Team
Our team comprises talented artists, engineers, and musicians dedicated to crafting immersive experiences for our audiences. We believe in the transformative power of music and technology to create interdisciplinary encounters that connect scientists, engineers, artists, and the general public.
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Dr. Piyawat Louilarpprasert, a composer and sound artist, intertwines music composition, visual arts, and technology in his work, while also serving as an Assistant Professor of Composition at Bowling Green State University. He devised and constructed the spinning machine and for the project, "Parallel".
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Dr. Duhan Zhang, an engineer and Postdoctoral Associate, MITEI Fellow, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, MIT, initiated the project by inviting Dr. Louilarpprasert to collaborate. She organizes the project and takes role as a visual artist for the performance with supports from a research scientist at MIT, Praneeth Namburi and the grants from the Council for the Arts at MIT (CAMIT).
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Joining Dr. Zhang and Dr. Louilarpprasert is Dan Antoniu, a composer, improviser, and sound artist specializing in extended voice, augmented guitar, and found objects. Dan will contribute his performance expertise and serve as the audio engineer.
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Accompanying them is DJ Matthew Petrulavage, renowned as DJ Petro, who brings years of experience and intuition to enhance the performance with his musical prowess.
Meet The Team
Biography
“Young and Gifted, Meet the rebel Thai composer taking music to unheard heights”
(CNN News Worlds Report, Karla Cripps)
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Originally from Bangkok, Piyawat Louilarpprasert is a Thai composer, multimedia performer, and curator who works with the interweave of music composition, visual art, and sound installation. Piyawat’s music explores possibilities of creating the amalgamation of sonic and visual arts, including integrating multimedia and music, deconstructing instruments’ s mechanism and physicality with sound production method, and involving Thai traditional music elements in new compositions. With performances spanning over 20 countries across Asia, Europe, and United States, Piyawat has received commissions and awards, including the Fromm Foundation Commission, Harvard University (Boston), the Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung Commission (DE), British Council Grant Prize (UK), 100th year commission of Donaueschinger Musiktage (DE), KulturKontakt Residency by the Austrian Federal Chancellery (Austria), Best Music Award International Computer Music Conference (Shenzhen), Impuls Composer Commission (Graz), Artist in residence of Südwestrundfunk (SWR) Experimental Studio (Freiburg). Piyawat is currently an Assistant Professor of Composition at Bowling Green State University (BGSU) and a curator at IntAct Festival (Thailand).
see more: www.piyawatmusic.com
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Dr. Duhan Zhang is a Postdoctoral Associate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, distinguished by an MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) Fellowship. She earned a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University, supported by the Telluride Association Fellowship. Her research focused on creating solutions for improved performance of energy storage systems and electrification of materials recovery and mining processes. She accumulated experience in materials research and device fabrication, especially in mechanical device design, 2D & 3D fabrication, fluorescent microscopy measurement and optimization, visual data processing and analysis, parallel cloud computing, machine learning, robotics, etc. Throughout her academic journey, Duhan has received multiple recognitions for her research and contributions, including the Mars Fellowship from the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings and the Best Paper Award from the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research, among others.
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Praneeth Namburi is a Research Scientist at MIT working on movement research and education. I have a Ph.D. in experimental neuroscience, and I am a competitive ballroom dancer. I am currently working at the intersection of biomechanics and dancing. I draw inspiration from dance lessons to research how the brain and body communicate during purposeful movement by precisely measuring movement from dancers, building models, and running simulations. I am committed to open communication of scientific research and will make my discoveries free and available to everyone through blog posts, open-access publications, YouTube, and software on GitHub. I also create educational content aimed at systematically analyzing, constructing, and producing efficient movements – material that can be applied to everyday necessities such as walking, posture, and balance, as well as activities involving more sophisticated movements such as dancing, boxing, swimming, climbing, running, etc. Click here to view these courses.
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As a composer, sound artist, and performer, Dan Antoniu’s music prioritizes gesture, perception, and electronics. Using many mediums, Dan has worked with large ensembles, chamber ensembles, and soloists in acoustic and electroacoustic settings utilizing digital signal processing and fixed media. He’s created multichannel and stereo pieces and made installations focused on resonance and light. Dan has also been developing a performance practice focused on extended voice, bowed guitar, found objects, and augmented instruments.
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Matt Petrulavage (DJ Petro) is a DJ, Improvisor and Collaborative Artist for our project. He and his partner, Mike Paganelli (DJ Red / Spherical Sounds), also founded, Plus One Productions, which is a cutting edge and alternative Dj's with a rock solid foundation of technical skills and classics. They also offer live music integration, and state of the art, advanced technology uplighting and photo booths.
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