Music Meets The Computer

Computers have revolutionized music-making. Two of the most important pioneers of computer music, Max Mathews and John Chowning, stand at the epicenter of this musical revolution. Research led by Mathews at Bell Laboratories, beginning in the 1950s, created a series of programming languages that are the direct precursors of today's software synthesizers. His many contributions to interactive music systems, algorithmic composition, and psychoacoustics (with Jean-Claude Risset) are equally seminal. Stanford's legendary Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA, pronounced karma) led by Chowning, has long been a hotbed of innovation. After groundbreaking research in sound spatialization, Chowning's invention of frequency modulation (FM) synthesis led to the most successful synthesizer of all time: the Yamaha DX7.

Join Chowning and Mathews in conversation with Curtis Roads, composer and music historian. This will be followed by Chryssie Nanou (pianist) performing, Duet for One Pianist.