Sound and silence are allies in the minimal yet intricate music of Lou Bunk. In both his acoustic and electro-acoustic music, timbre unfolds alongside harmony, while extended instrumental techniques, microtones, and a reinterpretation of the virtuosic paints an alien and sometimes barren soundscape.
Sound and silence are allies in the minimal yet intricate music of Lou Bunk. In both his acoustic and electro-acoustic music, timbre unfolds alongside harmony, while extended instrumental techniques, microtones, and a reinterpretation of the virtuosic paints an alien and sometimes barren soundscape.
A native of the Connecticut suburbs, Lou’s earliest compositions were noise improvisations, and four-track collage experiments. Educated at Washington University (MA Composition) and Brandeis University (PhD in Composition and Theory), he has studied music composition with Eric Chasalow, Michael Tenzer, David Rakowski, Ladislav Kubik, Marty Boykan, and Yehudi Wyner. In his home town Somerville, MA, Lou chairs the board of the Somerville Arts Council and co-produces the concert series Open Sound. Lou has taught harmony and ear training at Boston Conservatory and is currently Assistant Professor of Music at Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire where he teaches various course related to computer music.
Lou’s music is the recipient of several awards (SEAMUS Student Commission Competition, finalist, Irving Fine Fellowship for Music Composition, ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composers Award, finalist), and has been performed in dozens of venues, in the US and Europe; SEAMUS, ICMC, Spark, CCRMA, June in Buffalo, The Computer Arts Festival in Padova, Italy, an American Composers series in Trossingen, Germany, Conservatory van Amsterdam, and the Centre for Music Composition and Performance in Athens Greece. Some current projects include a new piece for toy piano and electronics, working with high school students in Dorchester Massachusetts on a Hip Hop Opera, a tower of electro-acoustic flim-flamery, and formulating new ways to teach the world to sing a happy song.