Brenda Hutchinson is a composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 and sound artist who has created a body of work she calls "collaborating with strangers." Hutchinson encourages her participants to experiment with sound, share stories, and make music. She often bases her electroacoustic

Electroacoustic music

Electroacoustic music originated in Western art music during its modern era following the incorporation of electric sound production into compositional practice. The initial developments in electroacoustic music composition during the mid-20th century are associated with the activities of composers...

 compositions on recordings of these individual collaborative experiences, creating "sonic portraits" or "aural pictures" of people and situations... In addition to her ethnographic pieces, Hutchinson has composed for film (Liquid Sky

Liquid Sky

Liquid Sky is an independent American film. It debuted at the Montreal Film festival in August 1982 and was well received at several film festivals thereafter. It was produced with a budget of $500,000. It became the most successful independent film of 1983 grossing $1.7 million dollars in the...

, 1982, co-composed with Clive Smith), invented instruments (Giant Music Box, Long Tube, and gestural interface for the Long Tube), and is active as a performer/improviser.
Hutchinson earned her M.A. in Music Composition from the University of California, San Diego

University of California, San Diego

The University of California, San Diego, commonly known as UCSD or UC San Diego, is a public research university located in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California, United States...

, where she studied with Pauline Oliveros

Pauline Oliveros

Pauline Oliveros is an American accordionist and composer who is a central figure in the development of post-war electronic art music....

, Roger Reynolds

Roger Reynolds

Roger Reynolds is an American composer born July 18, 1934 in Detroit, Michigan. He is a professor at the University of California at San Diego. He received an undergraduate degree in engineering physics from the University of Michigan where he later studied composition with Ross Lee Finney...

, Bernard Rands

Bernard Rands

Bernard Rands is a composer of contemporary classical music.Rands studied music and English literature at the University of Wales, Bangor, and composition with Pierre Boulez and Bruno Maderna in Darmstadt, Germany, and with Luigi Dallapiccola and Luciano Berio in Milan, Italy.He held residencies...

, and Robert Erickson

Robert Erickson

Robert Erickson was an American composer.He studied with Ernst Krenek from 1936-1947: "I had already studied—and abandoned—the twelve tone system before most other Americans had taken it up." He influenced notable students Morton Subotnick, Pauline Oliveros, Terry Riley, and Paul Dresher...

. Performances of her work have been presented in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 at Lincoln Center, Merkin Concert Hall

Merkin Concert Hall

Merkin Concert Hall is a 449-seat concert hall in Manhattan, New York City. The hall, named in honor of Hermann and Ursula Merkin, is part of the Kaufman Center, a complex that includes the Lucy Moses School, a community arts school, and the Special Music School , a New York City public school for...

, and The Kitchen

The Kitchen

The Kitchen is a non-profit, multi-disciplinary art and performance space located at at 512 West 19th Street, between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City...

, as well as in San Francisco at New Langton Arts, The Lab, and the Exploratorium

Exploratorium

The Exploratorium is a museum in San Francisco with over 475 participatory exhibits, all of them made onsite, that mix science and art. It also aims to promote museums as informal education centers....

.

Discography

• EEEYAH! on The Aerial: A Journal in Sound, Aerial #4, 1989.
• Family Album, VOYS, Pauline Oliveros Foundation, HB-CD-2, 1999.
• Interlude from Voices of Reason on TELLUS, The Audio Cassette Magazine, TELLUS #9, 1985.
• Liquid Sky (with Clive Smith), Varese Sarabande LP STV 81181, VCD47181, 1982.
• Long Tube-Solos and Duets, Pauline Oliveros Foundation, HB-CD-3, 2002.
• Long Tube Trio on Minimall, TELLUS #27, 1993.
• Seldom Still, cassette, Pauline Oliveros Foundation, BH-C-1.
• Slow Death on a Thorny Rose (with Gerald Lindahl) on TELLUS, The Audio Cassette Magazine, TELLUS #16 "Tango", 1987.
• Vanishing Act (with Constance DeJong) on Siteless Sounds, TELLUS #25, 1991.

External links

• Composer's website
• Recordings available through the Deep Listening Catalog
• Two works by Hutchinson available at Soundprint broadcast archive
• Archival Blog for The Bell Project
• Archival Blog for dailybell2008
• International Alliance for Women in Music - IAWM
  International Alliance for Women in Music
  The International Alliance for Women in Music is an international membership organization of women and men dedicated to fostering and encouraging the activities of women in music, particularly in the areas of musical activity, such as composing, performing, and research, in which gender...