two keyboard players, and electronics (2016), 22 mn
    • elec Xylography-Graphology for violoncello, bass flute, bass clarinet, violin, percussion, and electronics (2016), 10 mn, Edition Gravis
    • elec Kate Frankenstein for bass clarinet, trombone, violoncello, percussion, harp, piano and video (2018)
    • elec Attempt at Exhausting a Place for flute, soprano saxophone, viola, percussion, piano, and electronics (2019), 24 mn 31 s
    • elec Unspeakable Home performed installation for flute, bass clarinet, violin, viola, percussion, piano, and electronics (2022)
  • Instrumental ensemble music
  • Concertant music
    • elec Graphology or violoncello solo, bass flute, bass clarinet, violin, percussion, and electronics (2016), 10 mn, Edition Gravis
    • elec ircam Prestidigitation II for solo percussion, five instruments and three-dimensionnal electronics (2024), 15 mn, Edition Gravis
  • Vocal music and instrument(s)
    • elec Without Words for soprano, eleven instruments, and live electronics (2012), 15 mn, Edition Gravis
    • elec stage Hidden in Plain Sight site-specific music theater for mezzo-soprano, baritone, clarinet/bass clarinet, violoncello, and electronics (2016)
    • elec Central Park version for baritone, bass clarinet, trumpet, trombone, and electronics (2017), 13 mn
  • Electronic music / fixed media / mechanical musical instruments
  • 2024
    • elec ircam Prestidigitation II for solo percussion, five instruments and three-dimensionnal electronics, 15 mn, Edition Gravis
  • 2022
    • elec Cosmologies II interactive sound installation
    • elec Cosmologies III for fixed three-dimensional electronics
    • elec Prestidigitation for percussion and three-dimensional electronics, maximum 13 mn
    • elec Unspeakable Home performed installation for flute, bass clarinet, violin, viola, percussion, piano, and electronics
  • 2020
    • elec Cosmologies for piano and three-dimensional electronics, 16 mn
  • 2019
  • 2018
    • elec Kate Frankenstein for bass clarinet, trombone, violoncello, percussion, harp, piano and video
  • 2017
    • elec Central Park version for solo trombone and electronics
    • elec Central Park version for baritone, bass clarinet, trumpet, trombone, and electronics, 13 mn
  • 2016
    • elec Graphology or violoncello solo, bass flute, bass clarinet, violin, percussion, and electronics, 10 mn, Edition Gravis
    • elec stage Hidden in Plain Sight site-specific music theater for mezzo-soprano, baritone, clarinet/bass clarinet, violoncello, and electronics
    • elec The Kind of Problem a City is for two percussionists, two keyboard players, and electronics, 22 mn
    • elec Xylography-Graphology for violoncello, bass flute, bass clarinet, violin, percussion, and electronics, 10 mn, Edition Gravis
  • 2015
  • 2014
    • elec Cartographies for piano with two performers and live electronics, 16 mn, Edition Gravis
    • elec Minuteman Trail for bass flute, saxophones, viola, percussion, piano, and electronics
    • elec Sonic Postcards for varying instrumentation and fixed electronics
  • 2013
    • elec Endangered Sound five pieces for orchestra with field recordings, 14 mn, Edition Gravis
  • 2012
    • elec Resistance for bass clarinet and live electronics, 9 mn, Edition Gravis
    • elec Without Words for soprano, eleven instruments, and live electronics, 15 mn, Edition Gravis
  • 2011
  • 2010
    • elec Le Cabinet des Signes for eight players and live electronics, 12 mn
    • elec Passagework for two pianists, two percussionists, and live electronics, 12 mn, Edition Gravis
  • 2009
    • elec Starting Over for Paetzold contrabass recorder and live electronics, 7 mn, Inédit
    • elec ircam Ircam cursus What the Blind See for bass clarinet, viola, harp, percussion, prepared piano and live electronics, 16 mn, Inédit [program note]
  • 2008
  • 2007
  • 2006
  • 2005

Liens internet

Liens vérifiés en janvier 2024.

