Interests include interactive composition and performance, analysis and
synthesis of sound, music perception and cognition.
David Wessel studied mathematics and experimental psychology at the University
of Illinois and received a doctorate in mathematical psychology from Stanford
in 1972. His work on the perception and compositional control of timbre
in the early 70's at Michigan State University led to a musical research
position at IRCAM in Paris in 1976. In 1979 he began reshaping the Pedagogy
Department to link the scientific and musical sectors of IRCAM. In 1985
he established a new IRCAM department devoted to the development of interactive
musical software for personal computers. In 1988 he began his current position
as Professor of Music at the University of California, Berkeley where he
is Director of CNMAT. He is particularly interested in live-performance
computer music where improvisation plays an essential role. He has collaborated
in performance with a variety of improvising composers including Roscoe
Mitchell, Steve Coleman, Ushio Torikai, Thomas Buckner, Vinko Globokar,
Jin Hi Kim, Shafqat Ali Khan, and Laetitia
Sonami has performed throughout the US and Europe.