Bio.:
Brian Belet lives in Campbell, California, with his partner and wife Marianne Bickett. Here he composes, hikes, and tends to his fruit trees and roses.

He performs with the ensemble SoundProof using Kyma, viola, and bass. His music is recorded on the Centaur, Capstone, IMG Media, Innova, Frog Peak Music, and the University of Illinois CD labels; with research published in Contemporary Music Review, Organised Sound, Perspectives of New Music, and Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference. To finance this real world Belet works as Professor of Music at San Jose State University.
www.beletmusic.com

COMPOSITIONS & RESEARCH

Recent Compositions and primary performances
All compositions licensed through Broadcast Music, Inc. [BMI]

Ion Trails (Cloud Chamber Storms)
Percussion (large battery, one performer) and Kyma processing, 2012
Concert performances at SJSU, April 2013, and Electronic Music Midwest festival [EMM 2012], Romeoville, IL, October 2012.

Triple Pulsar
Violin, viola, flugehorn, and Kyma processing, 2012
Composed for SoundProof as part of a ‘15 Minutes of Fame’ concert set. Concert performances during the SoundProof Midwest Tour (Ohio and Illinois, October 2012).

Tessellation Rag (co-composed with Stephen Ruppenthal)
Two voices and Kyma processing, 2012
Concert performances with Stephen Ruppenthal during the SoundProof Midwest Tour (Ohio and Illinois, October 2012), Kyma International Sound Symposium [KISS 2012], St. Cloud State University, September 2012, and on the ‘Electric Pacific 2012’ concert, San Jose State University, November 2012.

Distant Dream of Chapada Diamantina
Also flute, 2012
Composed for Maria Carolina Cavalcanti as part of a ‘15 Minutes of Fame’ concert set. Premiere concert in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, October 2012.
Vox Novus ‘Composers Voice’ concert, New York, NY, February 2012.

Summer Phantoms: Nocturne, piano and fixed electronics, 2011
Commissioned by Jeri-Mae Astolfi. Published on CD Here (and there), Jeri-Mae Astolfi, piano. Innova Records, INN846, 2013.

Sea Lion Mix
Computer processed sea lion & human sounds, 2009
Performances: art gallery and concert in California, Illinois (Electronic Music Midwest 2010 festival [EMM]).

Ekphrasis 1: Inner Landscape
Voice and computer processing, 2009
Performances: art gallery and concert in California.

Remembering Allen
Computer processed voice, 2008
Composed for the 60x60 project, included on the 'Crimson Mix' (360 degrees of 60x60); in conjunction with the 2010 International Computer Music Conference [ICMC], New York & Stony Brook, NY), and on the 'Pacific Rim Mix' (2008). Additional performances in Australia, Canada, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Taiwan, and the US (California, Illinois – EMM 2010, Massachusetts, and Ohio).

Name Droppings
Computer processed voices, 2008
Commissioned by the University of Illinois to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Electronic Music Studios at UIUC
Published on UIUC CD: In Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the University of Illinois Experimental Music Studios (1958-2008), 2008.
Performances: ‘Getting Nowhere’ festival, honoring the centennial of John Cage’s birth, York University, UK, November 2011. Earlier concert performances in California, Georgia, Kansas (Electronic Music Midwest 2009 [EMM]), Minnesota (Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States 2010 [SEAMUS]), Mississippi, and New Mexico (Society of Composers, Inc. 2009 [SCI] / Santa Fe International Festival of Electroacoustic Music). Radio performances on Radio France and Oberlin, OH public radio.

System of Shadows
Trumpet & Flugelhorn and Kyma processing, 2007
Published review in Computer Music Journal.
Performances: Radio performance, Oberlin, OH. Concert performances in California, Illinois (EMM 2008), Indiana (SEAMUS 2009), Missouri, New York (ICMC 2010), Washington, and Vienna, Austria (Kyma International Sound Symposium [KISS2010], September 2010.)

Pacific Rim: Three Preludes
Piano, 2006
Composed for Dr. Gwendolyn Mok, SJSU Performances: concerts in California and Hong Kong.

Lobby Reforms
Audience and Kyma processing, 2006
Pre-concert installations: Electronic Music Midwest festival [EMM 2012], Illinois; with earlier performances in Montana (2007) and California (2006).

Drei Kinderstücke
Piano, 2004
Published on CD: Chroma: New Music for Piano, Jeri-Mae Astolfi. Capstone Records (CPS-8810), 2008.
Radio performances on NPR. Concert performances in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Georgia (College Music Society 2008 [CMS]), Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington, Wisconsin, and Hungary (“Vántus István Kortárszenei Napok” music festival, Szeged, 2007).

