Location

MIT Media Lab, E14 6th Floor

Description

In her presentation entitled Musical Tetris: How technology enables the synthesis of composition and performance, Zoe will discuss and demonstrate her computer-assisted method of creating music, and explore its implications for future models of virtuosity and audience engagement.
Zoe Keating is a one-woman orchestra. She uses a cello and a foot-controlled laptop to record layer upon layer of cello, creating symphonies from simple sounds. Zoe is known for both her design of technology - which she uses to sample her cello onstage - and for her DIY ethic which has resulted in significant sales of her self-released albums and a devoted social media following. Born in Canada and classically trained from the age of eight, Zoe obtained a liberal art degree from Sarah Lawrence College and worked for many years in the software industry including at the information-visualization startup Perspecta and on the Cultural Materials Initiative, a multi-institutional digital library project by the Research Libraries Group and the Database of Recorded American Music. She eventually combined the cello and the computer, developing her signature style of live-layered music by improvising for late night crowds at her San Francisco warehouse.
Zoe Keating has performed and recorded with a wide range of artists, including Imogen Heap, Amanda Palmer, Tears for Fears, DJ Shadow, John Vanderslice, Rasputina, Pomplamoose and Paolo Nutini. She is a regular collaborator with WNYC's Radiolab and is also known for her work in film and dance. Commissions include music for the San Francisco MOMA and soundtracks for the films Ghost Bird, The Devil's Chair and Frozen Angels. Her music has been used by countless entities, including the BBC, ITV, PBS, NPR, NBC, Intel, IBM, Apple, Patagonia, the Alonzo King Lines Ballet, Alvin Ailey Dance, Parsons Dance and San Francisco's ODC, and is in the currently-running Broadway play "Wit" starring Cynthia Nixon. Her cello can be heard on Mark Isham's scores The Conspirator, Warrior and The Secret Life of Bees.