top of page
announcements
2019 Chaosflöte Commission Competition
We are proud to announce the following winners of the 2019 Chaosflöte Commission Competition:
1st place: Tak-Cheung Hui 
2nd place: Joshua Hey
3rd place: Hongshuo Fan
Honorable Mention: Lucy Kong
22 March 2019
27 June 2019
19:00 (CET)
Null-state Intercontinental Live-Coding Concert
Benjamin and Melody will be performing a concert of intercontinental live coding on the Null-state YouTube channel. They will be improvising with code/live electronics followed by a brief Q&A over YouTube chat.
Null-state Artist Residency at the University of South Florida
We are looking forward to our events at the University of South Florida!
Nov. 19 (15:30-16:45) Guest artist presentation of Melody's works for the USF Flute Studio of Francesca Arnone
Nov. 20 (19:30) Chaosflöte recital at Barness Recital Hall, including the world premiere of Things that might have been by Chaosflöte Commission Competition winner Tak Cheung Hui and the U.S. premiere of BAD DECISIONS for Chaosflöte by Melody Chua. 
Nov. 21 (14:00) Guest lecture by Melody Chua at the USF Real-Time Electronics seminar (SYCOM Studio A)
Nov. 21 (19:00) Chaosflöte + live coding concert (IRH)
Nov. 22 (14:00) Null-state guest artist presentation for the USF Composition department (MUS 208)
19-22 November 2019
University of South Florida
Tampa, FL

Premiere of BAD DECISIONS for Chaosflöte

composed/performed by Melody Chua

visuals by Xuan

30 August: Premiere at Design Biennale Zürich

3 September: Performance at Swiss Digital Day

27 September: Performance at Zürich Digital Festival/Refresh #2

20 November: University of South Florida, Barness Hall

13 December: Zürich University of the Arts/Lange Nacht

August 2019
Switzerland/US
28 May 2020
19:00 EDT
Null-state on Opera del Sol talk series
Join us on May 29 for an informal chat about what we do at Null-state. Thanks, Opera del Sol, for hosting us! Watch the full stream here.
30 May 2020
15:00 EDT
Intercontinental Live coding Performance at the Accidental Music Festival
Melody (Zürich) and Benjamin (Tampa) perform meditation. dystopia, live coding from different continents over the internet. Watch the full livestream here (tickets must be reserved in advance).
Null-state performs at the Network Music Festival
Melody (Zürich) and Benjamin (Tampa) perform an intercontinental live coding set at the 2020 Network Music Festival: "Sound Without Borders."
 18 July 2020
11:40 EDT
nmf_gif.gif
usflogo.jpg
OdSBanner-1024x342.jpg

founder co-Artistic Director of SCENE&heard, a new music concert series at the (SCENE) Metrospace gallery in East Lansing, Michigan. Today, David lives in Wichita, Kansas, where he teaches music composition and theory at the Wichita State University. Previously, he has taught at the University of Central Florida and served as president of the Central Florida Composers Forum and Director of Digital Media for the Timucua Arts Foundation.

 

davidmacdonaldmusic.com

AGENDA
follow us for the latest updates

code with us

Null-state offers online tutorials on creative coding with Supercollider and Max -- the very programs we use for our own works. Learn how to design sounds and interactive visuals to make your own creative projects.

NEXTION by Melody Chua

NEXTION by Melody Chua

Prototype air pressure sensor, Chaosflöte

Zürich University of the Arts (ZHdK)

Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology (ICST)

about
Development
Chaosflöte: Sensor-Augmented Electroacoustic Flute Project
Performance
Live-Coding Ensemble
Education
Workshops and seminars on composing and performing with electronics

Null-state, Inc. is a non-profit music technology organization co-founded by Melody Chua and Benjamin D. Whiting. This enterprise focuses on the research and development of the sensor-augmented electroacoustic flute (Chaosflöte) and making it accessible to both experienced performers and those with less familiarity with electronics. Null-state also functions as a live-electronics and live-coding ensemble and believes that interactive programming is an equally integral component of new music research. As part of a desire to share the joy of working with electronics, Null-state teaches seminars on incorporating electronics in instrumental composition/performance, as well as live coding.

Melody Chua
Co-Founder, Co-Executive Director
_ABC8877b.jpg

Melody Chua actively pushes the development of interdisciplinary works by bringing together music performance, interactive programming, and immersive visual mediums into her own practice. Her current research focuses on creative applications of machine algorithms in improvised performance.

Melody has performed across the U.S. and Europe and abroad, including the Zürich Digital Festival, Creative City Immerse Festival, ZKM Next Generation Festival, Montreal Contemporary Music Lab, La Côte Flute Festival, PAM-Hörmal Festival, the SWR E-Werk Freiburg "Art's Birthday," Swiss Digital Day, and as a fellow laureate at the Atlantic Music Festival Future Music Lab. Melody has also completed artist residencies at the Immersive Lab of the Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology Zürich and at the Timucua Arts Foundation. She is the recipient of a J. William Fulbright Scholar and Swiss Government Excellence Scholar at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste (ZHdK), where she received her degree in flute performance (M.A.), with a concentration in sensor-augmented instruments and a minor in electroacoustic music composition. She eagerly experiments with different technologies and human-computer interactions. Examples include working with two motion capture systems to generate interactive sound in a dance performance (ZHdK Immersive Arts Space), building an improvisation machine that interacts with participants' bodily movements (upcoming, Kein Museum), and utilizing electronic, pressure-sensitive shoes (Daniel Bisig, Sounding Feet) to create new interactive works for dancer and electronics -- among other projects. Her recent work for pressure-sensitive shoes, Next Step, was premiered at the conference Refresh #2 as part of the 2019 Zürich Digital Festival.