(Disturbed) Radiance
Piano and Kyma, 2005
Performances: Radio broadcast in Massachusetts. Concerts in California, Illinois, Kansas (EMM 2005), Montana, Missouri, and Oregon (SEAMUS 2006).

Lyra
Violin and Kyma computer system, 2002
Published on CD: Ghost Strings, Patricia Strange, violin. IMG Media, CD-02-01, 2006.
Performances: SoundProof concert tours 2011 & 2012; plus concerts in Arizona (SEAMUS 2003), California, Florida (Florida Electroacoustic Music Festival 2003 [FEMF]), Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri (EMM 2003), New Mexico, Oregon, England, Australia, and Singapore (ICMC 2003).

Roundabout: Four Canons and Something Else
Percussion ensemble (9 performers), 2000
Score published: Warner Brothers Publications / Belwin-Mills Publishing Corp., 2002.
Performances: California and Oklahoma.

Still Harmless [BASS]ically
Electric bass and Kyma, 2000
Published review in Journal SEAMUS.
Radio broadcast in Massachusetts. SoundProof concert tour 2011; plus concerts in Alabama, Arizona, California (including 'Rebuild Haiti Benefit Concert' at SJSU, 2010), Florida (FEMF 2001), Illinois (EMM 2002), Montana, Oregon, Virginia (EA Barn Dance 2011), and England.

difference (no doubt it queues) -and- an abstract (difference (queues))
computer-processed voice, 1997
Published: The Frog Peak Collaborations Project, a double audio CD international compilation of 115 short compositions on a sound text by Australian sound poet Chris Mann, Frog Peak Music, FP007 (1998).
Radio and web concerts - including 'The Latest Score' program, WOMR 92.1 FM, Massachusetts (2010); 'Martian Gardens' radio program, WMUA 91.1 FM, Massachusetts (2010); and SEAMUS Web-Clip (1997 & 1998).
Live concerts in California, Georgia, New Mexico, New York, Argentina, and Finland.

[MUTE]ation
computer-generated tape, 1994 (revised 1999)
Published on CD: Music from the Center for Research in Electro-Acoustic Music, Consortium to Distribute Computer Music CD series, Volume 26, Centaur Records, CRC 2404 (1998).
Reviewed in Computer Music Journal.
Performances: radio performances and live concerts in California, Florida (FEMF 1999), Georgia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Argentina, Bolivia, Canada, China, Germany, Hong Kong (ICMC 1996), and Luxembourg.

Refraction: Three Gestural Reflections
trombone quartet, 1992
Score published by International Trombone Association Press (distributed by Southern Music Company).
Performances: concerts in California, Massachusetts, Minnesota (CMS 1993), Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

Four Proportional Preludes
piano, 1991
Published on SCI CD No. 11: Chamber Works, Janis Mercer, piano. Capstone Records, CPS-8651 (1998).
Score published in SCI Journal of Music Scores, Vol. 24, European American Music/C.F. Peters, (1998).
Performances: concerts in Arizona, California, Florida, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Japan.

RESEARCH

1) Real-time computer systems for composition and performance.
Published articles:
“System of Shadows, an interactive performance environment for trumpet/flugelhorn and Kyma.” (co-authored with Stephen Ruppenthal)
Proceedings of the 2010 International Computer Music Conference, pp. 34-40. International Computer Music Association, 2010.

“Live performance interaction for humans and machines in the early twenty-first century: one composer’s aesthetics for composition and performance practice.”
Organised Sound, Vol. 8, No. 3, December 2003. Cambridge University Press. pp. 305-312.

“Compositional and programming issues within Lyra, a fully interactive performance environment for violin and Kyma system.”
Proceedings of the 2003 International Computer Music Conference. International Computer Music Association, 2003. pp. 91-94.

Lecture-demonstration:
“Using Kyma as a live interactive performance environment”
Bay Area Computer Music Technology Group at the Center for New Music and Audio Technologies [CNMAT], UC Berkeley, CA, November 2007.

2) Contemporary theories of formal design and microtonal pitch space.
Published article: “Theoretical and formal continuity in James Tenney’s music”
Contemporary Music Review, Vol. 27, No. 1, Routledge, February 2008, pp. 23-45.

