Composer, pianist, and electronic musician Anthony Tan draws influence from conceptual metaphors, an attention to the psychophysical experiences of sound, and a reflection on music’s cultural context. His research interests include instrumental concert music with or without electronics, timbre theory, live and interactive electronics, music perception, composer-performer paradigms, free improvisation, and genre fluidity.
He has presented his music at major festivals including the Warsaw Autumn Festival (Poland), Kontraklang (Germany), Tonlagen (Hellerau, Germany), Imatronic (ZKM, Germany), SMC Sound and Music Computing Conference (2014, Sweden), 2013 NYC electroacoustic festival (USA), ICMC — International Computer Music Conference (2009 Montréal, and 2010 New York), Matrix ’10, ’11, and ‘15 at the Experimental Studio (Germany), Domain Forget (Quebec), the IRCAM Computer Music workshops at Centre Acanthes (France), the National Arts Centre Composer’s Program (Canada) and the Academie Internationale de Composition du Blanc-Mesnil (France). Also involved with music for contemporary dance, he has written for the Merce Cunningham School (USA), Tangente (Canada), and Ephemeral Industry (Canada) and the Bravo!FACT (Canada) dance movie commissions. Commissioned by numerous international ensembles, Anthony has written for ensemble recherche, the Dresden Philharmonie, LUX:NM, Architek Percussion, Ensemble contemporain de Montréal, Les Cris de Paris, Ensemble Cairn, L’Orchestre de la francophonie canadienne, le Nouvel ensemble moderne, the New Orford String Quartet, Turning Point Ensemble, and New Music Concerts Ensemble.
Anthony completed his Ph.D. from McGill University, Montréal, Canada, and the Meisterklasse from the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber, Dresden, Germany. Awards include a fellowship with the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University (RI’17), the audience and jury prize from the ECM+ Generation 2014 tour, Stipendiums from the SWR Experimental Studio, the 2011 Giga-Hertz Förder Prize, the International Competition for live-electronics of the Hamburg Klangwerktage, and the Médaille d’or in piano performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music. He previously served as Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, and is currently Assistant Professor of composition at the University of Victoria.
