Steam Man of the Prairies was a dime store science fiction novel written by Edward S. Ellis in 1868 and is widely considered to be the earliest depiction of a humanoid robot in popular culture. Despite Ellis’s rather clumsy writing style and overtly racist depictions of Irish immigrants and Native Americans, this novel provides an interesting perspective on the excitement surrounding innovations in steam technology and exploration of the Western United States in the late 1800’s.
 
Just as the Steam Man represented the attainment of superhuman capabilities through the use of technology, this piece utilizes electronics to expand the sonic palate of the piano and clarinet. By limiting electronically produced sounds to only recordings of extended piano techniques (bowed, plucked, muted, and scraped) my goal was to create a sonic bridge between the timbres of the clarinet and piano in an attempt to create the illusion of a single super-instrument. As a means to take this sonic cohesion one step further, amplification of the electronic sounds in this piece forgoes a typical loudspeaker setup in favor small vibration speakers attached to the soundboard of the piano. This method allows the strings of the piano to vibrate sympathetically with the electronics and takes advantage of the instrument’s natural acoustic resonance.

Special thanks to the Escola Superior de Música, Artes e Espectáculo in Porto, Portugal for allowing me to record most of the piano extended techniques used in this piece on one of their concert grand pianos.

Steam Man of the Prairies (demo)

Ben Morris is a composer whose music tells unconventional stories and crosses genre boundaries. He is Assistant Professor of Composition at Stephen F. Austin State University.

I share music that I have made here solo or in groups. I am bundling my work with some online friends as a project oriented, micro-collective. We are happy to share with you!

https://darkpebble-bluewave.bandcamp.com/

Wilhelm Mattthies, John Daly (aka Tuneind52), Paulo Chagas and Matthias Boss

Hermes Camacho is a composer, conductor, and violinist based in Austin, Texas. 

His music has been performed throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia and has garnered awards and recognition from the National Endowment for the Arts, American Composers Forum, ASCAP, SCI, the Dallas Wind Symphony, 60x60, MusicX, ArtsAha!, and the Vermont Arts Council, among others, and has served residencies with the Chamber Music Conference of the East, Winthrop University (South Carolina), Boulder Youth Symphony (Colorado), Austin Youth Philharmonic, Northwest Vista College (Texas), Southwestern University (Texas), and the Southwestern College Summer Music Fest (Kansas). 

Camacho has over 150 conducted performances to his credit in a variety of genres and ensemble types, including a performance for a delegation of 45 Ambassadors to the United Nations and a nationally televised broadcast performance for the 2013 Mexican Independence Day festivities in Austin. He has also conducted the premiere of numerous works, primarily with the Sonorous ensemble, a group specializing in contemporary music that he co-founded in 2009. After his freshman year in college, Camacho was invited to serve on the faculty of the Sacramento Youth Symphony, primarily conducting their summer chamber workshop orchestras, coaching small ensembles, and overseeing the Composer-in-Residence program. 

Camacho is currently Lecturer in Music Theory, Aural Skills, and Composition at the University of the Incarnate Word and is on the teaching faculty of Austin Soundwaves, a youth music program benefiting the underserved area of East Austin, Texas, where he leads the wind ensemble and music theory programs, and teaches orchestra, violin, and viola. 

Austin Soundwaves follows the principles of El Sistema, established by Dr. Jose Abreu during the 1970s in Venezuela, among whose most notable alumni include Gustavo Dudamel, the Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the world-renowned Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela. 

In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Camacho is also a Co-founder and Content/Development Lead at Picardy, an online education platform for building and developing music skills.

Originally from Northern California, Dr. Camacho earned degrees from Cal State Long Beach (B.M.), the University of Colorado at Boulder (M.M.) and a doctorate from The University of Texas at Austin in 2011. He studied composition with Donald Grantham, Dan Welcher, Yevgeniy Sharlat, Daniel Kellogg, Robin Cox, and Carolyn Bremer, violin with Kimiyo Takeya, conducting with Akira Endo, Richard Rintoul, and Samuel Krachmalnick and masterclasses with Pulitzer-Prize winners John Adams, William Bolcom, Jennifer Higdon, and Steve Reich. Camacho and his wife spend their free time watching the 49ers, SF Giants, Longhorns, or their toddler, Charlie, who endlessly harasses their two (very patient) cats.

*Many more soundfiles are located at www.ClareShore.com
Clare Shore, the second woman to earn the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Composition from The Juilliard  School, has received critical acclaim for her works, with reviewers from the New York Times, New York Post, Boston Globe, Washington Post and others hailing her works as "provocative" … "immensely  dramatic" … ""unpretentious" … "ingenious and evocative" … "intriguing" … "romantic to the core". While at  Juilliard Ms. Shore studied with David Diamond, Vincent Persichetti and Roger Sessions, and subsequently with Gunther Schuller. Since then, she has received numerous commissions, awards, and grants, including a  Composer Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Shore has served on the faculties of Fordham University, Manhattan School of Music, the University of Virginia, George Mason University, and Palm Beach Atlantic University. She currently holds an exclusive publishing contract with E.C. Schirmer. Her works are recorded on CRS, Owl Recordings, and Opus One, produced by Grammy Award-winning Elite Recordings.

I premiered more than 60 works of different genres of music by composers such as Joan Bagés Rubí, José Luis Campana and Hans Peter Stubbe Teglbjaerg, among others. Of particular note was the ‘Concerto for baritone saxophone, piano and string orchestra’ by Albena Petrovic-Vratchanska, at the Luxembourg Philharmonie in June 2018. 
My varied music projects, focused mainly on new music, have brought me to perform in Europe, America and Australasia in festivals such as Mixtur Barcelona (2018), New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival (USA 2017), Rc4 (Brazil 2015) and Classical:NEXT (Austria 2014 and Germany 2022). 
I have been a member of several chamber music groups such as the saxophone quartet SAX 3+1 (1994-2013) or Sigma woodwind trio (2004-2007). Currently, I collaborate with Morphosis Ensemble and some groups of contemporary music.

Composer, tinkerer, found sound enthusiast.
<a href="http://stevensnowden.com"></a>

R.A. Moulds studied music at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Steam Man of the Prairies (demo)

Steven Snowden