The Department of Music is excited to introduce a revitalized Composition and Sound Practices Program and it is accepting applications for the PhD in the program!
The Composition and Sound Practices program focuses on facilitating the making of creative, critical, experimental, and socially engaged music, sound, and intermedia work in the context of the humanities. In this program, students compose, design, perform, and produce based on the methodological study of music and sound through research, analysis, and reflection, and by learning a broad range of composition techniques and creative technologies.
Areas of instruction include but are not limited to the analysis of music and sound compositions, the exploration of different forms of musical notation (e.g., graphic, text-based, classical, contemporary), the practice of interdisciplinary research, (e.g., composer-performer workshops, collaboration with other artists, intermedia practice) recording and production technology, performance, installations, and sculpting music and sound work.
Learn more about the Composition and Sound Practices faculty and additional resources below. For admission information, please visit our Prospective Students page.
Hans Thomalla, Professor of Composition
Hans Thomalla is a German American composer. A particular focus of his work lies in music for the stage. He has written four operas, Fremd (Stuttgart Opera 2011), Kaspar Hauser (Freiburg and Augsburg Opera 2016), Dark Spring, and Dark Fall (both Mannheim Opera 2020 and 2024). In addition to numerous awards and fellowships, Thomalla has been associated with the Darmstädter Ferienkurse for many years, serving on the composition faculty. He is also the co-founder of the Chicago based Sideband Records.
Senem Pirler, Assistant Professor of Composition
Senem Pirler (she/her) is an artist, sonic improviser, and educator. Pirler has exhibited work nationally and internationally, including performances at the EMPAC (NY), Carnegie Hall (NYC), Southbank Centre (London), and Akademie der Künste (Berlin). Pirler’s interdisciplinary work crosses over into sound art, composition, performance, video art, and installation. Pirler has been awarded a NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship in the category of Music/Sound in 2022 and the Malcolm Morse Award to honor the work of Pauline Oliveros and Deep Listening in 2018.
Augusta Read Thomas – Resource Faculty
An influential teacher and musical composer, Augusta Read Thomas is the University of Chicago University Professor of Composition in the Humanities Division and the College, and the founder and director of the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition (CCCC). A Grammy award winner and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Music, her music is regularly conducted and performed by leading orchestras worldwide. This past fall, her most recent work, “Bebop Kaleidoscope —Homage to Duke Ellington,” was premiered by the New York Philharmonic.
The CHIME Studio
The CHIME Studio (Chicago Integrated Media Experimental Studio) is a vibrant hub for the fusion of computer music, composition, and multimedia practices at the University of Chicago. In addition to our studio spaces, CHIME regularly produces concerts, such as its yearly electroacoustic music festival, CHIMEFest, and engages in collaborative projects with artists from across disciplines, both on campus and across the city of Chicago.
The Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition
The Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition offers numerous opportunities for graduate students in composition to supplement their coursework. The Center’s concert series provides a space for student composers to develop and showcase new work, performed by the resident Grossman Ensemble and various guest artists specializing in new music, and it features a number of graduate student-led projects each season.