 

www.chua.ch

Dr. Benjamin D. Whiting
Co-Founder, Co-Executive Director

Benjamin D. Whiting is an internationally award-winning composer of both acoustic and electroacoustic music. His music has been described as “marvelously intriguing” and “evocative” in a recent review in Fanfare magazine, and is performed often around the globe. He has had performances and given talks on his electroacoustic work at festivals such as SEAMUS, ICMC, NYCEMF, EMM, TIES, N_SEME, CMS, eviMus, and Sonorities, in addition to festivals of new music hosted by various universities around the world. He also continues to compose in a completely acoustic medium, having recently been commissioned by The Florida Orchestra and the University of South Florida to compose Bonn Chance, a piece for full orchestra celebrating the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth. Never satisfied by working alone, Benjamin is fascinated with and constantly seeks out interdisciplinary collaboration and cooperation, often working with artists and performers from many different fields on several projects. Benjamin is on faculty at the University of South Florida as Visiting Lecturer of Composition and Electronic Music. Recordings of his work can be found on the ABLAZE Records, Navona Records, Odd Pop Records, the University of Illinois Experimental Music Studios, and SEAMUS Records labels.

www.benjamindwhiting.com 

David MacDonald
President

David MacDonald writes music that is serious and clever, expressing a fondness for groovy rhythms and delightful surprises. He simultaneously embraces and pokes fun at expectations, like smashing the formality of concert traditions through the irreverent firehose of social media. Growing up as a trumpet player in St. Louis, Missouri, David attended the University of Missouri, first focusing on performance and only then discovering an interest in composition. He later earned a M.M. and D.M.A. in composition from Michigan State University. His primary composition teachers have been Ricardo Lorenz, W. Thomas McKenney, and Stefan Freund. David believes passionately that new music, even pretty weird music, is for everyone, not just the formally trained few, and he loves sharing new music experiences with a wider audience. In 2010, he co-founded SoundNotionTV, a podcast network featuring audio and video shows about music and the arts. He previously served as

Nicole Dupré
Secretary
Nicole.jpg

Nicole Dupré is unapologetic about her love and zeal for Orlando and a proud resident of The Milk District neighborhood. She loves everything about her community and has made it her mission to have an artistic impact on its’ identity. As Artistic Director of Opera del Sol and Central Florida Vocal Arts she endeavors to re imagine operatic classics, cultivate and create modern gems and expose audiences of every age and background to the wonders of the Performing Arts. This mission is to innovate and improve the arts and culture of our community. Nicole is an accomplished television, and theatre Makeup Artist and Designer. Since 2009, Nicole Dupré has worked alongside and within numerous Performing Arts institutions, including The Orlando Ballet, The Orlando Philharmonic, Stetson University, UCF, Vero Beach Opera Company, among others. As a heavily sought-after Hair, Makeup and Wig Designer her work has been seen in such productions as: Madama Butterfly, La Traviata, Tosca, Barber of Seville, Marriage of Figaro, Magic Flute, Candide, Beauty & the Beast, Don Quiote, Dracula and many more. Her highly regarded expertise in skincare has earned the trust of such notable clientele including Celebrity Chefs, FORBES Magazine, The Today Show, MSNBC, The Golf Channel, WESH 2 News, and even a 500lb. tiger.

Aleksander.jpg

Aleksander Sternfeld-Dunn grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, was educated on both coasts and now finds himself in the middle of the country. His music combines a frenetic rhythmic language, lean textures and lyrical sensitivity. His music has been recorded and performed throughout the U.S., Europe, Canada, and Asia by ensembles and organizations including the Kiev Philharmonic, The Contra Costa Chamber Orchestra, Huntsville Alabama Army Band, Composers Inc, Conundrum, The Yale Brass Trio, Scott/Garrison Duo, and Vox Novus. Soloists like Richard Kriehn, Diane Maltester, Craig Hultgren, and Robert Young have also been champions of his music. His works are published by FJH Music, Dorn Publications, Trevco Music, and Boom Crash Music and can be heard on the Navona and ERM Labels. 

 

Dr. Sternfeld-Dunn is winner of the 2013 American Prize for Fireworks, The National Flute Associations 2013 Award for Newly Published Chamber Music Category for Urban Jungle and Best in Show Award from the Global Music Awards (2012) for his works Antiphonal Fanfare and Joker’s Wild. He has also received awards and funding from organizations like Meet the Composer, ASCAP and the Washington Visual, Performing, and Literary Art’s Committee.

 

As well as being an accomplished composer he is also active as a conductor and string bassist. As a conductor he recently guest conducted the new music ensemble Turn on the Music for their CD "The Darwin Effect" on Capstone Records. He has conducted various orchestras, wind ensembles, and theatre productions. As a bassist he has held principal positions with several San Francisco Bay Area Orchestras, as well as numerous jazz small groups and big bands. He is the featured bassist on Bay Area jazz pianist Marty Namaro's CD "Abstractionisms". He is the Director of the School of Music at Wichita State University.

http://www.aleksandersternfelddunn.com/

SPEAKERS
chaosflöte

Sensor-Augmented Electroacoustic Flute Project

Live-Coding

live-coding

In addition to electronic instrument research and development, Null-state is hard at work devising new and innovative ways for interactive music programming and improvisation.
Workshops
Null-state is committed to spreading the joy and excitement of electronic and electroacoustic improvisation and composition across the globe. We offer seminars and private lessons in electroacoustic composition, studio recording techniques, live coding, and the Chaosflöte. Please email info@nullstate.org for general inquiries and teaching availability.
our supporters 

Null-state warmly thanks the following organizations for their generous support:

bottom of page