Biography
Kurt Stallmann’s approach to sound is inclusive and integrative. As a composer, his work spans a broad range from acoustic instruments to electroacoustic combinations, and from environmental sounds to synthetic sounds. He also frequently improvises and enjoys collaborating with musicians and artists from other disciplines. Stallmann’s work breaks the boundaries between environmental sound and music, and connects the divide between improvisation and composition. Recent projects include: Among Rivers (2019), a forty-five minute, immersive multimedia work with filmmaker Alfred Guzzetti for seven channels of video, twenty-eight channels of audio, and four silent actors; Echoes from Within: A Musical Response to Cy Twombly (2018), a collaboration with composer Shih-hui Chen for the Cy Twombly Gallery at The Menil Collection; Vespertine Awakenings (2017), a collaboration with choreographer Dušan Týnek commissioned for the opening of the new Moody Center for the Arts in Houston, Texas; Callings (2017), a solo work for Erhu, electric organ, and Taipei soundscape; Time Present (2013), an experimental video with Alfred Guzzetti that couples street sounds from Taipei in parallel with imagery from the United States (US premiere at Chicago’s Gene Siskel Center; European premiere at the BFI London Film Festival); and Ten Directions (2012), a multi-channel electronic work commissioned by Rice University for the dedication ceremony of James Turrell’s Skyspace, Twilight Epiphany.
National recognition of Stallmann’s work comes from organizations including Chamber Music America, Meet The Composer/New Music USA, Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University, Fulbright Scholar Program, the American Academy of Arts and Letters (Goddard Lieberson Fellowship), and the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
After completing his PhD in music, Stallmann joined the faculty at Harvard University, where he served as Assistant Professor of Music and as Associate Director of the Harvard University Studios for Electro-Acoustic Composition (HUSEAC). Stallmann currently serves as Professor of Composition and Theory and as Director of the Rice Electroacoustic Music Labs (REMLABS) at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.
“Stallmann’s work convinces by its range - from ambitious chamber works to demanding multi-media pieces; works incorporating electronics; experimental improvisations; and collaborative projects with distinguished artists and filmmakers. Although the range and medium of expression is broad there is stylistic and aesthetic acumen that reveals itself to the attentive listener - a headstrong integrity! His infallible musical ear ensures a consistency in structure from the local to the macro levels.” —American Academy of Arts and Letters