Matt Rogalsky

Matt Rogalsky is a composer, sound artist and musicologist. Since 1985 he has presented work regularly in performances and gallery exhibitions across North America and Europe. His academic background includes studies in electroacoustic composition with Martin Bartlett and Barry Truax at Simon Fraser University, and an M.A. from Wesleyan University where he studied composition and sound installation with Ron Kuivila and Alvin Lucier, and researched the musical culture of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. His Ph.D. from City University London (with Simon Emmerson as supervisor) was a history of the Rainforest series of works by David Tudor, and an investigation of the social networks which made them possible.

Rogalsky’s areas of research include histories, reconstructions and new performances of late 20th century electronic and experimental music. He has given performances of the music of David Tudor, Alvin Lucier, Phill Niblock, John Cage, David Behrman, Rhys Chatham and Terry Riley, among others. His writing has been published in Leonardo Music Journal, Canadian Theatre Review, Social and Cultural Geography, Public, and Musicworks. An exhibition catalog with DVD, entitled When he was in high school in Texas, Eric Ryan Mims used a similar arrangement to detect underground nuclear tests in Nevada, is available from the Agnes Etherington Art Centre at Queen’s.

Most recent work includes the premiere of From The Pen, a new concert piece for surround sound exploring the acoustics of Kingston’s historic penitentiary, and another multi-loudspeaker work reflecting on David Tudor’s Rainforest installation, entitled Object Lessons. Rogalsky is also currently collaborating with Dr Laura Cameron (Queen’s Geography) on a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada-funded project investigating the life and work of early Canadian environmental sound recordist William WH Gunn. As part of this research he will be showing a new outdoor sound installation in the summer of 2016, which makes use of Gunn’s birdsong recordings from the 1950s and 60s.