Bibliographie sélective

Écrits d’Aaron Einbond
  • Aaron EINBOND, « Musique instrumentale concrète: Timbral transcription in What the Blind See and Without Words », dans The OM Composer’s Book Vol.3 (édité par Jean Bresson, Carlos Agon, Gérard Assayag), Paris : Editions Delatour / Ircam-Centre Pompidou, 2016, pp.155-171.
  • Aaron EINBOND, « 12-note Roots: The Fifth and Sixth Movements of The Death of Moses. », dans Sing Ariel: Essays and Thoughts for Alexander Goehr’s 70th Birthday (édité par Alison Latham), Aldershot, Éditions Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2003.
  • Aaron EINBOND, Thibaut CARPENTIER, Spherical correlation as a similarity measure for 3D radiation patterns of musical instruments, 16ème Congrès Français d’Acoustique, Marseille, 2023, à lire en ligne. (lien vérifié en janvier 2024)
  • Aaron EINBOND, Aaron CASSIDY (Eds.), Noise in and as Music, Huddersfield : University of Huddersfield Press, 2013, en accès libre. (lien vérifié en janvier 2024)
  • Aaron EINBOND, John MACCALLUM, « Real-Time Analysis of Sensory Dissonance », dans Computer Music Modeling and Retrieval. Sense of Sounds, Heidelberg, Éditions Springer Verlag, 2008.
Écrits sur Aaron Einbond
  • Nicolas DONIN, « Sonic Imprints: Instrumental Resynthesis In Contemporary Composition », dans Musical Listening in the Age of Technological Reproduction (édité par Gianmario Borio), Éditions Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2015, pp.324-341.
  • Rachel CUNIFFE, « A composer focusing on the sound around us », in The Cusp, 2017, à lire en ligne. (lien vérifié en janvier 2024)
  • Tim RUTHERFORD-JOHNSON, « The World in Pieces. The Composer Aaron Einbond », in Tempo, Vol.73, N°290, 2019, pp. 7-12., à lire en ligne. (lien vérifié en janvier 2024)

Discographie sélective

  • Aaron EINBOND, « Cosmologies », Séverine Ballon, Alvise Sinivia, Riot Ensemble, 1 CD All That Dust, 2023, ATD16.
  • Aaron EINBOND, Attempt at Exhausting a Place, dans « SLOW MOTION - Qubit », avec des œuvres de David Bird, Alec Hall, Sally Decker & Briana Marela, 1 album digital, Carrier, 2022, CARRIER065.
  • Aaron EINBOND, Matilde MEIRELES, « Cities », 1 CD Multi.Modal, 2019, m.m03.
  • Aaron EINBOND, Resistance, dans « Heather Roche - πτελέα | Ptelea », avec des œuvres de Chikako Morishita, Martin Iddon, Martin Rane Bauck, Pedro Alvarez, Max Murray, 1 CD Huddersfield Contemporary Records, HCR09CD, 2015.
  • Aaron EINBOND, Silent Screen, dans « Kobe Van Cauwenberghe - Give My Regards to 116th Street », avec des œuvres de Christopher Trapani, Paul Clift, Rama Gottfried, Taylor Brook, Alex Mincek, 1 CD Carrier, 2015, CARRIER028.
  • Aaron EINBOND, « Without Words », Ensemble Dal Niente, 1 CD Carrier, 2013, CARRIER022.
  • Aaron EINBOND, Just Like Starting Over, dans « Prime Recorder Ensemble, Antonio Politano - Spray », avec des œuvres de Fausto Romitelli, Andrea Sarto, Nicola Evangelisti, Kees Boeke, Agostino di Scipio, 1 CD Olive Music / Etcetera, 2012, KTC 1908.
  • Aaron EINBOND, Passagework, dans « Yarn/Wire - Tone Builders », avec des œuvres de Kate Soper, Alex Mincek, Mei-Fang Lin, Eric Wubbels, Davíð Brynjar Franzson, Sam Pluta, 1 CD Carrier, 2010, CARRIER007.