Stephen David Beck, Ph.D.
Stephen David Beck is Area Head for the CCT's Cultural Computing focus area and directs the AVATAR Initiative, a multidisciplinary hiring initiative for research and education in digital media.
Dr. Beck is the Derryl and Helen Haymon Professor of Composition and Computer Music at the LSU School of Music. He received his Ph.D. in music composition and theory from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1988, and held a Fulbright Fellowship in 1985-86 where he was a researcher at the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM) in Paris, France. His current research includes sound diffusion systems, high-performance computing applications in music, music interaction with alternative interfaces, music software for laptops and mobile devices, and virtual music instruments, a system of interactive computer programs that extend and expand on the performance capabilities of acoustic instruments.
His music has been performed throughout the world, including performances at Weill Recital Hall, Sao Paolo Bienal, SCREAM Radio Series, Concert Band Directors National Association Biennial, International Double Reed Society, North American Saxophone Alliance, New Music America, World Harp Congress, and on the Triforium Series in Los Angeles. His music and writings have been published by G. Shirmer, MIT Press, and the Computer Music Journal, and his music has been recorded on the SEAMUS, EMF and Gothic record lables.
Dr. Beck has also presented lectures and papers on his research in interactive computer music and high-performance computing applications in the arts at recent meetings of the International Computer Music Conference, the Global Grid Forum, SIGGRAPH, the Teaching in Higher Education (THE) Forum, the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS), and the Society of Composers, Inc. He currently serves as a Regional Director (Americas) and Music Coordinator of the International Computer Music Association. He also served on the board of officers of SEAMUS, including as President (1996-2000).
About his music, Beck writes:
"...the use of technology in my music is not meant to replace musicians, but rather to enhance and expand a performer's potential for expressiveness, technique and, most importantly, timbre. There is an uncanny beauty in the physical and mathematical laws of nature, a beauty of intense complexity bond by simplicity, order and logic. For me, this is a constant and powerful source of inspiration, and the use of modern technology seems the perfect tool for expressing that inspiration and awe."
