Kari Besharse is a composer working in both electroacoustic and acoustic mediums. She is interested in finding new ways to combine the two mediums through the use of electronic processing of live acoustic instruments and the processing of sound events from everyday life. Outside of sound, Ms. Besharse also works to collaborate with the other arts such as dance, theater, and video, and bring them together with technology. She believes in using the tools given to us by technology in a meaningful way which expands the expressive power of art. |
Kari Besharse is currently a doctoral student at the University of Illinois working in both electroacoustic and acoustic mediums. She completed her undergraduate studies in composition at the University of Missouri at Kansas City and her Masters degree at the University of Texas at Austin. Primary composition teachers have been Stephen Andrew Taylor, Guy Garnett, Russell Pinkston, Donald Grantham, Robert Cooper, and James Mobberly. Four Songs on texts by Donald Justice was performed at the 2001 June in Buffalo Festival. Her flute solo, Rings, was chosen as a finalist in the 2000 INMC competition. Her music has also been presented around the country by venues and organizations such as Society of Composers, Inc., Texas Computer Musicians Network, The LaTex Festival, The Florida Electroacoustic Music Festival, Electronic Music Midwest, ICMC, and Pulse Field. Recently, Kari was awarded a Bourges Residence Prize for Small Things. The residency was completed at the University of Birmingham Electroacoustic Music Studios in England where she created a new eight channel tape piece, Firmament. |
| for more information contact karibesharse@hotmail.com | |
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Compositions | |||
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On a Wire |
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| On a Wire.mp3 - complete | |||
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On a Wire is an electroacoustic miniature which takes most of sound material from the classical guitar. Sounds were processed in Csound and assembled in Protools. | |||
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Small Things |
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| Small Things.mp3 - complete | |||
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Small Things (2001) is a sound metaphor for the impact small events have on our lives, but also for the bittersweet beauty that surrounds us on a day-to-day basis. Almost a meditation, Small Things requests introspective, deep listening. Small Things was created with various nature sounds including the native frogs and insects of Austin, Texas. | |||
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Ear to the Ground |
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| Ear to the Ground.mp3 - complete | |||
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Ear to the Ground was originally composed for dancer/choreographer Jessica Ray. The work operates on the idea of memory on several levels. On the surface, feelings of nostalgia are brought about through a Chopin piano piece, which I remember my grandmother playing when I was a little girl. Below the surface however, the work approaches the imperfection of both organic memory and the unreliability of mechanical storage. In the human mind, memories lose their clarity and eventually disappear. If we try and hold onto a memory through a storage medium such as a recording or a photograph, that two will eventually become corrupt and decay beyond recognition. | |||
©2005 by Kari Besharse
All Rights Reserved
Kari Besharse is a member of Society of Composers, Inc. SCI is dedicated to the promotion of composition, performance, understanding and dissemination of new and contemporary music.