Interview: Natasha Barrett By Peter Traub Networked_Music_Review http://turbulence.org/networked_music_review
Natasha Barrett is a freelance composer, performer, and installation artist. The composition and manipulation of space is a central element in much of her work, and it is the focus of this interview. Barrett completed her Master's Degree at the University of Birmingham, where she studied with Jonty Harrison and became practiced in the art of live sound diffusion using Birmingham's renowned BEAST (Birmingham Electroacoustic Sound Theatre) system. She completed a Doctoral degree in composition at City University in London in 1998, studying with Denis Smalley. Her body of work includes large architectural installations, electroacoustic concert pieces, works for instruments and performers, and live improvisation. Barrett's works have won international acclaim and numerous awards, including the Nordic Council Music Prize in 2006, a first prize at the Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Competition (1998 and 2001), and most recently, a commission from the 2008 Giga-Hertz Award. Barrett was born in the UK, but currently lives in Oslo, Norway. She has released numerous CDs, available through her website. Peter Traub: Space as a compositional parameter features prominently in your work. Knowing that you studied with composers Jonty Harrison and Denis Smalley - who do significant work with diffusion and multi-channel systems - gives us some clue as to your interest in this area, but I'm wondering what really attracts you to working with spatializing systems, ambisonics, and diffusion? Natasha Barrett: During my masters degree, electroacoustic composition and particularly acousmatic composition drew my interest more than purely acoustic composition. In an acousmatic context, as spatial elements yield to greater variation and malleability, simply composing within this framework made spatial elements more interesting and important. So my interest in spatialisation systems stems from the investigation of space in sound, meaning and purpose in a compositional context and ultimately the need to find ways to communicate this information to a listener outside the composition studio. [...] http://turbulence.org/networked_music_review/2009/04/19/interview-natasha-ba rrett/ Jo-Anne Green, Co-Director New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc.: http://new-radio.org New York: 917.548.7780 . Boston: 617.522.3856 Turbulence: http://turbulence.org Networked_Performance Blog: http://turbulence.org/blog Networked_Music_Review: http://turbulence.org/networked_music_review Upgrade! Boston: http://turbulence.org/upgrade_boston New American Radio: http://somewhere.org _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list [email protected] http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
