Koto at the Nexus of Music and Technology

Miya Masaoka is a composer, musician and performance artist whose current body of work includes performing on a Japanese koto that has been altered and embellished with sensors, samplers, lasers, electronics and computer interfaces. Masaoka’s LED Kimono Project, commissioned by Circuit Network and presented at the 10th Anniversary of the San Francisco Electronic Music Festival and the New York Electronic Arts Festival in fall 2009, represents an extension of and an expansion upon the large body of work that Masaoka has developed in the last decade addressing interactivity with insects, plants, and the human brain. Her performances often incorporate some aspect of “thinking improvisation” in the software used to generate sound and compositional elements.

Visit Miya's web sites:
www.miyamasaoka.com & www.ledkimono.com