New and Experimental Music,
Art & Technolgy
Episode 01: Are Cyborgs Replacing us? A Conversation with Composer Liza Seigido
Liza Seigido, an accomplished composer and multimedia artist, took the spotlight as the inaugural guest on the Soudnologia podcast. We went on an exhilarating journey, exploring her interactive opera Cyborgs are Dancing, and delved into the captivating world of interactive media and technology that greatly influences her artistic endeavors. Seigido shared some of the experiments she conducted while composing her vocal works, including Missa Della Grande Transisione, which was analyzed during the show.
About Liza Seigido
Dr. Liza Seigido is an award-winning composer specializing in electroacoustic composition and interactive multimedia art. She is also a performer, educator, and the founding owner/artistic director of Psyche Electro-Acoustic Opera Company, LLC.
Her recent work in interactive media appeared in Cycling 74’s Newsletter #192. In February 2018, she was awarded a Discovery Grant by OPERA America to fund the development of her opera Cyborgs are Dancing for an electro-acoustic ensemble, dancer, and interactive media. The opera was workshopped on May 4, 2019, and, she was awarded a grant by CMN Arts to fund the world premiere of Cyborgs are Dancing at the Coral Gables Museum on September 18, 2020. The premier was canceled indefinitely.
Her electronic Đàn tỳ bà, powered by the Makey Makey microcontroller and Max/MSP, was featured in Synthopia.com, ADSR, and New Atlas—three online music technology magazines—in December 2016. In 2015, Seigido was awarded the Jennylin Duany Light Bulb Fund Honorary Award by the Miami Light Project, which served to fund the development of her electro-acoustic song, Daphne for live processed mezzo-soprano, live processed cello, and video overlay. She was also commissioned by Brigette Cormier, artistic director of B.C. Dance Co, to build an interactive dance floor and video overlays for “TV NO,” which was premiered in April 2016 in the Rift Black Box Theater in Wynwood.
With her husband Lawrence W. Moore, Seigido founded the “Kendall Sound Art” new music concert series, which was sponsored by the Miami-Dade Public Library System. This series promoted the work of composers and performers residing in South Florida; it ran between May 2013 through December 2016.
Seigido has taught at Miami International University of Art and Design, as well as Florida International University. Her music has been performed in various locations across the United States, including Prague in the Czech Republic.
Liza’s book recommendation:
Poetics of Music by Igor Stravinsky