Bio
Carter Crosby (they/them) is a composer, improviser, and multimedia artist currently based in Pittsburgh, PA. In their music, they explore the sounds of natural phenomena, intertwining artistic mediums, and the interpretation of personal histories. They have had works selected for performance at national festivals such as Electronic Music Midwest, MOXsonic, SEAMUS, and REDNOTE composition workshop. They recently received their MM in Composition from Michigan State University, where they served as a Graduate Assistant in Music Technology and Leadership Fellow. They currently serve as Music Educational Technician for the Community College of Allegheny County.
Artist Statement
My work is most often inspired by nostalgia, memory, and the relationships between the natural and technological world. As I have grown more comfortable in myself, including my queer identity, my works have become increasingly personal, drawing inspiration from family artifacts, my own experiences with mental health, or my interpretation of unexpected natural phenomena.
I consider myself a multimedia artist who primarily works in sound. My art takes many forms- recently, I have become a performer as much as a composer and see these parts of my practice as inextricably linked. I engage frequently with improvisation, and have begun developing pieces for myself without scores, structured through predetermined system, material, and form. In the electronic realm, the lines between mediums are thin. I can use code and circuits to make sound, visuals, or interactive media all using the same basic principles. When I write a piece for performer and live electronics, I see it both as an exercise in composition as well as an exercise in instrument design. Within my music written for others, I frequently combine graphical scores with traditional notation and consider these methods of communication equally vital. I use graphic scores not only as a communication tool, but a deliberate aesthetic choice to convey a specific tone or emotion that is connected to the sounds I am asking the performers to create.
While my sources of inspiration remain consistent, I resist limiting myself through labels of genre or mode of creation.