:: james paul sain ::


Sain on the water front in Seattle during the
Washington Invitational Festival

James Paul Sain (b. 1959), a native of San Diego, California, is Professor of Music at the University of Florida where he teaches acoustic and electroacoustic music composition as well as music theory. He is Director of the Florida Electroacoustic Music Studio. He founded and directed the internationally acclaimed Florida Electroacoustic Music Festival for 17 years. He is responsible for programming over 1600 works of contemporary art music. Composers-in-residence for the festival included renowned electroacoustic music composers such as Hubert S. Howe, Jr., Cort Lippe, Gary Nelson, Jon Appleton, Joel Chadabe, Larry Austin, Barry Truax, Richard Boulanger, Paul Lansky, James Dashow, Mort Subotnick, John Chowning, Charles Dodge and Annea Lockwood.

Sain's ongoing dedication to the design and implementation of interdisciplinary projects lead to a cooperative project with colleagues in dance and electrical engineering aimed toward developing an alternative MIDI controller for dance. This project culminated in the premiere of his techno-ballet, Ender's Game, during the summer of 1994 at the University of Utrecht with an additional performance at the University of Amsterdam. The MIDI Movement Module, M3, developed for Ender's Game was nominated by the editors of Discover Magazine for their 1998 Award for Technological Innovation in Sound.

In the fall of 1993, Sain was in residence at the Swedish Royal Academy of Music as part of the Swedish-American Music Exchange. He returned to Sweden by invitation to compose at the Institute for Electroacoustic Music in Sweden, EMS, for the summer of 1995. The project initiated at EMS, "Recontextualization of Granulated and Concrete Sonic Resources," was awarded a Bicentennial Swedish-American Exchange Fund grant from the Consulate General of Sweden. During the summer of 1998 he presented and curated a concert of American electroacoustic music at the Folkwang-Hochschule/ICEM in Essen, Germany, as well as giving a workshop on computer music. His visit was funded by the Gesellschaft fur Neue Musik Ruhr and the Folkwang-Hochschule, Essen. In 2001 Sain was in residence at the Sonoimagenes festival hosted by the University of Lanus in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he gave a workshop and premiered a new work for the M3 dance suit. He has also been a guest composer at the University of Birmingham, University of Oregon, DeMontfort University, Mercer University, Luther College, University of Hull - Scarborough, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, University of Aberdeen, and Winthrop University. Sain has curated exchange concerts with Stanford University's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics and the University of Washington's DXArts program as well as coordinated formal exchanges with the Korean National University of Arts in Seoul, South Korea, and the University of Lanus in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Dr. Sain has studied composition privately with Frederic Goossen, David Ward-Steinman, Hubert Howe, Jr., Merle Hogg, and Brent Dutton. His works have been featured at societal events including the International Computer Music Association, Society of Composers, Inc., Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States, College Music Society, American Composers Alliance, American Guild of Organists, T.U.B.A., International Clarinet Association, World Saxophone Congress, North American Saxophone Alliance, Southeastern Composer's League, Southeast Horn Workshop, and on the Computer Music at Clark [U.S.A.], Arts Now [U.S.A.], Soundings [U.K.], Pulse Field [U.S.A.], Discoveries [U.K.], inner sOUndscapes [U.S.A.], Sonoimagenes [ARGENTINA], 3rd Practice [U.S.A.], Nong [SOUTH KOREA], UNCG New Music Festival [U.S.A.], Nuit Bleue [FRANCE], and Electronic Music Mid-West [U.S.A.] concert series. Dr. Sain served as Board Member in Composition for the College Music Society Southern Chapter, on the American Composers Alliance Board of Governors, and as Executive Committee Chair for the Society of Composers Inc. He is currently President of the Society of Composers Inc. Sain was named the 2005 San Diego State University Music Alumnus of the Year. His compositions can be found on CD on the Capstone, Electronic Music Foundation, Innova, University of Lanús [ARGENTINA], Mark Masters, Centaur, New Ariel, Albany and NACUSA labels. His music is published by Brazinmusikanta Publications and American Composers Editions.

jsain@ufl.edu

http://jamespaulsain.com/


Select Compositions


  • Quockerwodger, duo for trumpet and piano
  • Desert Places, for soprano and piano
  • Hedera, for saxophone quartet
  • Flash Point, for wind ensemble
  • Endopsychosis, for sinfonietta
  • Firebreak, for solo piano
  • Acquainted with the Night, for soprano and piano
  • Polestar, duo for Bb clarinet and piano
  • Syllogism No. 3, for solo flute
  • Aloiv, for solo viola
  • evANGELical, micrOPERA, for soprano, interactive digital media and graphics
  • redbird express, for solo digital media
  • subjacent queue, for solo digital media
  • Beondegi, for solo digital media
  • A Brief View of Eternity, for clarinet choir
  • SLAMMED, for solo soprano saxophone, game controllers and computer
  • ball peen hammer, for solo flute, game controllers and computer
  • Tubular, for solo digital media
  • Scattered Voice, for solo digital media
  • Coriolis Effect, for solo digital media
  • Lizard Breath, for MIDI dance suit controlled computer music environment
  • Confluences, for solo clarinet and octet (fl, bass cl, tpt, hrn, vln, vc, pno, perc)
  • LIX, for solo digital media
  • Clone Klone Jr., sound environment for MIDI Dance Suit
  • Hyper-Sensitivity, for WX-7 wind controller and CD-ROM based media
  • T�g till..., for solo tape
  • 44 Ambitions, for poetry reading computer-controlled digital keyboard
  • Evanescence, for F horn and tape
  • Cathexis, concerto for alto saxophone and wind ensemble
  • Sieve, for tape alone
  • Kornighet, for clarinet and tape
  • Glyptolith, duo for violin and piano
  • Syllogism No. 2, for solo trombone
  • Ender's Game, techno-ballet for MIDI dance controller
  • Syllogism No. 1, for solo French horn
  • Context, duo for oboe and harpsichord
  • Zygote, for Bb soprano saxophone
  • Dystopia, duo for saxophone and piano
  • Scurrilous, for tape alone
  • Mr. Chaos, for tape and dance
  • Wicklow Fantasy, for solo organ
  • Prelude and Fantasy, for solo organ
  • Requiem, SATB soloist and chorus, organ, brass quintet, and woodwind quintet
  • Dune Suite, for large symphonic orchestra
  • Declamation!, for solo piano
  • Piano Sonata No. 1, for solo piano
  • Compositions

    Declamation!
    0:00
    Declamation! is intended to be a tour-de-force for the piano virtuoso. The entire composition is derived from the brief emphatic statement that opens the work. Intervalic and rhythmic material is evolved through continued recontextualization of extracted fragments of this incipit. The work is a dramatic and emphatic musical statement.