The School of Music presents a guest lecture by Portland-based composer Caroline Louise Miller, assistant professor of Sonic Arts at Portland State University.
Biography
Caroline Louise Miller (they/them) is a U.S. composer based in Portland, Oregon. Common themes in their work include affect, ecology, labor politics, tactility, and the materiality of media, often within dreamlike musical spaces that thread field recordings, shimmering textures, and romantic melodic lines through harsh noise and clattering dissonances. They have enjoyed wide-ranging collaborations, and have been supported by numerous grants, fellowships, and commissions. These have most recently included funding through Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble, Sonic Matter Festival, Alarm Will Sound/Matt Marks Impact Fund, SPLICE Ensemble, Chamber Music America, Guerilla Opera, Transient Canvas, Ensemble Adapter, and others. Their music is performed nationally and internationally.
In 2014, Miller worked as an artist-in-residence aboard a Scripps Institution of Oceanography research vessel in the Philippine Sea, sailing from Kaohsiung, Taiwan to Koror, Palau. Field recordings from the ship were used to compose the score for a feature-length experimental documentary by Lyndsay Bloom about daily life aboard the ship. From 2012-2017, Miller organized and curated an annual new music and cross-disciplinary collaborative showcase at the Birch Aquarium in La Jolla. At Portland State, Miller co-organizes ReWire Festival, an annual spring showcase of work involving collaborations between SAMP, Theater, and other disciplines.
Miller is currently Assistant Professor of Sonic Arts at Portland State University. They a hold a Ph.D in Music from UC San Diego. In their spare time, they enjoy learning about zoology and sonic behaviors of animals and ecosystems.