Sounds

The Ceiling Floats Away

Biography

Matthew Burtner (www.matthewburtner.com) is Eleanor Shea Professor of Music at the University of Virginia (www.virginia.edu) where he Co-Directs the Coastal Future Conservatory (http://www.coastalconservatory.org). He is an Alaskan-born composer, sound artist and ecoacoustician whose research explores embodiment, ecology, polytemporality and noise. His music has been performed in concerts around the world and featured by organizations such as NASA, PBS NewsHour, the American Geophysical Union (AGU), the BBC, the U.S. State Department under President Obama, and National Geographic. He has published three intermedia climate change works including the IDEA Award-winning telematic opera, Auksalaq.  In 2020 he received an Emmy Award for “Composing Music with Snow and Glaciers” a feature on his Glacier Music by Alaska Public Media. His music has also received international honors and awards from the Musica Nova (Czech Republic), Bourges (France), Gaudeamus (Netherlands), Darmstadt (Germany), and The Russolo (Italy) international music competitions. He is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Award for The Ceiling Floats Away, a large-scale collaborative work with poet Rita Dove. His recent published albums include Profiled from Atmospheres (2024), Soundscapes of Restoration (2023), Icefield (2022), Dwelling in the Enfolding (2020), Avian Telemetry/Six Ecoacoustic Quintets (2020), and Glacier Music (2019).

At UVA Burtner teaches in the Music Department and in the Environmental Thought and Practice (ETP) program. His classes include PhD seminars in Composition and Computer Technologies (CCT), and undergraduate courses such as Ecoacoustics, MICE (Mobile Interactive Computer Ensemble), Performance with Computers, EcoSonics, and Technosonics. He is also Founder and Director of the non-profit organization EcoSono (www.ecosono.org).