jonathon kirk |||| biographical
jonathon kirk (b. 1975, peoria, IL) is a chicago-based composer and teacher active in many areas of new music, improvisation, electronic music, multimedia, sound art, installation, and music theory. he is currently assistant professor of music composition and theory at north central college in naperville, illinois. previously he was assistant professor of composition and theory at eastern illinois university. his work has recently been shown or heard at the tate modern in london, the london international animation festival, the melbourne international animation festival, weisman museum of art in minneapolis, the los angeles short film festival, the courtisane festival in brussels, belgium, the boston cyberarts festival, visual music marathon, listening in the sound kitchen, international computer music conference, international conference for new interfaces for musical expression, soundtrack cologne, ZKM center for art and media in karlsruhe, germany, and the spark festival in minneapolis. in late 2009 he was an artist-in-residence at the petrified forest national park in arizona.
his works have been performed by many international musicians and he continues to compose both acoustic and electronic works for a wide variety of ensembles and soloists, including the harvard university collegium musicum, the millennium chamber players, duo xxi, dal niente and members of alarm will sound. in 2000 and 2001 he received a grant from the belgian government to be in residence at the logos foundation for experimental music in gent, belgium where he worked with godfried willem-raes and collaborated with thomas smetryns and brent wetters.
he also works closely with composer and sound artist lee weisert on several sound projects and installations; most recently cryoacoustic orb, a sound installation involving hydrophones frozen in ice and the argus project, an environmental sound installation involving underwater recording, laser modulation, and real-time processing of natural sounds with a multichannel outdoor speaker array. his current research includes desert and natural soundscapes, the musical application of otoacoustic emissions, and aural skills training software development. he is a member of the duo pendulum with saxophonist randall hall and is an active low brass musician in chicago. he has received degrees from the eastman school of music, augustana college,and brown university, and recieved his doctorate at northwestern university. his works have been recorded on innova records, medusa records, and ears and eyes records. he lives with his wife joann cho in the chicagoland area.
he can be contacted at jonathonkirk at gmail dot com.