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Updated 12/4/2020

Christine Southworth

  • M

    MA

Institution/Business Type: Artist / Creative (Individual)

Christine Southworth (b. 1978) is a composer and video artist based in Lexington, Massachusetts, dedicated to creating art born from a cross-pollination of sonic and visual ideas. Inspired by intersections of technology and art, nature and machines, and musics from cultures around the world, her music employs sounds from man and nature, from Van de Graaff Generators to honeybees, Balinese gamelan to seismic data from volcanoes.

Southworth received a B.S. from MIT in 2002 in mathematics and an M.A. in Computer Music & Multimedia Composition from Brown University in 2006. In 2003 she co-founded Ensemble Robot, a collaborative of artists and engineers that design and build musical robots. She has been a member of MIT-based Gamelan Galak Tika since 1999, and has composed several pieces for the group and performed at venues including Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, EMPAC, the Cleveland Museum of Art, several Bang on a Can Marathons, and the Bali International Arts Festival. In 2010, she helped design Gamelan Elektrika for her piece Supercollider, which was premiered at Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival with the Kronos Quartet. In addition to gamelan, she studies bagpipe, playing both the Galician Gaita and the Great Highland Bagpipe. 

Southworth's compositions have been performed throughout the U.S., Europe, and Indonesia by ensembles including Kronos QuartetGamelan Galak TikaCalder QuartetBang on a Can All-StarsGamelan Semara RatihCalifornia EAR UnitAndrew W.K., and Ensemble Robot. She has received awards from the American Music CenterUCross FoundationLEF FoundationAmerican Composers ForumMeet the ComposerNew England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA), the MIT Eloranta Fellowship, and Bang on a Can and has been a fellow at UCross Foundation and The Hermitage Artist Retreat. Her multimedia work has been exhibited/performed at the Rubin Museum in New York, The Palais de Tokyo in Paris, the Off Festival in Katowice, Poland, and in Havana, Cuba, Intersection Festival in Toronto, Ars Musica in Brussels, and in venues throughout the US. Her most recent large-scale multimedia piece Spider's Canvas / Arachnodrone was a collaboration with clarinetist Evan Ziporyn, engineer Isabel Su, and computer music specialist Ian Hattwick. 

She has four recordings available on Airplane Ears Music: Zap! (2008) and Gamelan Galak Tika: Bronze Age Space Age (2009),  Christine Southworth String Quartets (2013), performed by The Calder QuartetKronos QuartetGamelan Galak Tika, and Face the Music, with support from the American Music Center CAP Recording Grant, and In My Mind and In My Car (2013), for Evan Ziporyn on bass clarinet, electronics and video.

Find Me

Christine Southworth
Job Title: Multimedia Artist
Phone: 617-905-6804
Address:
65 Turning Mill Road
Lexington, MA 02420

Social Media:

Additional Content:

About

Overview

Institution/Business Type:

Artist / Creative (Individual)

Legal Status:

Commercial / For profit - Sole proprietorship

Year Founded:

1978

Overview

Institution/Business Type:

Artist / Creative (Individual)

Legal Status:

Commercial / For profit - Sole proprietorship

Year Founded:

1978

Disciplines

Primary Discipline:

Multi-Disciplinary

Additional Disciplines:

  • Multi-Disciplinary

Activities and Services

Activities and Services:

  • Artist Representation / Artist Management
  • Arts for Social Change / Creative Activism
  • Creation of a Work of Art (Including Commissions)
  • Exhibitions
  • Performance / Concert / Reading
  • Public Art Projects (In Free, Public Spaces)
Seasons Active: spring, summer, fall, winter
Events Per Year: 20

Communities

Populations Engaged:

  • Adults
  • Businesses
  • Elders
  • Families
  • General Public
  • Immigrant Populations
  • Incarcerated (or Formerly Incarcerated) individuals
  • LGBTQ Populations
  • Native American Tribes
  • Nonprofits
  • People with Disabilities
  • School Groups
  • Teens
  • Veteran/Active Duty Military Personnel
  • Youth-At-Risk

Languages Available:

  • French

Geographic Reach:

  • International

Media Gallery

I Have Worked With

ALISON CHASE PERFORMANCE [APOGEE ARTS]

Performing Group

Date: 01/2016-01/2016

Music for dance choreographed by Alison Chase

CONTEMPORARY ARTS INTERNATIONAL INC.

Arts Center

Date: 09/2013-09/2013

Radius Ensemble

Performing Group

Date: 05/2013-05/2013

Apple Hill String Quartet

Performing Group

Date: 04/2013-04/2013

Commission, performance

Affiliations and Accomplishments

Awards

Awards:

  • Carlsbad Music Festival Commission – January 2007
  • LEF Foundation – 2008, 2007, 2006, 2003
  • Boston Museum of Science Composer in Residence - 2005-06
  • NEFA / Meet the Composer - 2005, 2012
  • Eloranta Fellowship - 2001
  • American Composers Forum - 2003
  • MAP Fund - 2017
  • MIT Dean's Fund Grant - 2014
  • Hermitage Artist Retreat Fellowship - 2014-2016
  • Redfern Arts Center Commission - 2013
  • Silk Road Ensemble Commission - 2012
  • UCross Foundation Fellow - 2012
  • American Music Center CAP Recording Grant - 2011
  • International Festival of Gamelan Amsterdam Commission - 2010
  • Explorers Club Commission - 2009
  • Bang on a Can People’s Commissioning Fund Commission – 2009
  • Meet the Composer Creative Connections Grant – 2009


Awards

Awards:

  • Carlsbad Music Festival Commission – January 2007
  • LEF Foundation – 2008, 2007, 2006, 2003
  • Boston Museum of Science Composer in Residence - 2005-06
  • NEFA / Meet the Composer - 2005, 2012
  • Eloranta Fellowship - 2001
  • American Composers Forum - 2003
  • MAP Fund - 2017
  • MIT Dean's Fund Grant - 2014
  • Hermitage Artist Retreat Fellowship - 2014-2016
  • Redfern Arts Center Commission - 2013
  • Silk Road Ensemble Commission - 2012
  • UCross Foundation Fellow - 2012
  • American Music Center CAP Recording Grant - 2011
  • International Festival of Gamelan Amsterdam Commission - 2010
  • Explorers Club Commission - 2009
  • Bang on a Can People’s Commissioning Fund Commission – 2009
  • Meet the Composer Creative Connections Grant – 2009


Education

Education:

  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology, B.S. Mathematics 2002
  • Brown University, MA, Computer Music & Multimedia Composition

Artist Info

Touring Artist

Technical Requirements:

  • Audio System / amplification
  • Audio Engineer
  • Video projection capability (or we can bring)

Fee Range:

$1,000 - $20,000

State of Residence:

Massachusetts

Minimum Number of Performers:

1

Maximum Number of Performers:

5

Touring Artist

Technical Requirements:

  • Audio System / amplification
  • Audio Engineer
  • Video projection capability (or we can bring)

Fee Range:

$1,000 - $20,000

State of Residence:

Massachusetts

Minimum Number of Performers:

1

Maximum Number of Performers:

5