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IN-DEPTH BIO
C.V.
bill
thompson
been an active composer, performer,
and sound artist for over ten years within the united
states and united kingdom. he began music studies with
private teachers in austin and eventually attended north
texas state university (studying jazz), and texas state
university in san marcos where he earned a masters in
composition under russell reipe and taught electronic
music and composition.
after
finishing his masters he started the gates ensemble
that became one of the only regularly performing electro-acoustic
ensembles in texas and the southwest specializing in improvisation
and modern composition.
with
clark crawford and brent fariss, he founded thomfaricraw,
a modern music initiative dedicated to the creation and
presentation of the highest caliber of modern experimental
music. tfc hosted one of the only house concerts (the
loft series) in the u.s. that presented new experimental
music.
he
was one of the founding members of austin's new music
co-op, presenting austin with works by terry riley,
pauline oliveros, christian wolff, cornelious cardew,
morton feldman, john cage, earle brown, as well as local
composers.
with
brent fariss, he performed at the amoda’s
(austin museum of digital art) first performance series
for new music and later co-curated the series hosting
the likes of richard chartier and phill niblock.
other
collaborations include work with seminal artist rick reed
in intersect 6, the austin noise
quartet, and field. he also played regularly
with josh ronsen in brekekekexkoaxkoax, and hosted
austin's first phonography festival with alex
keller, brent fariss, and trey smith.
with
doug ferguson, he designed and edited the e.m.i.t.
website www.experimentalmusicintexas.org that gave artists
within the texas area a common meeting ground as well
as serving as a focal point for others interested in the
experimental music scene in texas.
in
2004, bill thompson was awarded a scholarship to study
with pete stollery at the university of aberdeen in scotland.
since moving to the u.k. he has been active as performer,
composer, sound artist, and workshop leader.
performances
include the a.v.p. festival in melbourne derbyshire
with mark wastell and rhodri davis, the cca in
glasgow with the found ensemble, the ubiquitous
exhibition with phill harding and patrick mcginley, and
jim colquhoun’s gangrel bodies exhibition
at peacocks visual arts in aberdeen.
additionally,
he has been an active member of the artist group urbanNovember
with installations in the limousine bull gallery and maritime
museum in aberdeen. other installations have been featured
in the marischal museum of aberdeen as well as a commission
by the scotland sound festival for an installation
in the aberdeen train station.
as
a workshop leader he has conducted workshops at the university
of aberdeen and with the sonic arts network as a facilitator
in the sonic postcards project. other workshops
include see/hear inverurie with young people
in inverurie and the young urban explorers project
in aberdeen.
additionally,
he has given talks at the sonic arts meeting in leeds,
at grays school of art in aberdeen, and participated in
an artist panel at phill harding’s ubiquitous
exhibition.
thompson also hosts a quarterly music event, the experimental
music showcase (ems) in Aberdeen (with james
wyness) featuring artists from the u.k. and u.s. as part
of e.m.s. he currated the first phonography festival in
the u.k.
he
has written for acoustic, electro-acoustic, electronic,
tape, and digital media, including sound installations
and video. his work has been performed across the u.s.
and u.k. and has been featured on numerous radio stations
and webcasts including resonance fm, fieldworks, quiet
american’s one minute vacations, soundtransit, and
the bbc.
his
work has been performed by artists such as thomas helton,
the imbroglio string quartet, the austin
new music co-op, the hope ensemble, and
others. he has been released on ven voisey's somewhere/somewhere
else, phonography's field recordings, spectral
house, ecolirecords, porkbones,
bremsstrahlung, autumn records, and
has work distributed by deadline records.
as
a performer, thompson uses an assortment of equipment
that range from prepared guitar, to digital cd mixers,
laptop, radio, and digital/analogue synthesizers, as well
as found objects and diy circuit bent devices. regardless
of equipment, an attention to sound and presence is always
foremost in his approach to sound art.
bill
thompson is available for performances, lectures, and
workshops concerning modern composition, improvisation,
synthesis techniques, and aesthetics. contact him at:
billthompson@billthompson.org.
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