3) Emerging technology and its impact on society. Lecture-demonstration presented at Re-Imagine Media Conference, Modesto, CA, March 2008. “Emerging Media Implications in Music: Cool Tech. vs. Artistic Relevance”

4) Allen Strange Archive (in collaboration with Stephen Ruppenthal and Patricia Strange)
- Cataloging Allen's music (scores, sound files, and sound design algorithms), writings, and correspondence for the Allen Strange Archive
- Revised NGate and Misty Magic Land for performance.
- Prepared electronic tracks of Velocity Studies III: RIP for performance and recording.
- Produced studio recordings of NGate and Misty Magic Land.
- Working on critical biography of Allen (co-authored with S. Ruppenthal)
- Curated a concert in memory of Allen at the 2010 International Computer Music Conference, New York, NY, June 2010.

Breaking News!

New CD Release – January 2013
Here (and there), Jeri-Mae Astolfi Innova Records, INN846, 2013.
…including B. Belet composition Summer Phantoms: Nocturne, piano and fixed electronics, 2011

* * ** *** ***** ********

SoundProof ensemble

Founding member of the SoundProof performance ensemble (Patricia Strange, violin; Stephen Ruppenthal, trumpet; Brian Belet, computer processing, viola, & bass), 2009 – present.

Concert tours with master classes and workshops:
Pacific Northwest ‘Sasquatch Tour,’ April-May 2011
Midwest Tour, October 2012

Compositions

Summer Phantoms: Nocturne

PDF score

Summer Phantoms: Nocturne was composed during 2010-11 for pianist Jeri-Mae Astolfi, and the work is dedicated to her.

Phantom -
• something apparent to sense but with no substantial existence; as an apparition
• representation of something abstract, ideal, or incorporeal

Referential archetypical symbols include: phantom (akin to shadow), representing the creativity that we don't realize we already have; night and the night journey as the search for self; and the summer season as a time of life and abundance.

The piano music was composed first (mostly on flights to music festivals and touring gigs, an environment that I find most relaxing and conducive for composing), with marginal annotations for the electronics. All of the electronics are processed piano sounds (string scrapes, hand dampened tones, soundboard strikes, and a few isolated tones - performed and recorded by the composer), and are constructed as a running commentary to the piano music. Analysis/resynthesis algorithms include Spectral Analysis, Sum of Sines (SOS), and Time Alignment Utility (Tau), plus additional stochastic algorithms using the composer’s COMP2 suite of tools, all operating within Kyma.

Summer Phantoms was recorded by Jeri-Mae Astolfi, June 2012, and published on the audio CD compilation Here (and there), Innova Recordings (Innova 846), 2013.

System of Shadows

PDF score

Individual Movement sub-Titles:
1. Aurora Borealis
2. Andromeda’s Dream
3. Zephyr Apparition

System of Shadows, (2007) for trumpets, flugelhorn, and Kyma, was composed in close collaboration with performer/sound poet/composer Stephen Ruppenthal, and the work is dedicated to him. The music environment is an interactive field for the live performer and Kyma. The trumpet music is fully notated through the three movements, with the invitation for the performer to improvise and otherwise comment on the music as the performance unfolds. All of the computer music is live processed trumpet within Kyma: various analysis/resynthesis, deconstruction/reconstruction, and filtered feedback algorithms generate a unique sonic layer with each performance. The collaborative composing process is therefore reflected and reinterpreted during each collaborative performance.

The ‘shadow’ imagery operates both as a systematic process between trumpet and computer (and between computer and trumpet) and as a symbolic metaphor. The two sound sources shadow each other in a variety of ways, including reflection, variation, anticipation, and commentary. I find that shadows, in their own way, illuminate what they otherwise obscure in unexpected and often revelatory ways. The subtleties of the northern aurora cannot be clearly seen straight on; yet glancing aside into the deeper shadows of the night sky reveal the shimmering curtains and colorful ionized trails. Dreams, apparitions, and phantoms also point to those shadowy premonitions and after images we experience during moments of insight.

Stephen Ruppenthal has recorded this work for a forthcoming CD of trumpet & electronics music composed for him.

Lyra

PDF score

Lyra was composed in 2002 for violinist Patricia Strange, and the work is dedicated to her. The violin environment contains several groups of isolated notated gestures. The score indicates set introductory and concluding gestures, with interior groups each containing several related gestures. The gestures within a group can be performed in any order, including repetition and omission. The violinist is invited to modify or improvise within any gesture, and can also react and respond to the real-time computer music layers during the performance. The Kyma environment includes real-time modification and resynthesis of the violin music. Both environments relate to, are affected by, and respond to each other, resulting in a unique realization for each performance. Lyra is recorded on Ghost Strings, Patricia Strange (violin), IMG Media, CD-02-01, 2006.