School of Music

Laetitia Sonami will present the trajectory of her work over the last 40 years in electronic music and applied media; from her studies with Eliane Radigue in the mid 70s, to Mills College and the building of analog synths in the late 70s, to the lady's glove, her famed gestural instrument, and the current exploration of the application of machine learning in audio synthesis with her latest instrument, the Spring Spyre. Sonami will also present some past installation works and recent collaborations.

Laetitia Sonami is a sound artist, performer, and researcher. Sonami's sound performances, live‐film collaborations, and sound installations focus on issues of presence and participation.  She has devised new gestural controllers for performance and applies new technologies and appropriated media to achieve an expression of immediacy through sound, place, and objects. Best known for her unique instrument, the elbow-length lady's glove, which is fitted with an array of sensors tracking the slightest motion of her hand and body, she has performed worldwide and earned substantial international renown. Recent projects include the design of a new instrument, the Spring Spyre, based on the application of neural networks to real-time audio synthesis; an improvisation duo, Sparrows and Ortolans, with James Fei; and Le Corps Sonore, a fully immersive sound installation on six floors of the Rubin Museum, NYC in collaboration with Eliane Radigue and Bob Bielecki. Sonami has received numerous awards including the Herb Alpert Awards in the Arts and the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Awards. She is currently guest faculty at the Center for Contemporary Music, Mills College and guest faculty at the Bard MFA program.