KU News Release

KU senior to present composition at electro-acoustic society meeting

Justin Blackburn

LAWRENCE — Justin Blackburn, a senior in music composition at the University of Kansas, will present his work “Intelligent Design” at the annual meeting of the Society of Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States, to be held April 16-18 in Fort Wayne, Ind.

Blackburn, from South Hutchinson, composed and produced “Intelligent Design” in 2007. The composition was created from just three short samples of a human voice.

“The work confronts certain issues of impetus and purpose, both in purely musical terms and in the broader realm of the human condition,” Blackburn said. “The sound of the human voice, wrought with the often harsh electronic manipulation of the piece, points up the unique dichotomy between an organic humanity and an increasingly synthetic, technological environment.”

Michael Rhoades is the host for this year’s conference. He said the submitted works were judged on form, originality in sound creation and quality of production. Of the 153 works submitted from students from all over the world, Rhoades said Blackburn’s work scored highly and was selected as one of 25 to be presented at the 2009 conference.

A panel of judges will pick four finalists to be awarded prizes at the conference. They then will be sent to the group’s Board of Directors, who will award the top two winners with commissions to compose a piece to present at next year’s conference, as well as a cash prize.

“Justin is an up-and-coming composer of electro-acoustic music and I expect this is only the beginning of his success within this beautiful and relatively unnoticed art form,” said Rhoades. “I expect to hear much more from him in the future. We are delighted to be able to present his piece at the 2009 SEAMUS National Conference.”

The Society of Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States was founded in 1984 as a nonprofit national organization of composers, performers and teachers of electro-acoustic music, a term used to describe music that needs electronic technology to be created. The organization provides a national forum to those engaged in electro-acoustic music and communicates through a journal, newsletter, national meetings and the national archive at the University of Texas.

Blackburn has studied electronic composition and audio engineering with Bryan Kip Haaheim associate professor of music composition at KU. In addition to electronic sound design, Blackburn has written music for orchestra, concert band and jazz ensembles. In 2005, he was commissioned by composer and pianist Gabriela Lena Frank to compose his “Autumn Sketches” for solo piano. In early 2008, he contributed an electronic sound design piece to KU art professor Matt Burke’s installation, “Passages in Time,” for the Lawrence Arts Center. Later that year, Blackburn was selected to participate in the SoundSCAPE Contemporary Music Festival in Pavia, Italy, where he presented “Intelligent Design” and oversaw the premiere of his work for violin and piano, “Afflictions.” Blackburn is the son of Mike and Shelli Blackburn and a graduate of Nickerson High School.

-30-

The University of Kansas is a major comprehensive research and teaching university. University Relations is the central public relations office for KU's Lawrence campus.